IAmA: CatsPajamas, professional Starcraft II commentator for the IGN Pro League. AMA!

No question, just wanna say I'm really proud of how far you've come

EDIT : Oh and I'll see you in the studio pretty soon once the embassy gets it's arse in gear.

You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. Thanks for all of your help. :D Eventually I will buy you that beer.

How did you and your wife meet? Story! Story!

Haha. Ok, that's actually an awesome question sir, and I would expect nothing less.

My wife and I have actually known each other since pre-school. In fact, there's actually pictures of us at her 5th birthday party, where I'm the only boy at an all girls party. Minus the fact that I was frightened of cooties at that age, it set a good precedence, I would assume. :p

Anyway, we went to the same schools growing up, and eventually started dating in high school. I may be only 25, but we're about to celebrate our 9th anniversary of being together, married 5 years in May.

And there you have it HotBid. :D

But did you have her checked for cooties tho?

OH GOD NO

Fuck/Marry/Kill

HD, Painuser, Doa

Fuck: HD. He give me those kind of looks every now and again. Marry: Doa. It's bound to happen eventually. Kill: PainUser. He's taller than me. It cannot stand.

Nothing to ask here, just want to say you are amazing sir.

<3 <3 <3 Thanks good sir! Good to catch up with you this weekend. :D

How did you like casting with dApollo? You guys were fantastic.

It was amazing. He's a professional and brings so much insight and excitement to the game. For the first time casting with him, I think the pairing worked really well.

To summarize: A++++++++++ ~~~ would cast with again.

If you had the skills to be a starcraft pro would you rather be a pro or continue being a caster? Great work at IPL4!

Actually no. My goal when I started commentating was to prove that people could convey enthusiasm and become true professional sports casters in eSports. Would I like to play at a high level? Absolutely, and I have a greater drive now than at any time in the past to make that a reality. Do I want to play professionally? No. I always want to be behind the mic. That's my love.

What is the future of your beard?

http://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.2500779.1290987945!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/display_576/image.jpg

as a suscriber option for future events, can we have a toggleable beard for when your casting? also good job this weekend!

Aha. I will work on adding this with our engineering team!

Who's your favourite caster to co-cast with?

There's a few different people up there but they're all for different reasons. As far as who I have the most fun with? Doa. Definitely. He's a great friend and very dedicated to his craft. PainUser is great because he actually has been in high pressure game situations before, and can relate to what players are feeling.

However, I have to say, it was fucking amazing casting with Apollo this past weekend. Whenever you cast with someone for the first time, there's always an awkward thought of, "What if we don't work together or gel right away," things like that. I had none of that with Shaun. He's a professional, definitely, and it was incredible to cast at the event with him.

As someone who has followed you since you were a poor grad student casting in your mom's basement with 10 viewers I am happy to see all the success you have achieved. You deserve it.

Thanks so much!!!!!!

What do you think is the most important thing for SC2 to continue to grow as an e-sports in the short and long term?

Organizations to work with each other. Too many people are worried about capitalizing on an (admittedly) very small audience at the moment. We should start worrying about that when our audiences are pushed into the tens of millions, not the hundreds of thousands.

1. If Starcraft 2 didn't exist, what would you be doing instead?
2. If you were to cast a different game, what game would it be?
3. Who's the best SC2 caster/duo (in your opinion)?
4. Who's your favorite person to cast with?
5. Best game of all time?

1.) I'm not sure. I started commentating SC2 while in grad school. I was studying for a communications research masters and was thinking about a PhD after that. I was interested in the way companies were using social media in their marketing departments, so I imagine I would have done something along those lines.

2.) Well, I was a competitive Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory player (not that there was a scene around it, but you know :D ), so FPS games seem to be a natural fit. Anything pretty high energy, I imagine.

3.) The best caster in SC2 at the moment is Artosis. No disrespect to anyone else, but he's perfectly nailed the knowledge + excitement components of casting.

