Hey there! I work a side-gig as an eSports Producer. There’s lots happening depending on the types of games you like. Breakout does a ton with fighting games, there are lots of smaller shooter leagues and a community for just about every game.
If you have a specific game you like I’d be happy to try and help point you in the right direction.
Im curious if its possible to enter a game competition or something as a casual player?
Yes.
want to someday atleast try one but im not sure what game to get better at or what sites to use to enter some without making myself look like a fool?
The game to get better at is the game you enjoy most, and what sites depends on the game. You can ask again here after you decide on a game and I'm sure you'll get a good number of suggestions.
No one cares if you lose. Really. Everyone loses at some point, and if you happen to run into a dick who makes a big deal out of beating you, just say ggs and move on. It's not worth it to take the bait.
In my experience, most people are nice as long as you are, and they'll even give you advice if you ask.
I also dont want to pay because thats sort of like gambling at the start.
I think about 90% of online tournaments are free, so don't worry.
The game to get better at is the game you enjoy most, and what sites depends on the game.
This is spot on, though keep in mind that, depending on the game, you might play it so much you’ll grow to hate it. You’ll also find yourself looking at videos and guides on how to get better, effectively upping you from a casual
Small time or local competitions/tournaments are likely to only have one mr. motherfucker that will utterly destroy you. They tend to show up a lot more in fighting games, though some strategy games, like Starcraft 1/2, also have a significant number of them. If you want to avoid feeling humiliated, racing games (Gran Turismo, Forza, Project CARS) are the ones you’ll want to go for. Sports games (football, 'murican football, basketball) also have really damn good players, though it’s unlikely you’ll get humiliating losses in them after a bit of training.
As someone else mentioned, speedrunning is also an option, though it’s a lot less about direct confrontation and more about grinding the same game over and over. It’s also the easiest one to “get into”, especially if you aim at less known games. Events like AGDQ can hold head-to-head competition of 2 or more runners in the spot.
Keep in mind that some games need teamwork as much as individual skill - Marvel Rivals, Overwatch 2, League of Legends, etc.
Destiny. Played the heck out of 1, and 2 is just… Annoying. I still play, but I actively disuade people from picking it up.
It went from a mechanically fun game with garbage storytelling but amazing lore, to mechanically complex and hyper specialzed, still mostly garbage storytelling, and lore that is trying to constantly one up itself or nonexistent. The seasonal model was a mistake and it’s grindy for the sake of money. It really took a terrible turn down sitcom alley of having the seasonal content need stakes, but also not really change anything drastic. So it just feels like tasks for the sake of tasks… Which it is. A neverending treadmill where grinding has only very short lived rewards.
For me it started to go downhill with BF1, although it was still a good game, it already started trying to be a movie and not the „put C4 onto jeep, plop into jeep, drive jeep to enemy, plop out if jeep, boom“ kinda jamboree that I loved. Now it was all about getting spammed with immersive animations that just broke the flow for me. At least hardcore servers were still very enjoyable for me.
Then BFV came around and with it more animation spam on top of absolute terrible visual clarity where you had to stand still for a couple seconds and scan a room to really be sure no one‘s lying on their back in a corner (obviously you‘re long dead by then). Oftentimes I got shot by a camper and even in the killcam I couldn‘t even see the guy. As if that‘s not enough, they introduced clown skins that made you wonder if that person‘s on your side or not. Now it’s not x uniform soldiers against x uniform soldiers anymore, there‘s superheroes and supervillains running around. I hardly even played this one.
Then BF2042 came and it‘s just Apex Legends hamfisted into a BF frame as far as I‘m concerned. I didn‘t even get this until they trashed it for 2 bucks and played for like 2 hours since.
BF3 was peak, BF4 was good, BF1 was alright, then a whole lotta disappointment. I‘ll never forget the 24/7 Back to Karkand Rush server in BF3, community servers rock. Good times, sad greed made it go to shit.
BF3 was certainly really good but maybe I can show my age by saying 1942 and Vietnam were at the very least the start of the plateau, if not the real peak.
I did play a bunch of BFV but I wouldn’t say I liked it more than 1942. My time spent on BFV was mostly mucking about with friends which was probably the ideal way to play that one.
Ask yourself what niche do you want to fill, and what is that space like already? What would set you apart from others already there? What is your unique selling point, in order to get eyeballs on your videos?
Evil Genius 2. I loved Evil Genius 1 as a kid. It was far from perfect and had a lot of bugs, but it was a blast. I’m fully aware there’s a lot of rose tinted goggles going on for it in my mind. But I thought the new one would fix problems and be more enjoyable. It did improve on the first in a lot of ways, but it was so so grindy.
In EG1 you could send you minions into the world to steal money and complete missions (that gave points or loot, like stealing the Eifel Tower). I’m EG2, they kept this mechanic, but anyone you send to the world map is just gone. They cannot come back. This leads to just an annoying constant flow of recruiting more minions, training them to upgrade, and them being sent to the map forever to never return. It would perhaps be slightly better if you could increase the rate you recruit minions like the first game, but instead they always come at a constant rate and there is a button to recruit more but it’s buried in a menu. So many things in this game are buried in a menu.
Another frustration, they added a feature to automatically tag enemy agents that come to your base (to be killed, captured, distracted, etc) but they’re all under different research tiers. Why require the research at all? Right clicking agents and saying “tag for capture” is just pointless busy work. Even in the original you could hold control when you did it and it would flag the whole group. Not anymore. You can only tag one at a time.
There are just so many little things like this that made the game so annoying to play. I wanted to like it. But I just couldn’t enjoy it. The new art style is worse, too. It keeps the spy fi aesthetic but it’s much more cartoonish. The game is more diverse which is nice, the original was like all men. I also liked what they did with John Steele, the main antagonist more or less. Canonically you beat him and killed him but they pass on his mantle to new agents and train them to be like him. And they’re relatively weak, but like a constant threat.
I heard from one of the old big names of the space, AntVenom, way back when. The most important part is enjoying doing it, and I mean every part of it. You have to enjoy sitting there, talking to yourself while you play. You have to enjoy video editing. You have to enjoy collaborating with other content creators and putting a focus on making it interesting to watch more than interesting to play. If you don’t enjoy the process, you don’t actually want to do it. You want something you think you will get from it, and you won’t last.
Just pretend and give it a try. Use free (as in price) software for the first run. Play a game, something you were already interested in and just spout off to an empty room about whatever comes to mind, because that’s basically the gig. Then edit it down. This might take much, much longer than the recording. Regardless of whether you upload it or not, you get a taste. If you actually enjoy the process (not imagining what it might lead to, but the actual process) do it.
My producer, Neigsendoig, might have a good start, as I edited for him in the past.
What he tends to do is be more analytical with his work. However, in my personal opinion, based upon what you’re going for, I would personally say to find your speaking style, and then advertise to that specific demographic. Sendo (as Neigsendoig is usually referred to) tends to stick with what he does, especially when it comes to his discussions.
Long story short, find something you’re passionate about, and talk about it. YouTubers tend to well when they stick to what they’re best at.
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. In case anyone sees this and is wondering, I picked up Assetto Corsa. The price was right and it looks like what I’m looking for, for now.
I also will keep an eye on BallisticNG and a few others.
Shout out to the kind Lemming who donated their spare key for Garfield Kart - Furious Racing to me. I’ll leave them unnamed in case they don’t want the attention. I’ve been playing and enjoying it!
I think you are alone. Most people were disappointed. There were too many thing that were set to automatic. It was kind of hard to even play the game. More like just watching.
bin.pol.social
Aktywne