Nick Plott

Nick Plott

Plott at BlizzCon 2014
Born (1984-08-11) August 11, 1984[1]
Kansas City, Kansas
Residence Seoul, Korea[2]
Nationality American
Other names "Tasteless"
Occupation eSports commentator
Relatives Sean "Day[9]" Plott[3]

Nicholas "Nick" Plott (born August 11, 1984), known by his alias Tasteless, is an American eSports commentator. 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.

Early life

Plott grew up in Kansas City, Kansas.[2] Upon graduation from high school, Plott attended Regis University in Denver studying philosophy and psychology and was a member of the parliamentary debate team.[2][4] He considered law school and philosophy dual Ph.D. programs but instead pursued into StarCraft full-time.[2]

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.[2] The brothers would watch each other play while offering gameplay advice.[2] They played casually online, but were hampered by a slow Internet connection.[2] The Plott brothers visited a nearby Internet café where they would meet players about five years older who would play and beat them.[2] 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.[2]

With the advent of high-speed Internet, the brothers played StarCraft competitively on Korean servers.[2] They entered and won tournaments while in high school.[2] Plott became uninterested in school when it did not let him incorporate StarCraft into his studies.[2] He played the game through high school and college.[2]

Commentator

Upon losing to his brother early in the World Cyber Games 2005 finals, Plott watched the rest of the games as a spectator.[2] 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.[2] He received offers to commentate without pay in Europe, Japan, and Singapore.[2]

In Plott's last semester of college, Korean broadcasting company GOM TV invited Plott to provide English commentary for the recently announced StarCraft II as part of a strategy to extend their reach.[2] The offer was not given 100% guarantees of moving assistance, but offered Plott an opportunity to make a career of his StarCraft commentary and become the first Western StarCraft commentator, or caster,[5] in South Korea.[2] He dropped out of college and arrived in Seoul within a week.[2]

Stemkoski and Plott at a 2011 South Korean StarCraft tournament

In Korea, Plott slept on friends' couches and worked as a caster where he could.[2] As StarCraft II's launch neared, Plott and another American commentator living in Seoul, Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski, had individually amassed significant followings, and had the interest of commercial broadcast networks.[2] The two began casting together and became known by a portmanteau of their nicknames, Tasteless and Artosis, as Tastosis.[2] Before this partnership, the two knew each other through their former competitive gaming careers, but became friends in Korea.[2] Polygon attributed their success to their "magic" dynamic from complementary personalities, with Plott bold and sociable, and Stemkoski encyclopedic and analytic.[2] In July 2013, Polygon reported Tastosis to be "the most well-known StarCraft 2 casting duo in the world", both broadcasting for GOMTV Global StarCraft II League.[2] PC Gamer's Rich McCormick cited the pair in 2011 as examples of how the electronics sports profession is developing celebrities.[6] The Verge's Paul Miller referred to Tastosis as "the primary practitioners of StarCraft casting".[7] A crowdfunded documentary about their careers, Sons of StarCraft, was released in 2014.[8]

Plott and Stemkoski prepare separately, with Stemkoski constantly watching StarCraft matches and Plott studying commentary from non-traditional sports and major StarCraft news.[2] Together, they incorporate team histories and their respective strategies into their commentary.[2] Plott has said that he considers Tastosis's nuanced readings of player tactics and their eventualities as a "gateway" for bringing unfamiliar crowds into StarCraft.[2]

Plott cast alongside Stemkoski at the 2012 StarCraft II World Championship Series Europe finals,[9] Australian and Oceania finals,[10] and UK nationals,[11] DreamHack Winter 2011,[12] IGN Pro League Season Two,[13] and Major League Gaming 2012 Spring Arena,[14] Raleigh,[15][16] and 2011 Orlando.[17] Plott was among the first group to sign to the electronics sports agency eSports Management Group in 2012.[18]

In a StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Easter egg, two in-game characters are named after the casters.[19]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Happy Birthday to Nick "Tasteless" