gamer – FULL CONTACT NERD

Overwatch League – “Young Guns” (Hachette Books, 2020) – Austin Moorhead interview

Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2WtYIRg

Austin Moorhead is a financial reporter and a gamer. He decided it would be really fun to embed himself into the Overwatch League and write a book about it so he did. We discussed the book and what it was like to be so close to the first season of this gaming league.

0:42 – Austin talks about how he got into writing about the Overwatch League.

2:56 – Austin compares video game leagues to amateur gaming.

6:51 – Austin talks about league players and the economics of their participation in the league.

7:57 – Austin talks about how Overwatch was creating a new type of video-gaming league.

8:37 – Austin talks about how the league planned to keep interest in Overwatch high.

13:42 – Austin talks about Robert Kraft’s involvement in esports and the Overwatch League.

14:54 – Austin talks about ad revenues in esports.

17:05 – Austin talks about how the Asian market compares to the US especially South Korea.

19:16 – Austin talks about the global nature of the Overwatch League.

20:37 – Austin talks about esports being shown live in stages and online.

22:57 – Austin talks about how the book discusses the financial picture of the league and then he talks about the investors, the coaches, and the players.

24:00 – Austin talks about player incomes and benefits.

26:22 – Austin talks about what it takes for a player to get picked up for these leagues.

29:18 – Austin talks about team chemistry.

31:48 – Austin talks about the book being about the first season of Overwatch League.

33:00 – Austin talks about coaching and training.

34:23 – Austin talks about the number of women in the league and attempts by the league to increase the number.

37:07 – Austin talks about having spoken to investors and how much he enjoyed that as well as interviews with the coaches and players.

40:24 – Austin talks about the personalities of the players.

42:04 – Austin talks about players who go on tilt.

43:25 – Austin talks about team leadership.

44:19 – Austin talks about how players convinced their parents to be allowed to join the leagues.

45:35 – Austin talks about getting access to players and people.

47:10 – Austin talks about hair, make up and so on for the camera.

48:39 – Austin talks about the fan experiences.

51:29 – Austin talk about cheating, hacking, and technical problems and sports betting.

56:58 – Austin can be found on twitter @fb29.

Links of interest

https://amzn.to/2WtYIRg

https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/austin-moorhead/young-guns/9780316421393/

https://twitter.com/FB29/

For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast

Guests: Austin Moorhead

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: video game, Plimpton, paper Lions, Overwatch, Video gaming, leagues, patriots, bob kraft, gamer, esports, e-sports, Blizzard, soccer, Counter-Strike, Blizzcon, fortnite, valorent, riot games, South Korea, China, gamebot, Sinatra, tilt, London Spitfire, Shock, scrim, Halo, Call of Duty, Starcraft, Magic, NRG, San Francisco, shot caller, Nate Nanzer, Olympics, football

Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2WtYIRg

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Fantasy weapons maker Matt Stagmer interview – Super Magfest 2018 – youtube

Matt Stagmer is a prolific weapons maker. He’s part of the Man At Arms reforged youtube show and he spoke to me at Magfest about his work.

1:14 – Matt was in charge of making the Optimus Prime sword handle. He loves the old school cartoon. He’s made up to 40 or 50,000 weapons over his career.

2:26 – He never really feels a weapon is finished but he has deadlines to meet so they’re done on deadline.

3:20 – Matt’s a big video gamer and games sometimes inspire him. But much of his work is history inspired. He uses lots of books and museums for history. He used to be part of some fighting societies but not anymore.

4:29 – He listens to all kinds of music and comedy while he’s working on weapons. Music inspires and helps kill the sounds of weapons making.

5:23 – He loves to hammer the tang over the pommel. He loves that last step and tries to do that on every weapon. His older brother got him into weapons making. He thought he might be an engineer or architect. Creating three-dimensional art is addictive. He’s used auto CAD and uses CNC tools to make the weapons.

7:22 – The first time he sold a folded steel Damascus sword he knew he wanted to stay with weapons making. You won’t get rich making weapons so you have to love it.

8:09 – Sword makers used to be social outcasts but Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings changed that. Weapons makers are cool now. They’re just grungy guys in a shop thought but he loves making his fans happy. Things changed around 2000 when the fantasy stuff started coming out.

10:14 – He’s a huge Zelda fan. He plays Pub G and Ark. He’s got a lightsaber handle that he can put a blade into. They’ve worked with Robert Rodriguez on a project. He loved Never Ending story and Flight of the Navigator when he was a kid. He liked a program about a football team that became knights of the Round Table (King Arthur and the Knights of Justice.)

12:04 – He wants to make some of the Star Wars hand-to-hand weapons. He wants to make Chaos Eater. He also wants to make the rapier from Princess Bride.

13:08 – He streams on twitch and his gamer tag is stalkertron. The Man At Arms: Reforged vidoes are online on AWE Me.

Links

https://playbattlegrounds.com/main.pu

http://store.steampowered.com/app/346110/ARK_Survival_Evolved/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292411/?ref_=nv_sr_2

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNKcMBYP_-18FLgk4BYGtfw

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Matt Stagmer

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: weapons, blacksmith, weaponsmaker, fantasy,