4.) Doa is awesome to cast with day in and day out, I have to say. Was also great to cast with Apollo for the first time this past weekend. What a professional.

5.) Best game of all time is Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. No debate.

I've always liked you, but just because of your answer to #5 you are now my favorite caster ever.

Bonus points if you know what Jiub means!

"Wake up. We're here."

Do better, I've started so many Morrowind characters. :D

Holy fuck catspajamas! Morrowind is my favorite game of all time! I have been playing it since it came out. I also used to play a ton of Enemy Territory as well.

You are now my favorite caster (you were pretty close before)

Edit:Questions

What is your favorite city in Morrowind? and did you usually give the engraved ring of healing to Fargoth? Or did you keep it?

Would you like to

A. Choose from an existing list of classes

B. Answer his questions (auto generate class)

C. Fill out the forms yourself (custom class)

Ald'Ruhn for sure. Fuck yeah giant crab shell houses. I alternated with the healing rings. Something just murdered Fargoth in the beginning for no reason with some characters. o_O

And always C. No question.

What race are you?(If it is well known, I just got into Starcraft)

I started as Terran, made it to diamond way back when in 2010. Last season I switched over to Protoss and started trying to play a lot of ladder again. Back into diamond, shooting for Masters this season.

Hi, - so do you use your title as a pickup line , i mean outside of Korea ?

I'm sure my wife would object. :P

Hi Kevin :) 1)- where does your 'handle / nickname' come from?

2)- who's your favorite co-caster and why?

3)- As a marketing manager what is your relationship to the design aspects of IPL? I know character was the agency who did the IPL rebranding, where you involved in that process? how was it?

Sorry for the barrage of questions & thanks for doing an AMA :)

1.) My friend and I created a lot of 48 hour free Xbox live accounts to troll people in various games. We started making arbitrary tags (like ShadowTiger, because we saw something with that name and was pretty sure that guy assumed it was the most intense thing ever) and eventually landed on me being CatsPajamas and him being BeesKnees. That was the account I was using when I started playing SC2, so it became my tag there. :D I'm actually one of the guy in favor of using real names, so it's possible I'm going to drop the CatsPajamas tag altogether here soon.

2.) Answered this a couple of times, but Doa's incredible to cast with on a regular basis. Have to say though, it was amazing to cast with Apollo last weekend.

3.) I was involved in the rebranding of IPL. I love our new logo as the font will age well and the shield calls sports to mind which is what I think is very important. Was really cool to be in those sorts of meeting though!

huge fan of you after your IPL4 performance, just want to say thanks on behalf of all of us who enjoyed your work.

Thanks very much. :D It means more than you know.

You recently lost lots of weight. How did you do it?

Counting calories! Just stop eating when I get to my calorie count for the day. Using http://myfitnesspal.com to track.

I like your casting but your announcing was amazing, which do you prefer/do you think you'll do more in the future?

I imagine I'll do both. I really do enjoy the announcing bit as well, and if people call on me to do that, I'll do it proudly and happily. :D However, I will say my true love is the commentating.

What do you think is missing in the Sc2 game and community in the western world that it is keeping it out of the 'main-stream' media?

Professionalism. If you look at sports (and I'm pulling these numbers out of my ass to make a point), there's about 1% hard core fans to the 99% of casual fans that just want to have a beer and go to the game. In eSports, we're looking at about 5% casual fans to 95% casual fans. As such, there's a preference by the majority of eSports fans for content that doesn't appeal to the mainstream. Once the casual numbers become larger and we have more accessible content (like the Koreans), that's when we'll see the breakthrough.

What was it like MC'ing the GSTL and being able to introduce such amazing players like that?

A dream come true. Shouting "MARINEKING.PRIMEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!" and having a crowd of a couple thousand screaming behind me was a feeling like no other. :D

I am a aspiring caster I follow the pro scene I know the builds and I know the game but my age and league are getting in my way. I am currently 14 and in Silver leauge so almost no-one takes me casts seriously the trolling and hate got to a point where I abandoned the channel and have just been casting and not uploading. I know this is just me bitching but the actual question is how did you get into casting and why did you get into casting, also what are your tips for casting and getting your self noticed.

