Want to be a professional shoutcaster? In Southeast Asia, it’s not as far away as it seems

For many young gamers in Asia, working in eSports is something to aspire to. Some crave the fame and fortune of being a professional player; others dream of organizing leagues, minding teams, or even running tournaments on the ground.

But for the majority of Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular (we’re not counting the South Koreans and the Chinese because those two countries are a class apart), opportunities for careers in eSports are few and far between. Sometimes you just aren’t given the chance, and sometimes you don’t know where to start.

Sometimes, though, you get lucky.

Donovan ‘Wolf’ Foo and Chris Lim are 22-year-old Singaporeans who cast for the Garena Premier League (GPL). The university students have had no prior professional shoutcasting training or experience, but now take turns featuring in each week’s GPL matches.

How did they get a chance to do this? Sheer luck. The GPL used to be helmed by one full-time shoutcaster and three other part timers; one of the latter going on holiday led to a gap in the schedule, and when the full-timer called it quits, Lim — who was friends with one of the part time casters — came highly recommended. Later, when opportunity reared itself, he took the chance to pull Foo into the fracas as well. So if you’re looking to become a shoutcaster yourself, the best thing you can do is get involved and start meeting people in the scene. You never know who might give you your first foot in the door.

It’s not all fun and games as you might expect, though. ESports, and casting by extension, is serious business. Each session lasts five hours, with only short five-to-ten minute breaks in between, making the casters’ part-time gig as grueling as a full-time one, especially when they have to cover for each other owing to scheduling conflicts.

There is also no direction coming from Garena, meaning each show’s direction and content is entirely the onus of the casters. Every production has an average of just two crew members on the production end. Foo theorized the lack of direction could be due to Garena’s lack of expertise in directing talent, and a lack of time on its part, but added that “there are signs [Garena] wants to be more engaged.” Still, the shoutcasters are “quite independent when it comes to research and content,” Foo said, adding that Lim and himself were also now confident enough to hold their own in productions.

Of course, the casters are adequately compensated for their pains. While — as with all creative jobs — aspiring shoutcasters sometimes have to work for free to cement their reputations, Lim and Foo are lucky enough to be paid per match, and to be paid “very very decently for a part-time job in Singapore”. Additional perks include a staff discount at the Garena store and a 30% discount at the Garena Cafe.

On top of that, both Lim and Foo feel that the GPL gives them the “opportunity to cast in high production value shows,” and getting practice casting games with high levels of play is definitely a perk. Shoutcasting for Garena also helped Lim with his public speaking: “Before I started, I never thought that I could do well on camera,” he said, adding that he is now also motivated to work harder in his present endeavours at work and school.

Both Lim and Foo are young, and as with most of us, they’re not sure where life is going to take them. Foo is planning to apply for an internship with Riot Games, while Lim will have a work placement in Las Vegas in a couple of years. One thing they do know for sure, though, is that they’re going to continue shoutcasting the GPL for as long as they can.