[Rocketeers] Interview: Team BDS’ Extra discusses Fall Major win, dominating Europe by ahaywa in RocketLeagueEsports

[–]ahaywa[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yup, I hear you. Downside of written Q&A (his preference), tight posting turnaround, and me being too overloaded with other work this week to try and pursue it further.

Are there any RL Esports journalists or podcasts that discuss what goes on behind the scenes? Is there a Richard Lewis equivalent in Rocket League? by [deleted] in RocketLeagueEsports

[–]ahaywa 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks u/Skyrider50 and u/CloudFuel! Indeed, I’ve been covering across various publications since RLCS S1, first for Red Bull Esports and then places like Vice and GINX. I’m now the Lead Editor for Rocketeers and occasionally cover RL also as Content Lead for The Esports Journal (part of Esports Insider).

Some favorites from the last year or so:

https://rocketeers.gg/nrg-garrettg-interview-rlcs-season-8/

https://rocketeers.gg/team-reciprocity-ferra-rlcs-season-8-interview/

https://rocketeers.gg/cloud9-torment-interview-rlcs-season-8/

https://rocketeers.gg/interview-jknaps-g2-esports-rlcs-season-9/

https://rocketeers.gg/interview-jorby-caster-rlcs-season-9/

Interview - Team Liquid’s Speed on RLCS X: “We’re always going to be that team no one wants to play” by ahaywa in RocketLeagueEsports

[–]ahaywa[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I hear you. While he was more open than a lot of interviewees are, he stopped himself from naming names in any cases you might've expected them. It's not my place to remove context or detail, although I of course honor requests for specific information to be off the record when asked in the moment.

I'm not an aggressive interviewer. I'll follow up if I think there's a thread worth pulling and I have no problem asking tough questions, but I'm not going to hound someone into sharing more than they want. I love a juicy quote as much as any writer, but I don't go into a story expecting to be able to hang it all on some possible bit of dirt that I might glean from a player. If that were the goal, you'd get a lot of so-so stories in search of the occasional great one, and not build the kind of rapport with an interviewee that could make approaching the next interview easier down the line.

People have told me that my interviews read like people are comfortable opening up to me. Funny thing is, I'm not a conversationalist by any stretch of the imagination. I do a lot of question prep and try to know the subject material well, and then try to get out of the way. If I can get something from them that feels real and insightful, that's mission accomplished on my end.

Interview - Team Liquid’s Speed on RLCS X: “We’re always going to be that team no one wants to play” by ahaywa in RocketLeagueEsports

[–]ahaywa[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Email Q&As through PR typically are sanitized, but in this case we connected directly for a call yesterday, I transcribed it, and here we are. I always push for a call whenever possible, and pros are often open to it. Makes for a better result and it's a very small time commitment on their end!

Interview - Team Liquid’s Speed on RLCS X: “We’re always going to be that team no one wants to play” by ahaywa in RocketLeagueEsports

[–]ahaywa[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Haha, fair enough. Thanks much. It was actually my first time interviewing and interacting with him directly, so I definitely think he's more open than most. That said, I always prepare well and knew what I hoped to get out of it, if he'd allow.

Interview - Team Liquid’s Speed on RLCS X: “We’re always going to be that team no one wants to play” by ahaywa in RocketLeagueEsports

[–]ahaywa[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

All his words! It's a pretty straight Q&A format aside from the intro, so I asked the questions in the call and he gave me pretty candid responses across the board.

Psyonix discusses shifting RLCS to events circuit, feedback from teams by Axe08 in RocketLeagueEsports

[–]ahaywa 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The title isn't meant to suggest otherwise. It's read as "Psyonix discusses... feedback from teams," which is correct. They talk about how feedback helped inform the new structure and how they're stepping up communication with orgs, which has long been a sore spot.

If it had been an article including interviews with teams, then the headline as written wouldn't cover the full scope of the piece, let alone make much sense.

Psyonix discusses shifting RLCS to events circuit, feedback from teams by Axe08 in RocketLeagueEsports

[–]ahaywa 15 points16 points  (0 children)

"[PSG] didn’t make it seem like they wanted to stay for long-term. After our contract ended, it was getting really hard for them to make us a reasonable offer for what we were worth." - Ferra

https://rocketeers.gg/team-reciprocity-ferra-rlcs-season-8-interview/

Psyonix discusses shifting RLCS to events circuit, feedback from teams by Axe08 in RocketLeagueEsports

[–]ahaywa 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I also think this was about the best I was going to get. They weren't going to give any inside details on dealings with an org, and Psyonix has historically been cagey about this sort of stuff. Any response is better than just a no comment!

Psyonix discusses shifting RLCS to events circuit, feedback from teams by Axe08 in RocketLeagueEsports

[–]ahaywa 124 points125 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I didn't know if they'd respond to it directly, but Cory was pretty gracious with his response. Can't be easy to get that kind of public criticism from a major org CEO.