Game Rant recently conducted an interview with Amber Howard, the new Head of Talent at TalentX Gaming (TXG), a collaboration between esports leader ReKTGlobal and TalentX Entertainment. Howard has been influential in launching and maintaining the careers of many successful content creators and esports figures following her extensive experience in talent management at both the NFL and Machinima. Our conversation ranged from the industry-wide effects of the Mixer shutdown to the importance of diversity in gaming, but the bulk of our time was spent discussing what makes a good content creator, and how esports pros achieve success.
The answer to what makes a good entertainer is far more complicated than it might first seem, but if anyone can illuminate the path to success as a streamer, it's Howard, who has names like Alpha Gaming's Harris Heller, P2istheName, ZombiUnicorn, AtomicMari, and Ewok under her wing. As content creation, esports, and streaming all grow into ever-more-popular platforms for success, it's important to know how individual creators can form a community and find their home in what Howard describes as "the wild wild west" of the rapidly changing gaming entertainment industry.
Versatility is Key
Our first question right off the bat was simply: what makes a good content creator or esports professional? Howard was quick to respond with a wide array of examples that all led to one common factor- versatility.
I’m really looking for talent that is interested in multiple opportunities... talents who are open to exploring... something other than the platform that they're already on. If they're on YouTube, is there interest in merchandising? In traditional voiceover, hosting, acting, shoutcasting?... On the esports side, obviously you’re looking for a player who is good at the game, probably multiple games, but also someone with enough personality that we could look into content creation or something outside of esports.
Howard noted that an important part of being an esports personality is, in fact, having a personality. Many people follow esports not just to see high-level play and pick up strategies, but also because of the spectacle of competition between people who are relatable. Howard is of the opinion that, at a base level, there is little that an average player can relate to in purely hardcore competition. She believes that a relatable personality is what makes pros stand out from the crowd.
There are certainly plenty of content creators and streamers who venture into professional play, and likewise, many esports pros such as Shroud find more success as streamers than they ever had in pro league. When asked how important gaming skill is to an entertainer, Howard explained that there are "two buckets to tap into." While many people will come to watch out of a respect for skill, to gain knowledge, or see talented play, "if you're an entertainer, say like Doc [referring to Dr Disrespect], people are going to come and watch you because you are such an entertainer."
Being Responsible for a Community
As illustrated by figures such as Dr. Disrespect, the significance of an individual's personality in content creation can be a double edged sword. While any one individual can now achieve a massive degree of fame and success on the internet through the strength of their own personality, it also means that the individual is fully responsible for their own actions, with no one to answer to but themselves, their fans, and occasionally their platform. While Howardsuggested that one of the upsides of individuals having so much potential for unbridled creativity is that they often gain a holistic understanding of both entertainment and business, she also described some of the more serious implications.
I hammer into my talent all the time: 'you are a public figure.' Often they get that to the extent that they feel they have a community and they feel safe there, but sometimes I’ve had to reel talent in because it’s not just their community that’s following them. There are brands, possible future opportunities watching them. They have to be careful and put context behind what they say even if they're passionate about it. Twitter is great, it can be a great platform, but it can also be the death of talent.... I had to speak with a talent last week about being careful about what’s said in DMs, because people will screenshot it and put it out there and not everyone is their friend.
Certainly, being on the internet at all means giving up some level of privacy, and being in a community, especially as the focal point of a community, means accepting quite a lot of responsibility. Howard expressed that the double bind of public visibility and responsibility is something that many creators- especially young creators- find themselves unprepared for. A large portion of creators are young people, and the exceeding majority of small creators just starting out are practically on their own. As streaming platforms crack down on the content they host, the need for streamers of any level to be careful about their actions only increases.
Despite the challenges of being a content creator, there is also incredible potential for positive change and free expression. In particular, her client Ewok serves as an excellent example, helping to forge a path for better accessibility standards in both games and streaming platforms. As Howard herself said, "[Content creation] isn't going anywhere.... now that its becoming more mainstream it’s only going to continue to grow and expand."
Read the full interview with TXG's Amber Howard here.