It's Gamer Tuesday again folks and you know what that means, right? Another insightful article from the folks of vVv Gaming. If you ask me, the stuff they've been sharing over the last few months has been pure gold. Whether talking about how to get started as a pro gamer, or helping noobs when you're established, this series of posts has really opened my eyes to the world of eSports and pro-gaming. I really hope you guys have been enjoying them too! So, without further ado...
Becoming a Pro Gamer: Getting Known - By Jerry "LordJerith" Prochazka
One challenge that every competitive gamer faces is how to demonstrate their skills and talents in order to network with other more established and experienced gamers. Players want to meet the best players and want to get their attention. In short, new players want to get known.
Read more after the jump!
Becoming a Pro Gamer: Getting Known
Assuming that you have taken the steps to get a capture card, join a community, and perhaps started looking for a team, you still must understand how to get the attention of experienced gamers. I want to share a few pointers that will help speed up the process by which people come to easily recognize your name. This process includes creating personal montages, posting on forums and adding people to your friends lists (Xbox Live, steam, in-game, etc.).
Montages
For the purpose of this discussion, I'm going to assume that you have your capture card working and you have installed software that will allow you to edit the footage that you have captured. A few important things to remember when editing your montages:
Forum Posts
Just like montages are used to demonstrate your gameplay, forum postings are designed to demonstrate your knowledge about the game and showcase your personality. Do not be afraid to ask questions and offer polite advice related to the games you play, as well as, and I really mean this, show people you can have fun. Demonstrate your intelligence and sense of humor. People want to team with people they like. Always write your forum posts thinking that a future teammate could be reading and deciding whether or not to team with you (or practice with you).
Friend Requests
Never send random friend requests with no explanations. A polite message introducing who you are and why you sent the friend request is critical. Many players will reject friend requests because they get them from random people all the time. Take the time to introduce yourself, and you will increase your chances of meeting new players.
Something often overlooked by players is keeping in contact with the people who already are on their friends list. If you're looking for a team or need a player for your team, politely let people know what you need and also ask them to spread the word for you. Again, don't blindly spam your friends list, but pick and choose the people who would be interested or are in a position to help you.
If you take the time to do these three simple things, you will stand out from gamers who make terrible montages, troll forums with inflammatory and derogatory posts and send random friend requests. These simple steps will do more to help you get known because the often anonymous world of online gaming is filled with some of the worst behavior, and by taking just a little bit of time to demonstrate maturity and professionalism, you will quickly earn the respect of people who will be willing to evaluate your skills and help you develop your game.
Is this a montage for Modern Warfare 2 or Guns and Ammo?
For the purpose of this discussion, I'm going to assume that you have your capture card working and you have installed software that will allow you to edit the footage that you have captured. A few important things to remember when editing your montages:
- Focus on your strengths: As an example, let's say you're a great sniper. Be sure that you include numerous examples of difficult sniper shots (target in cover, target moving quickly, etc.).
- Make it organized and specific: For example, put all of your headshots together. If you're going to highlight how you move or communicate, make sure that it is very clear as to what makes this footage special. Don't be afraid to use voiceover to make sure your audience does not miss why you are proud of this particular segment of gameplay.
- Keep it short: There are many, many montages in existence today. If I were a hunter, and I was killing dozens of montages every day, believe you me, montages are not at risk of extinction. Your audience has probably seen dozens of these montages. Make it interesting, to the point and keep it short. Think of it as an audition tape. Make it short and focused so that the viewer can immediately identify your best skills.
This troll is worse than the Red Ring of Death!
Forum Posts
Just like montages are used to demonstrate your gameplay, forum postings are designed to demonstrate your knowledge about the game and showcase your personality. Do not be afraid to ask questions and offer polite advice related to the games you play, as well as, and I really mean this, show people you can have fun. Demonstrate your intelligence and sense of humor. People want to team with people they like. Always write your forum posts thinking that a future teammate could be reading and deciding whether or not to team with you (or practice with you).
Are you a gamer, a bot or a stalker?
Never send random friend requests with no explanations. A polite message introducing who you are and why you sent the friend request is critical. Many players will reject friend requests because they get them from random people all the time. Take the time to introduce yourself, and you will increase your chances of meeting new players.
Something often overlooked by players is keeping in contact with the people who already are on their friends list. If you're looking for a team or need a player for your team, politely let people know what you need and also ask them to spread the word for you. Again, don't blindly spam your friends list, but pick and choose the people who would be interested or are in a position to help you.
If you take the time to do these three simple things, you will stand out from gamers who make terrible montages, troll forums with inflammatory and derogatory posts and send random friend requests. These simple steps will do more to help you get known because the often anonymous world of online gaming is filled with some of the worst behavior, and by taking just a little bit of time to demonstrate maturity and professionalism, you will quickly earn the respect of people who will be willing to evaluate your skills and help you develop your game.
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44 Comments
vVv Chibees said:
this is soo true! haha good stuff once again LJ!