TL;DR what to you recommend to a young caster trying to get noticed and how did you get into esports. Casting tips and tricks

Basically what Anomander said. For my detailed description go here: http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/related/ng1sp/for_my_cake_day_how_i_got_into_sc2_casting_and/

Also, shoot me a message, I'll help you out. :D

Did you know we are still mocking phoenixdark for that time you beat him on stream?

I hope so.

What do you think about what Naniwa said about Koreans sticking together against non-koreans in both korean and foreign tournaments?

Like how they share tactics and details about opponents in the name of "korean pride"?

I wouldn't be shocked if that's the case. Any time a Korean comes up against a foreigner, they're representing the image of Korean dominance over foreigners, and they have a lot of pride on the line. Honestly, I hope that just drives foreigners to play better than ever.

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I can't speak for anyone else, but I usually read all of it. I never have minded trolls because the majority of people enjoy what I do and I'm comfortable knowing that I work hard to improve every day. Plus, then you can find the people that don't like what you do but have great valid criticism. I love reading those posts!

how many of the people who you play against are korean?

Very few. :p But I'm going to take my playing very seriously, and hopefully I'll be playing on the Korean server at a decent level soon.

Your thought on HotS?

Hoping it's more BW than Warcraft III. Caster units/hero units are fun, but I want more mechanical style RTS play.

Is all of the IPL-crew in hibernation for the next weeks or will we get more of your awsome coverage soon? :)

We're in hibernation for a few days. I'm letting my voice recover now (holy balls GSTL was hard on that). But, starting next week we'll be back with the Ye Olde Map Tournament, Fight Club, and Team Arena Challenge 3 qualifiers!

I once heard Mr.Bitter said that if you are not at least diamond league ( or master i don't really remember), you can't be a good commentator because of your lack of knowledge. What is your thoughts on that?

It depends. The Van Gundy brothers have never played a day of professional basketball in their lives, but they've coached some of the best teams in the NBA. Much the same way, I think we can start to have people that know the game very well but can't play at a high level, especially as the talent pool starts to grow in SC2.

That being said, we're not there yet, and it definitely shows when commentators are playing more on a regular basis. It even helps the play by play guys as well.

May be a little early for this question, but how will IPL go about introducing HotS in its league?

You know, it's actually something we've had a lot of discussions about! If we jump in before everyone else and the competitive community rejects it, what do we do? If we're late to the show, do we lose our edge? We don't have a plan in place yet, but trust me, we're thinking about it.

what is your favorite game you have casted?

It's still Stephano vs Kiwikaki G2 from IPL3. What. The. Fuck.

Could you perhaps tell us a little about how you got into the industry?

For the super in depth version of the story, go here: http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/related/ng1sp/for_my_cake_day_how_i_got_into_sc2_casting_and/

The tl:dr version is this: I bought SC2, started playing a TON of it. That led me to /r/Starcraft and TL, which led me to streams, which led me to tournaments, which resparked an interest in the broadcasting I used to do in college. From that, I fired up a stream, continued to broadcast to larger and larger audiences until I had a shot at the big time with IGN!

Favorite Foreigner and Korean players and why?
Loved your casting this weekend, great job!

Foreigner: Stephano. Despite the fact that our relationship seems to be based on insulting each other as much as possible when we're around each other, he's truly one of the smartest and most creative players I've ever met. I have nothing but respect for the guy.

Korean: This one is tougher. At the moment, I love MKP's enthusiasm and sheer ability to play the game. As I am Protoss biased at the moment, Genius and Parting are probably my favorites to watch recently, but something in the back of my mind says that NSH.Sage is going to have a big breakthrough soon.

Is there any chance that the Apollo's Pajamas casting team will be at any upcoming events? :D

We're trying to make something work soon. It would be awesome!!!

