Nick Plott

Last updated

Nick Plott
Tasteless at ESL StarCraft 2 Masters Dreamhack Winter 2023 Atlanta.jpg
Plott at ESL StarCraft Masters 2023 Winter
Born (1984-08-11) August 11, 1984 (age 40)
Grenoble, France
NationalityAmerican
Other names"Tasteless"
Alma mater Regis University
Occupation Esports commentator
Relatives Sean Plott [1]

Nicolas Plott (born August 11, 1984), known by his alias Tasteless, is an American esports commentator. He moved to Seoul, Korea in 2007 to give commentary to esports competitions. [2] He has provided commentary for multiple Starcraft and Starcraft 2 tournaments. Together with Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski, he currently provides commentary for Global StarCraft II League and AfreecaTV StarLeague games.

Contents

Early life

Plott grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, along with his brother Sean Plott, who is also an e-sports commentator. [3] [4] Upon graduation from high school, he attended Regis University in Denver studying philosophy and psychology, and was a member of the parliamentary debate team. [5] [6] He considered law school and philosophy dual Ph.D. programs but instead pursued StarCraft full-time. [5]

StarCraft career

Player

Plott and his younger brother Sean bought a copy of StarCraft from a local video game store in 1998 after hearing about the game's popularity. [5] The brothers would watch each other play while offering gameplay advice. [5] They played casually online, but were hampered by a slow Internet connection. [5] They visited a nearby Internet café where they met players about five years older who would play and beat them. [5] This loss and the ensuing trash-talk were an early inspiration for the brothers to hone their skills, though they never returned to the café. [5]

With the advent of high-speed Internet, the brothers played StarCraft competitively on Korean servers. [5] They entered and won tournaments while in high school. [5] Plott became uninterested in school when it did not let him incorporate StarCraft into his studies. [5] He played the game through high school and college. [5]

"My job basically entails me dissecting the game and making something that is consumable for a regular viewer, so we talk about the strategies but we try to do that without too much gamer terminology and we also try to connect with our viewers. Most of our viewers are between the ages of 15 and 32 so we try to incorporate a lot of humour with nerd culture and talk about other games - but we are basically entertainers."

—Nick Plott, 2015 [3]

Commentator

Upon losing to his brother early in the World Cyber Games 2005 finals, Plott watched the rest of the games as a spectator. [5] He became frustrated by the tournament commentator's inexperienced handling of in-game nuances and requested to co-host the commentary, which was a success. [5] He received offers to commentate without pay in Europe, Japan, and Singapore. [5]

In Plott's last semester of college, Korean broadcasting company GOM TV invited him to provide English commentary for competitive Starcraft: Broodwar series as part of a strategy to extend their reach. [5] [7] He dropped out of college and arrived in Seoul within a week. [5] In Korea, Plott slept on friends' couches and worked as a caster where he could. [5] This did not guarantee a career or easy move, but offered Plott an opportunity to make a career of his StarCraft commentary and become the first Western StarCraft commentator, or caster, in South Korea in 2007. [8] Plott provided commentary for the Star Invitational, with around 75,000 viewers for the finals, and 3 seasons of the Averatec-Intel Classic. [7] Plot was joined by Susie 'lilsusie' Kim as co-caster for one season of the Avertec-Intel Classic. Plott first met Kim at BlizzCon in 2005. [9]

Stemkoski and Plott at a 2011 South Korean StarCraft tournament Artosis and Tasteless at 2011 South Korean StarCraft tournament (6012884181).jpg
Stemkoski and Plott at a 2011 South Korean StarCraft tournament

As StarCraft II's launch neared, Plott and another American commentator living in Seoul, Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski, had individually amassed followings, and had the interest of commercial broadcast networks. [5] The two began casting together and became known by a portmanteau of their nicknames, Tasteless and Artosis, as Tastosis. [5] Before this partnership, the two knew each other through their former competitive gaming careers, but became friends in Korea. [5] Polygon attributed their success to their "magic" dynamic from complementary personalities, with Plott bold and sociable, and Stemkoski encyclopedic and analytic. [5]

A crowdfunded documentary about their careers, Sons of StarCraft, was released in 2014. [10] [11]

Plott and Stemkoski prepare separately, with Stemkoski constantly watching StarCraft matches and Plott studying commentary from non-traditional sports and major StarCraft news. [5] Together, they incorporate team histories and their respective strategies into their commentary. [5] Plott has said that he considers Tastosis' nuanced readings of player tactics and their eventualities as a "gateway" for bringing unfamiliar crowds into StarCraft. [5] Due to the age range of their audience being 15–32, they try to incorporate humor as well. [3]

