LD interview about the Summits, BTS as a company, work ethic: “In my eyes, 2015 was a major rebound year for me”

DotaBlast: How does the introduction of four Majors a year affect a company like BTS? Most of your crew will be busy a lot more than they used to, not from the hand of the company, but hired by an external body.

David “LD” Gorman: The Majors have significantly altered the Dota landscape, but it’s an evolving process, so it’s hard to say where things will land. Scheduling tournament dates and online qualifiers has become dramatically more difficult since the Majors and their qualifiers effectively block off 14+ weeks per year (and even more if you account for travel and recovery time).

When it comes to tournament crowdfunding, it’s become significantly more difficult to get cosmetic items accepted into the game for 3rd party events. Even for those that do, they have not sold nearly as well as other events in the past. Thus, organizers need to find new ways to monetize their own events in order to make them financially viable and profitable. We’re in the midst of a huge transition period, as Valve reshapes the world we inhabit.

As for our crew being hired to work the Valve events, that just comes with the territory of the Majors existing. It’s not like many people would watch a Dota 2 event run by BTS (or any other 3rd party organizer) during the Major, so ultimately the end result is the same whether our people are working those events or not – they won’t be working on Dota 2 content for BTS, regardless.

Personally, I question the work ethic of a few of the more well-known Dota 2 talent, and in the long run I think those who don’t constantly strive to improve at their craft will ultimately be left behind. I wouldn’t be too surprised at all to see some new faces taking on big roles at Valve events by the end of the year.

DotaBlast: There are more and more LAN events being organized across the world, not to mention the Majors that have been added to the LAN calendar. There must be a huge strain on casters and analysts. Do you think there is need for newcomers in the scene?

David “LD” Gorman: There’s always room for new casters and analysts, especially those who bring something unique to the table and are willing to work hard. Personally, I question the work ethic of a few of the more well-known Dota 2 talent, and in the long run I think those who don’t constantly strive to improve at their craft will ultimately be left behind.

I wouldn’t be too surprised at all to see some new faces taking on big roles at Valve events by the end of the year. The day you stop improving is the day you start falling behind!

LD, Capitalist and Purge, at The Frankfurt Major © Steffie Wunderl/ ESL

Compared to where they were a year ago, KOTLGuy and Capitalist are the two most improved play by play casters for me. But the craziest story of 2015 has to be ODPixel, who came from being virtually unknown to casting the main event at TI and the Frankfurt Major in less than a year.

DotaBlast: We couldn’t agree more! This would be a good time to give you the opportunity to speak your mind. If you were to bestow two awards for Best Caster and Best Analyst in 2015, whom would you choose?

David “LD” Gorman: No questions in my mind, best analyst of 2015 is Winter, who went from having never worked a live event to becoming a staple on the International 2015 main desk for millions of viewers around the world. He’s easily the hardest-working analyst in the scene and a veritable encyclopedia of draft and team knowledge. You don’t get to be the draft god by pure luck!

Best caster (leaving myself out of the discussion) is a tougher category for me. Compared to where they were a year ago, KOTLGuy and Capitalist are the two most improved play by play casters for me. But the craziest story of 2015 has to be ODPixel, who came from being virtually unknown to casting the main event at TI and the Frankfurt Major in less than a year.

I find it interesting, because his own rise has a lot of parallels to my own back in 2012, when I went from having never cast a game of Dota to working the main event at TI in less than 9 months. Owen is an incredible natural talent and really fun to work with, and I don’t think it’s a bold prediction to say you’re going to see a lot more of Owen Davies in 2016.

DotaBlast: So, in your opinion, ODPixel is the best play by play caster of 2015.

David “LD” Gorman: Correct!

DotaBlast: You left yourself out. What do you think about your 2015? Are you happy with the casting opportunities you got? Are you satisfied with how your casting is improving?

David “LD” Gorman: That’s an interesting question! Being self-critical is always tough.

Reviewing some of my commentary from the International and the Frankfurt Major, I found a lot of moments that I felt I did justice. In my eyes, my commentary in these moments matched every bit of the intensity and excitement that I brought to TI2 and TI3. If anything, I would point to 2014 more as a slight down year for me, which I mostly chalk up to sheer burnout.