What did you do before casting? Now that you do cast, are you going to stick with it for the long haul? Any other dreams?

A lot of things. Graduated college with a degree in History, emphasis in WWII European Theater. Idea was to become a professor, but I was tired of the academic experience after college and went to work. Bad choice. :D Started as a car salesman, then retail, then worked the phones for Enterprise Rent-A-Car before I finally ended up running their Twitter account.

I decided it was time to go back to school, so I got in to a graduate Communication Research program with the intention of exploring how companies utilized social media to drive marketing efforts. But, at about the same time, SC2 took over my life. :p

Now that I'm here, I never want to leave. I'll be in broadcast in some capacity forever as it really is my love, but I'll always hope that it will be broadcasting SC2. :D

How hard is it to stay objective when casting?

Not too hard. I don't really dislike any players or anything. While I may have favorites, it's my career to be a professional sports caster, so that means remaining impartial during matches.

Are you as nice in person as you come across during your work?

NO I HATE YOU ALL.

I hope I come across that way. I've never really felt that any problems I have in my life can measure up to some of the shit people have to deal with on a regular basis, so I don't really have any reason to complain or be angry.

"NO I HATE YOU ALL. I hope I come across that way."

ಠ_ಠ

:p

Pepsi or coke?

Green tea.

Hey CatsPajamas, huge fan. Love the work you've done at IPL over the past few months!

My question is: with the knowledge you have now, which player will be #1 in each race (protoss, terran, and zerg) by the time summer starts? So pretty much, who has an edge that will prove worthwhile in the near future? With the knowledge you have casting great players and new talent, you must have some great predictions :P

By the time summer starts, here's what I predict (can't wait for this to be quoted when I'm totally wrong :p)

Zerg -

Korean: IM.Nestea

Foreigner: Millenium.Stephano

Terran -

Korean: MarineKing.Prime

Foreigner: vile.Illusion

Protoss -

Korean: Creator.Prime

Foreigner: EG.HuK

How do the "economics" of esports work? I mean, how is it financially viable?

I think financial viability is going to be based upon us always being able to get more casual fans involved in the game. Conventional sports is not based on the 1% of hardcore fans, it's the casuals buying hats, shirts, tickets, etc. Our goal should be now to expand the audience to a large size, and then work on monetizing it.

What have you changed from when you started casting til now?

It's not as much what I've changed because my approach and work ethic has always remained the same. It's mostly the accessibility to high level SC2 games and information that I have on a regular basis now coupled with the ability to work on my craft full time. And for that, I'm eternally grateful to IGN for giving me that opportunity. :D

You were great at IPL4, particularly as MC for the GSTL finals. Keep up the good work!

I wanted to ask you: how do you and the other IPL staff go about raising your knowledge of the bleeding-edge metagame? The one thing I think Artosis brings to a cast that nobody else does is an intimate knowledge of what players are likely to do at a given time.

When I'm not at work commentating I'm at home watching streams, playing, reading /r/Starcraft, etc. I'd say between all three of those activities I'm absorbing Starcraft information about 6-10 hours a day on average. I'm trying to find a better balance of playing in that regard, as I average only 1-2 hours a day playing, but I'm getting there. :D

Kevin! After IPL3 packup we got to talking about piano and stuff. What was your favorite piece to ever perform?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xh6n0HQ4ZM

Almost have this done 100% now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzGgX1DihPw

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Periodically we do hire at the IPL, so keep your eyes on http://ign.com/ipl! Outside of casting, I'm also the talent and marketing manager. I'm actually really enjoying getting into the business side of things at the league. I kind of idolize Mr. Chae for that aspect of things and what he does for GSL.

So, I run our social media sponsor promotions, communicate and build relationships with sponsors, collaborate with IGN proper for event advertising, etc. And I commentate. A lot. Like 5 days a week. o_O It's a busy job but I wouldn't do anything else in the world.