Plott cast alongside Stemkoski at the 2012 StarCraft II World Championship Series Europe finals, [12] Australian and Oceania finals, [13] and UK nationals, [14] DreamHack Winter 2011, [15] IGN Pro League Season Two, [16] and Major League Gaming 2012 Spring Arena, [17] Raleigh, [18] [19] and 2011 Orlando. [20] Plott was among the first group to sign to the electronics sports agency eSports Management Group in 2012. [21]

In a StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Easter egg, two in-game characters are named after the casters. [22]

In 2016, AfreecaTV brought back Starcraft: Broodwar competition with the AfreecaTV Starleague. Both Plott and Stemkoski were English commentators. [23]

In 2017, Plott as well as his brother and Stemkoski hosted an event marking the release of Starcraft Remastered. [24]

In an interview with the Korea Times , Plott stated: "Since I was a little kid, I always wanted to come to Korea because this is the place where the StarCraft tournaments were started." [2]

Personal life

In his free time, Tasteless regularly streams Starcraft gameplay on his Twitch Channel in which he typically plays as Protoss. [25] As of December 2022 he has over 53,000 followers on Twitch.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>StarCraft</i> in esports

The real time strategy (RTS) computer game StarCraft had an active professional competition circuit, particularly in South Korea. The two major game channels in South Korea, Ongamenet and MBCGame, each ran a Starleague, viewed by millions of fans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bisu (gamer)</span> South Korean Starcraft player

Kim Taek-yong, known by his screen name Bisu[Shield] or simply Bisu, is a professional South Korean StarCraft player, playing the Protoss race. Famed primarily for sublime performance in the StarCraft: Brood War professional competitions against Protoss and, especially, Zerg, Bisu scored three successful Starleague performances, the most of any Protoss player. Bisu was nicknamed the Revolutionist for innovating the metagame of Protoss versus Zerg matchup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaedong</span> South Korean professional StarCraft player

Lee Jae-dong, who plays simply under the name Jaedong, is a South Korean professional StarCraft: Brood War player and former StarCraft II player, playing most recently for team Evil Geniuses prior to his StarCraft II retirement. After retiring from StarCraft II, Jaedong returned to playing SC:BW. Announced as a full-time streamer on 12 November 2016, he made his return to the tournament scene a week later during the 2016 KT GiGA Legends Match lll. Using the Zerg race in both games, Lee is considered one of the most successful StarCraft players of all time, having won five OnGameNet Starleague (OSL) and MBCGame StarCraft League (MSL) tournaments, and earning over $600,000 in tournament prize money. His other nicknames include The Tyrant and The Legend Killer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flash (gamer)</span> South Korean esports player (born 1992)

Lee Young-ho is a South Korean StarCraft: Brood War and StarCraft II player who played Terran for the Korean pro-gaming team KT Rolster under the alias By.FlaSh or simply Flash. He made his debut as a StarCraft: Brood War player in 2007 and retired on December 19, 2015. Lee began playing StarCraft II competitively in 2011, until his retirement in December 2015. He subsequently returned to playing Starcraft: Brood War, and started his personal broadcast in February 2016 on the AfreecaTV personal broadcasting platform. Since returning to Brood War, Lee has won first place in Seasons 2, 3, 4, and 8 of the Afreeca Starleague. As of 2020, he is still broadcasting personal broadcasts. He is, along with BoxeR, NaDa, Iloveoov, and SAviOr, regarded as the fifth, final, and greatest of the Bonjwas, a title for players who dominated the Korean Brood War scene over long periods of time. He is considered to be the greatest StarCraft: Brood War player of all-time.

SOOP, previously better known as AfreecaTV, is a P2P technology-based video streaming service. It is now owned and operated by AfreecaTV Co., Ltd. in South Korea after Nowcom's AfreecaTV Co., Ltd and ZettaMedia split in 2011. As of July 2019 AfreecaTV was listed 4th in the "Asia's 200 Best Under A Billion" list by Forbes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global StarCraft II League</span> StarCraft II esports tournament

Global StarCraft II League (GSL) is a StarCraft II tournament held in South Korea from 2010 to the present. It has been hosted by afreecaTV since 2016; GOMeXp hosted it from 2010–2015. Blizzard Entertainment was involved in co-producing and co-funding it for much of its history, although their involvement reduced in later years. For the first two years of the tournament, it featured two leagues, Code S (major) and Code A (minor); afterward it ran as a single combined tournament.

Michael Lamond, more commonly known by his online alias Husky or HuskyStarcraft, is a former sports commentator, YouTuber, director, producer, and voice actor. He is best known for his work in esports, most notably for his commentating on StarCraft II, a video game published by Blizzard Entertainment. He regularly appeared as a commentator at StarCraft tournaments, with his commentary being viewable through various YouTube channels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Plott</span> American esports player and commentator (born 1986)

Sean Saintmichael Plott, better known as Day[9], is an American esports commentator, player, event host, streamer and game designer. Plott is best known for his contributions in the professional StarCraft scene, where he regularly appeared first as a player and later as a commentator and host at various tournaments for the game for many years. He has also played other competitive games such as Magic: The Gathering, Hearthstone, and Dota 2. For the latter, Plott co-hosted The International 2017, the game's premier tournament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North American Star League</span>

The North American Star League was a professional e-sports league that features the games StarCraft II and Heroes of Newerth. Originally modeled after successful South Korean professional StarCraft leagues, it was founded in 2011 by Russell Pfister and Duncan Stewart. Following the mid-year departure of Stewart, Mark K. Brown was tapped to fill the position of Chief Operating Officer in August 2011, and held that position until late-2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MC (gamer)</span> South Korean electronic sports player (born 1991)

Jang Min-chul, better known as MC or The BossToss, is a former Korean professional StarCraft II player, playing as the Protoss faction. MC has accumulated more than $500,000 in tournament winnings, and won the Global StarCraft II League (GSL) championship twice. In 2014, Red Bull Esports called him "one of the most successful StarCraft 2 players ever".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HuK</span> American-Canadian professional esports player

Chris Loranger, better known name HuK, is a former professional Starcraft II player and former president of gaming for the Boston Uprising of the Overwatch League.

The 2012 StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) is part of the Battle.net World Championship Series, a series of video game tournaments held by Blizzard Entertainment, the creators of the video game StarCraft II (SC2). Tournaments were held in more than 28 countries to find top StarCraft II competitors. The top-ranked players from each continent were then invited to compete in the Global Finals in Shanghai, China. Korean player Won "PartinG" Lee-Sak emerged victorious in the final match against Jang "Creator" Hyun Woo, with third place going to Jung "Rain" Yoon Jong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artosis</span> American esports commentator

Daniel Ray Stemkoski, better known by his nickname Artosis, is an American professional esports commentator and Twitch streamer. Stemkoski moved to Seoul, South Korea to commentate competitive Starcraft games in English. Together with Nick "Tasteless" Plott, he provides commentary for AfreecaTV StarCraft League games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apollo (gamer)</span> British esports commentator

Shaun Clark, also known by the handle, Apollo, is an esports commentator and former professional player. Apollo started his career as part of Team Dignitas playing Command & Conquer 3. A highlight of his time playing that game was coming in first place at the 2007 World Cyber Games. In 2009 Apollo retired from playing Command And Conquer and started playing poker and StarCraft: Brood War awaiting the release of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IdrA</span> American professional esports player

Gregory "Greg" Fields, better known by his in-game name IdrA is a former professional StarCraft II and Brood War player who predominantly played as Terran in Brood War, but switched to Zerg for StarCraft II. He is currently sponsored by Tt eSports. After a retirement to focus on school, he has returned to former team Evil Geniuses for Heroes of the Storm.

<i>StarCraft: Remastered</i> 2017 video game

StarCraft: Remastered is a remastered edition of the 1998 real-time strategy video game StarCraft and its expansion Brood War, which was released on August 14, 2017. It retains the gameplay of the original StarCraft, but features ultra-high-definition graphics, re-recorded audio, and Blizzard's modern online feature suite. The remaster was developed over the period of a year and included playtesting from professional StarCraft players.

Professional StarCraft II competition features professional gamers competing in Blizzard Entertainment's real-time strategy game StarCraft II. Professional play began following the game's initial release in 2010, as the game was the sequel to StarCraft, considered one of the first esports and the foundation of South Korea's interest and success in competitive gaming. Between 2016 and 2019, competition was centered around the Global StarCraft II League in Korea and the World Championship Series Circuit everywhere else, with all Blizzard-sanctioned events being under the StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) banner. Since 2020, Blizzard changed the format of WCS by entering into a three-year partnership with esports organizers ESL and DreamHack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AfreecaTV StarCraft League</span> South Korean video game tournament

The AfreecaTV StarCraft League (ASL) is a StarCraft: Remastered tournament series hosted by afreecaTV in South Korea. It began its first season in June 2016 and used StarCraft: Brood War for its first three seasons prior to the release of StarCraft: Remastered. It is broadcast regularly in Korean on afreecaTV. Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski and Nicolas "Tasteless" Plott provide English rebroadcasts on AfreecaTV's YouTube channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Korea StarCraft League</span> Korean StarCraft: Remastered Tournament Series

The Korea StarCraft League (KSL) was a StarCraft: Remastered tournament series hosted by Blizzard Entertainment in South Korea. It was announced in June 2018 and began its first season the following month. It was broadcast regularly in Korean and English on Twitch. The main English language casters for the event were Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski and Nicolas "Tasteless" Plott. It ran alongside afreecaTV's AfreecaTV StarCraft League (ASL) as one of the two top level Korean leagues for StarCraft: Remastered. KSL was discontinued in March 2020 after 4 seasons.

