And now for something completely different: being a professional

This week, while I still worked on my capstone project "What is E-Sports", the focus was professional development, and my brand identity.

Professional Image

I have a fairly established brand under the alias "Mattc0m." I choose to even use this alias on my business card or other places where a brand logo may appear. For professional reasons, however, I've left the alias "Mattc0m" absent from my resume.

• Personal website: www.mattc0m.com (currently re-designing, but is a big step up from the previous site)
• Resume: PDF Download (designed / finalized this weekend)
• MyCeeVee: Online (online resume)
• Twitter: twitter.com/mattc0m (new background / theme)
• Business Card: Coming Soon

I worked on this essentially the entire weekend (the resume and work experience). Took a good amount of work, but I'm happy with my results none-the-less. 

Fun fact: There is over 34,000 search results for "Mattc0m" on Google... all of which are me! Sometimes using the same alias for everything has unknown repercussions. Thus, it's always important to look like a young professional no matter what the setting is -- Google will find it!

What is E-Sports Progress

This week I focused on some contacting previous partners, discussing the idea, and discussing it with them.  Things were largely discussion-based at this point, but support is slowly getting garnered.

The big progress was the creation of a survey I intend to send out to fellow gamers, peers from school, to my Facebook and Twitter friends, e-mail to family, and more. My goal is to get over 100 responses. I'm hoping for 200 responses total.

However, the challenge is not in sending out a survey, but the creation of one. Originally, I thought creating a survey would be easy and the challenge would lie in getting responses. However, in order to get the results I'm looking for, I have to be very careful in how I construct the questions, setup demographics, and essentially find useful information in the process.

This type of information gathering is a completely new step for me, but I'm enjoying the challenge. I've done some research and reading into how to create a successful survey.

READING

• "Survey Design"
  http://www.surveysystem.com/sdesign.htm
• "Smart Survey Design" by Survey Monkey
  http://s3.amazonaws.com/SurveyMonkeyFiles/SmartSurvey.pdf
• "Creating Good Interview and Survey Questions"
  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/559/06/

Currently, the survey is in pre-testing. I am still not completely satisfied with it. Suggestions would be more than welcome.

I've also created a simplistic Gantt chart of the project's estimated progress. You can view it online.

The Proposal: What is eSports?

This is the first draft of an e-mail message I plan on constructing and sending to vital figures within the eSports industry. It is still a work in progress.

I want to be frank, there's a problem with e-sports and it needs to be addressed. This is why I'm asking for your support, critique, and input into a new project that has already begun.

The problem is: there exists an entry barrier into the world of e-sports. Newcomers have a hard time understanding the scene, and looking in from outside the "world" of e-sports can be an ordeal. The competitive gaming scene is not a very well organized. And even though I hate to say it, we’re really self-centered. It’s hard for newcomers to get a grasp on what is going on.

This needs to end. We can provide a solution, a resource where newcomers can gather the basis of knowledge needed to really understand what e-sports is all about. I want to make eSports more approachable and entertaining for newcomers, but mainly I would like a destination to make it simply understandable. Give the basics, define the vocabulary, show off the games, have a few videos, and then link them to the “real world” for further exploration of the scene.

And instead of telling people about the appeal of e-sports, part of our goal is to show what makes e-sports appealing. By showcasing some of the best stories, events, videos, interviews, and more—we can paint a picture of what makes the eSports scene so interesting.

We hope that other e-sports sites integrate the content, as well. We're looking for contributors, partners, and essentially avenues to ensure this is a success. We would release all the content under Creative Commons, so it’d be free and open to all.

Hopefully you’ll join us on our journey to create a simple, effective resource for eSports newcomers.

Signed,
Matt "Mattc0m" Richards

In other news...
Project Milestones Reached

• Domain name registered
• Shared with with initial partners
• Sent out feelers to my existing network of e-sports industry figures

Looking Forward: Senior Capstone Objectives

The New Project

Potential new logo for the project

The project is still tentative, yet this encompassed many learning objectives and also be a unique, new resource that has the unique position of becoming a key part of the emerging eSports industry. Titled "What is eSports?", it is a new website that provides an introduction to the esports scene.

Objectives

• Web Design
  A personal strength, this will allow me to communicate vast amounts of information in as clear and concise manner as possible.
  
• Web DevelopmentBy launching on a stable platform that allows for collaboration, updates, and expansion into the future, we'll remain a viable resource for years to come.
• Content Partnerships
  By finding key eSports experts and advocates, we hope to create a universal and agreed-on introduction that is inclusive, comprehensive, and not opinionated.
• Establishing Key Partners
  We need to not only make a name for ourselves, but attach ourselves to the success of other popular eSports ventures. By offering a unique service (an easy to use, step-by-step resource for newcomers), we hope that the eSports community will eagerly accept our
• New Media Marketing
  From social media to low-cost advertising to guerrilla marketing, we'll employ multiple tactics to create a positive buzz and strong word-of-mouth for our launch.

The ultimate goal is not only to become a usable, functional website; but to become the industry-recognized resource for an introduction to e-sports. 

This project will combine my past experience with Games Cast TV, Quake Live TV, and other esports ventures, and is a great new opportunity to focus on a content-driven website. A major focus will be our partnerships. We must partner with key figures in the industry, popular communities, and industry-leading websites in order to become the definitive resource as an introduction to eSports.

Why the change?

Originally, my plan was to finally launch the often-delayed Games Cast TV as a final product, create a formalized business plan, create a new marketing drive, and finally push the entire project out the door. However, there is a few problems with Games Cast TV.

First, I did a large amount of work for the WV Business Plan Competition, where the plan succeeded into the semifinalist round as a competitor for $10,000. However, I ran into a large amount of difficult when it came to defining what eSports was and why it mattered.

Second, the Games Cast TV development relies largely on the shoulder of my partner, Steve "GreasedScotsman" Huff. However, he's recently become a father, which means he's largely dedicated to actually being a good dad. And it's hardly fair to ask for a big time commitment when there is something far more important going on in his life.

Third, this change is something that fits very well into the original theme of my Capstone project, anyway. For my Capstone on Games Cast TV, I had a third (if not more) of my resources going into defining what eSports was, how big the industry was, and how it was growing. However, it failed to answer why eSports matters.

By changing my focus 100% onto the industry, I can still highlight my experiences with QLTV and GCTV, while really creating a new story about what eSports is, and in a way that's easily communicable. It's not just about defining eSports, but about how the scene is growing, changing, and become something culturally relevant in the US and around the world.

I, for one, am excited for the change and hopefully my director will agree with the new path this project has taken.