Have you ever considered being a professional voice talent like in cartoons or commercials?

I'm actually working on a voice reel right now and preparing to start some voice acting lessons. :D So yes, I'd love to do that.

I have heard several casters (specifically most frequently Tasteless and Artosis) constantly say that you shouldn't do math on stream. However, you will regularly say something like "we have a 37 supply difference here" if it is 145 vs 108. What makes you confident enough to do this on stream (and constantly be correct)?

I've always had a knack for being able to do math like, "There's a 50 supply difference between these two players, and with 17 of that being workers, there's a 33 supply difference in army." Not sure why, but that type of thinking has always come easy to me.

How did you go about doing all the announcing for the GSTL final? Was that a spur of the moment kinda deal?

They asked me a few weeks ago as we were starting to plan the event. From that point I started studying the Korean MCs. Hope to have my pacing a bit better the next time I do it. :D

Greetings! A bunch of questions, answer whatever you can.

-As a bit of an A/V geek, I'm curious how the casting setup has evolved since you started full time at IGN. I watched some of the behind-the-scenes stuff that you posted on your Youtube channel almost a year ago, and it seemed like the hardware and general setup had almost a grassroots/hobbyist quality to it. Obviously you guys have gotten a bit more ambitious with your casting since then, so I'm curious what (if anything) has changed on the hardware/software end. Do you use XSplit or some other more full-featured broadcasting software, and do you now have a dedicated "production" person to let the casters concentrate on what they're talking about? Also, how does your setup differ during major events vs. things like TAC?

-I see you cast things like IPL Team Arena Challenge and whatnot for about 2 hours a day. Obviously that's not all you do. What's your average workday like apart from casting? Things you do, hours you work, etc. As a follow-up question, will you and HD stream any more 2v2 - 4v4 games? You know me - I dig the less-serious stuff :)

-Were you a fly on the wall after the MKP vs. Parting lagout? Can you share any juicy gossip from that? I do remember hearing PainUser say "It's just a matter of time..." bleed through a commercial after a lagout earlier during the IPL tournament, so I'm curious whether pressure from players/casters/coaches/audience is actually getting through.

-How much (if any) did you actually practice the monster truck guy voice for the GSTL player intros?

-Did I hear correctly that IPL5 is sometime in August? Is there an exact date posted anywhere yet? I ask because some of my friends and I are planning a weekend trip to Vegas sometime late this summer, and I want to point them to whatever weekend it takes place.

1.) We just recently purchased two Tricaster 850's! You'll see those in studio very, very soon. We also are using the Sennheisers every night, so audio has already taken a big step up in studio.

2.) I also run Marketing and Talent for the IPL. My past few weeks have been extremely busy prepping for IPL4, but I have a lot of daily meetings to recap what's being done for sponsors, our promotional schedule, things like that.

3.) I was not really a fly on the wall during the lag out. I knew pretty much what everyone else did.

4.) I researched quite a bit the dress and style of the Korean MCs, but threw a bit of WWF announcer in there (GOM's request). A few rehearsals later, and there we go!

5.) We don't have an exact date yet, but we should actually know very very soon!

What league are you in?

Diamond!

Hey CP, it's super awesome you're doing this, so firstly, I'd like to say thanks!

-What do you think of the current PvZ metagame?

-How will the game change when the old BW pros come over to play SC2 full time? Will this be positive or negative? Seems to me like it would absolutely CRUSH the foreigner's already slim chances in tournaments.

-Stones or the Beatles?

Not really a question, but just wanted to say you were looking really sharp at IPL4 buddy! Did you lose weight?

• I'm biased as a Protoss, because I think that super fast roach max or defensive roach play -> infestors -> tier 3 is tough to deal with, but I think Protoss players are becoming a lot more creative now as a result (the gateway expands and defensive immortal builds are my favorite right now).