Great post, the pics are madd funny. way to go!
im pro....lol jk..good read real true, ill try too get some montages of my pro-ness up soon..
Infliction said:
Something people learn over time, for sure. But this is certainly sure to help people even quicker.
vVv Miracles said:
This is a really good post. Im gunna start recording again. :)
vVvMrsViolence said:
Lmfao @ the Forum troll. :D
vVvZach said:
Im already known and that troll thing got stolen from sage, he was posting it this morning in the SB Im more known than MrsV
GeekToMe said:
Uh yeah, well I've heard of vVvMrsViolence but I've never heard of you. LOL!
Sorry,
Elliott
vVv Mr Jones said:
Sage got it from me :P
vVvPerilous said:
I do believe that this is true but most dicks I mean "pros" will want to charge you to be on their friends list... DO NOT PAY TO BE ON SOMEONES FRIENDS LIST!
Exohdus said:
Excellent article, forum trolls ftw! And I agree Perilous, it will be a cold day in hell before I pay anyone to be on their fr list, lol.
Ishmail P said:
Becoming a pro gamer (especially with all the tough competition out) is definitely a feat to behold for anyone that can do it and it isn't a position to be taken lightly. Great article as usual.
So about the montage stuff. I am a racing gamer,and it seems more difficult to highlight and showcase your skill through a montage....Maybe what would some other suggestions be? also great article very helpful stuff.
vVv Gaming said:
Great question. Your best bet as a racer is tournament results. As tournaments spring up for the game, you want to place well, and make sure you have links/pics to prove your results. Sometimes, leaderboards (depending on the game) can be helpful.
Privileges said:
very good write up jerry, getting known helps alot when trying to make it somewhere with gaming, and being polite is very good , like said in the article people will team with people they like to play with, being someone unfriendly will make it no where. -- vVv TyPolur
vVv Brock said:
Haha, the forum troll pic was awesome. Good advice again, as usual. Getting noticed definitely isn't easy, but nobody ever accomplishes anything just by sitting and hoping for something to happen.
vVvTheHybrid said:
lol great article those pics made me lol irl
Perfect iz vVv said:
Great article. Half the pros are friendly and if you atleast add them and tell them who you are and why your adding them it's most likely they will add you
vVv The Turtle said:
This is all so true. I personally don't accept random friend requests unless they send "A polite message introducing who they are and why they sent you the friend request". For example if I get a friend request from xXSnIp3rxX I'll think wow this kid is bad but if I recieve a message that says for example "Hey, I'm a vVv applicant and I've decided to add you as a friend to help get to know the vVv members and to get myself on good terms with the vVv community" then I would accept the friend request gladly. Again another Amazing article...Keep um coming Jerry!
Brandon Rutt said:
Great write-up
vVvRaptureEhUno said:
Having Rapture as your gamertag = known.
But seriously, great article and pretty vital for anyone trying to get somewhere in this field. Sometimes you just get rejected due to arrogance, but you'll hopefully strike a cord with some players and get somewhere.
Awesome article.
vVv Forsaken said:
Social networking is HUGE in team based games. You have to dive in and start somewhere, but try to be chill and dont burn bridges. Old teammates can come back to help you get on better teams in the future.
Realist said:
man every statement is so true here, i never watch long boring montages, and i always deny random friend requests. great article!
vVvDoomhammer said:
I think this article is really smart and to the point. These three tenets are very important in terms of making a good name for yourself and not pissing people off or wasting their time.
Great article, especially with the pc competitive gaming atmosphere. Being a girl in professional l4d2 we definitely get the "random friend request" all the time, so definitely introduce yourself first!!!
vVv Addiction said:
Those are the best pics for this lol. Another great article!
Dream said:
this is pretty much well thought out and put together to make sense, nicely done
vVv Enmity said:
making montages is fun. it also helps to showcase your skills to better players
FIowSicK said:
I'm liking these write ups and am actually really curious on writing one,
Trivial said:
great write up LJ.
This was a very solid article 'LordJerith' covered a lot of strong points especially on the montages I couldn't agree more, it should demonstrate your skills but your teamwork even more. Overall I thought a lot of strong points were made in this article.
It's Mannerlystar by the way!
EMOzUkA said:
Awsome man
vVv Sypher said:
fucking forum trolls. i think remaining humble and worrying about how to be a soilder is more important. getting known is going to come anyways
All of these are good guidelines that should be followed.
vVvFear said:
Awesome article!
Niccom said:
"Many players will reject friend requests because they get them from random people all the time." This will for sure help you get friends.
Corrrupt said:
Forum troll card is B.A.
ily emo said:
LMFAO forum troll
Cauterize said:
Great article. Gotta love those Trolls, amirite?
GnomepoleaN said:
All of these articles are awsome! Can't wait to see more :D
If you pay to be on someones friends list you need to get your head checked. I hate when I get FR with no explanation on how they may know me, always ends up getting denied. Great article!
Kris Burger said:
Known Status?
FyasKo said:
lollll forum troll. i bought a cap in april and still havent used it lol, guess i gotta start recording :) awesome read!
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