There’s a small but vocal segment of the Dota audience that thinks I’ve “lost my passion” or “don’t have ‘it’ anymore”. I got pretty lucky with some incredible moments at TI2 (the Play) and TI3 (Sylar to Fall, They’re All Dead, Liquid are Doing It), but I also think a big part of why those moments are remembered the way they are is because they were immortalized in a hype trailer that we aired before almost every tournament broadcast for 2+ years.

Reviewing some of my commentary from the International and the Frankfurt Major, I found a lot of moments that I felt I did justice. In my eyes, my commentary in these moments matched every bit of the intensity and excitement that I brought to TI2 and TI3. If anything, I would point to 2014 more as a slight down year for me, which I mostly chalk up to sheer burnout.

In my eyes, 2015 was a major rebound year for me, and I’m looking forward to continuing my growth in 2016 and beyond. I’ll be doing my best to earn the opportunity to cast a TI/Major Grand Finals once more.

DotaBlast: After leaving BTS, Zyori talked a lot about how hard it was for him to balance casting and working in more of the management side of the company. How do you cope with that?

David “LD” Gorman: Andrew was definitely burnt out by the time he left BTS after TI5, in 2015. As with all partings, there’s always multiple sides to the story. He had quite a bit of responsibility outside of casting throughout his time with us, and feeling overworked due to those non-casting responsibilities undoubtedly contributed to his feeling burnt out at the end.

The biggest factor though was probably his desire to get in “at the ground floor”, which was never going to be as possible with BTS as it could be with Moonduck, since we were already quite established as a company and brand before he joined us.

I cope by working my ass off. I’m prone to escapist tendencies, and one of my primary forms of escape is to work constantly. It’s definitely not the healthiest lifestyle, nor is it for everyone.

BTS is still a fairly small startup company, and the nature of such companies is that people often wear multiple hats and have to juggle a wider variety of responsibilities at once. I’m quite good at multi-tasking and enjoy the challenge, but it can be overwhelming/draining at times.

I cope by working my ass off. I’m prone to escapist tendencies, and one of my primary forms of escape is to work constantly. It’s definitely not the healthiest lifestyle, nor is it for everyone. I’ve been working on finding a better balance, but changing lifelong habits isn’t easy.

Lack of balance was surely a major factor in 2014. We grew quickly in terms of the amount of content we were producing, but we lagged behind a bit in terms of hires, equipment purchases, and general expansions. This resulted in all our full-time casters having too many non-casting responsibilities to juggle (myself, Zyori, and Godz). With so much on our plates, we were often casting on minimal sleep and rarely had free time to take a step back and reflect on how to improve the quality of our commentary.

The good news is that we’ve learned a lot over the past year. In the months leading up to Zyori’s departure and especially since then, we’ve made huge strides in all those departments by hiring some really excellent people to help out behind the scenes, and I think it’s allowed BTS to scale up our capabilities dramatically moving forward. As a testament to this fact, the entire Smash Summit and a good chunk of the Summit 4 were pulled off with minimal involvement in the planning and execution from our broadcast talent, which is a huge change from past events.

Zyori, LD and GoDz, during The Summit 3 © Beyond The Summit

That’s a really big thing that we didn’t fully understand when we first started BTS; scalability is essential to ensuring the continued growth and success of any business venture. One man can only do so much; a great leader needs to know how to delegate!

DotaBlast: Let’s do three fast one-word-answer questions at the end. On a scale of one to ten (with ten being 100% and one being 1%), what are the chances of ODPixel joining BTS in 2016?

David “LD” Gorman: 3.22

DotaBlast: Are we going to see an LD bathtub interview in 2016?

LD, during The Summit 2 © Beyond The Summit

David “LD” Gorman: If I keep up with my diet and exercise routine, you very well might. I’m down 30 pounds so far; only 20 to go!

DotaBlast: Why are cats better than dogs? (Remember, you have only one word at your disposal!)

David “LD” Gorman: Poop

DotaBlast: Thank you for taking some time out of your tight schedule and for all of your incredibly in-depth answers! Any last words?

David “LD” Gorman: Shoutout to the entire BTS crew, and especially the behind the scenes heroes who have been so essential to our success this past year and who never get the credit the talent do (Rob, RMP, Roland, Kpoptosis, Blaze, Mccormic, and Samet, amongst others)!

I truly believe we have assembled the best squad in esports, and I can’t wait to kick ass and run some awesome events for Dota 2 and more in 2016.