• Well, this one is kind of interesting. I think that people are going to have to compete against players that are clearly among the most talented in the world. Honestly though, I think it just hurts the foreign scene the most, as it's just going to introduce more top level Korean players. Hopefully this will be the fire that will be lit under the ass of foreign teams though to structure practice a little better.

• AH Y U DO THIS TO ME. Beatles. Only because I'm really only a fan of early Stones.

And thanks so much! I am indeed down about 65 pounds. :D

Just wanted to say you killed IPL.

What is a average day in the life of CatsPajamas like?

Hoping you meant "killed it" rather than "killing eSports." :p

Answered a couple of times, but about 3 hours of actual casting, 1 hour of prep for the cast, and then 4-5 hours of business/marketing related stuff.

From your perspective, what were the problems with IPL that you all hope to address in the next one? Live and Stream-wise.

Sound issues, getting TB a visa way in advance so our casting schedule doesn't go to hell right before the event (and we need his sexy voice there :D), lots of backend stuff, which games are presented when, amount of games casted, and others. We have some stuff to improve upon. :D

What made you decide that you wanted to become a professional caster? What's your favorite memory so far related to the sC2 scene

I started broadcasting with the intention of becoming a professional sports play-by-play style broadcaster and realizing that I missed being behind a microphone for so long after I was done with my college radio days.

My favorite memory now of the SC2 scene is standing on stage MCing as MKP runs up and starts dancing after he finishes off the GSTL finals for Prime.

Who do you think are the top 5 players in sc2 skill-wise, and why?

Hmmmm, after this weekend, I'd say:

1.) MKP 2.) aLive 3.) Nestea 4.) Squirtle 5.) MMA

Out of every caster who do you look to for inspiration? who makes you think "damn this guys so good i gotta do this shit".

Also, side note. You're my fave caster along with dapollo. This weekend was amazing seeing you cast together. <3

Thanks so much!!!

I love Day9 for his dedication and personality, Artosis for his sheer casting ability, Apollo for his preparation and professionalism.

What other games are you interested in/ like to play ? all sc2, all the time?

I've been playing a ton of Realm of the Mad God recently. It's so much fun. Reminds me of when I played Geometry Wars a ton (was top 100 in that game for quite some time). Other than that, I love RPGs. Elder Scrolls series especially.

Will you ever be able/want to stream your ladder games?

Just wondering =]

Take care and good luck Sir. You are a great person!

Maybe I'll start soon, just for you!

Who is your favourite pro-player and why?

Also which players do you like to watch most/ cast their games?

I tend to watch a lot of protoss players recently as that's what I'm playing, but I LOVE watching Stephano, WhiteRa, NSH.Sage, ST.Bomber, and lots of others.

My favorite player at the moment is MKP because of the unbelievable amount of creative builds he has nailed down and also his enthusiasm for the game.

Cats, overall how do you feel IPL compares to the other major events, including gsl, and what is your take on the use of a major hotel venue by IPL comparitavely to a convention center like MLG or a studio like Gomtv. Please no bias though I know that isn't possible

Well, we're definitely working towards a studio in the future. As far as hotels vs convention centers go, I do genuinely like the hotel approach as they are full blown partners for an event rather than us needing to rent their space, so it makes a lot of sense economically. Plus, I think it's ridiculously cool walking into the Cosmopolitan versus a convention center.

If u could turn into an animal, what would you like to be?

Zebra. Fuck yeah.

Who is your favorite player to cast?

WhiteRa and MKP are always consistently the most fun and entertaining.

Hey Cats , In the interview you did at the last day of IPL was the tounament name you couldnt remember the sc2gg weekly? Cause you casted a couple of my games back then :)

I definitely remember those! There was another circuit of daily events that I just can't remember at the moment. T__T

I remember watching some of your casting with Destiny back before you were with IPL, and it was really good even though you had not been casting for a long time. What would you say your biggest casting improvement has been since going "full-time"?

Dedication to casting day in and day out. Being able to mass casts, essentially, just like players mass games has made me much more prepared for unexpected situations and how to deal with them.