iNcontroL American StarCraft player and commentator (1985–2019)

Geoffrey John Vincent Robinson, better known as iNcontroL, was an American professional StarCraft player, coach, and commentator. As a player, his first major tournament win came in 2007, when he finished first at the World Cyber Games 2007 USA qualifiers in the StarCraft: Brood War event. He was signed to the esports organization Evil Geniuses in 2009, where he competed as a part of their StarCraft II division. As his career progressed, Robinson transitioned from primarily being a player to primarily being a commentator. He hosted and commentated several major StarCraft II events from 2010 to 2019, including the StarCraft II World Championship Series. He also ran several podcast series throughout his career.

References

  1. ↑ Nieva, Richard (November 28, 2012). "Video Gaming on the Pro Tour, for Glory but Little Gold". The New York Times . Archived from the original on January 13, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  2. 1 2 Sung-won, Yoon (August 6, 2017). "English e-sports commentator highlights globalization". Korea Times . Archived from the original on March 28, 2018. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "Making a fortune - just by playing games". BBC News. December 9, 2015. Archived from the original on February 18, 2021. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
  4. ↑ A. FUSSELL, JAMES (July 4, 2015). "Love 'League of Legends'? Now you can play with others at SoPro Gaming in Overland Park". Kansas City Star .
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Lien, Tracey (July 16, 2013). "How two StarCraft commentators became stars". Polygon . Vox Media. Archived from the original on July 16, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  6. ↑ "{title}". Archived from the original on July 22, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  7. 1 2 Reimer, Jeremy (January 4, 2011). "The Dawn of Starcraft: e-Sports come to the world stage". Arstechnica . Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
  8. ↑ staff writers (February 8, 2012). "Tournaments, live broadcasts herald rise of e-sports". Korea Herald . Yonhap News . Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  9. ↑ "The Esports Mom: the journey of Susie 'lilsusie' Kim". ESPN.com. September 9, 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  10. ↑ Zacny, Rob (October 20, 2012). "Sons of StarCraft, documentary on StarCraft 2 casting duo Tasteless and Artosis, gets a fantastic trailer". PCGamesN. Network N. Archived from the original on April 3, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Extra part added to Sons of Starcraft". GameSpot . December 5, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Tasteless, Artosis, Apollo, Kaelaris, Redeye & Abedisi to host WCS Europe finals". DreamHack. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  13. ↑ Lien, Tracey (August 10, 2012). "'StarCraft 2' Oceania tournament kicks off this weekend with casting by Tasteless and Artosis". Polygon . Vox Media. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  14. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (June 25, 2012). "StarCraft 2 World Championship Series UK Nationals hit London". Eurogamer . Gamer Network. Archived from the original on December 14, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  15. ↑ "DreamHack Winter 2011 Schedule". DreamHack. Archived from the original on May 8, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  16. ↑ Conn, Alex (June 9, 2011). "IGN eSports Announces IPL 2 Commentators!". IGN . Ziff Davis Media. Archived from the original on July 18, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  17. ↑ Zacny, Rob (April 20, 2012). "Ready Up – Springtime for MarineKing in NYC, winter for PartinG and DRG (4/20/2012)". PC Gamer . Future Publishing. Archived from the original on November 2, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  18. ↑ McCormick, Rich (August 28, 2011). "Watch the world's best StarCraft II players at Major League Gaming Raleigh live now". PC Gamer . Future Publishing. Archived from the original on November 2, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  19. ↑ "Artosis, Tasteless, Day9, Husky and JP McDaniel at MLG Raleigh". Major League Gaming. August 11, 2011. Archived from the original on April 25, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  20. ↑ Steiner, Dustin (October 15, 2011). "MLG Orlando: Day 1 Wrapup Pool Play Impressions". GameZone. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  21. ↑ Gaudiosi, John (July 2, 2012). "eSports Management Group Founder Brian Balsbaugh Explains Why Pro Gamers Need Agents". Forbes . Archived from the original on December 13, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  22. ↑ Vas, Gergo (March 20, 2012). "Heart Of The Swarm Is Full Of Easter Eggs And Video Game References". Kotaku . Gawker Media. Archived from the original on July 28, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  23. ↑ "StarCraft: Brood War resurges in Korea thanks to the Afreeca StarLeague". PCGamesN. August 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  24. ↑ Holt, Christian (August 12, 2017). "'Don't Break Starcraft' An Interview with Starcraft: Remastered's Developers". IGN India . Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  25. ↑ "TastelessTV" . Retrieved September 22, 2023– via Twitch.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Tasteless at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.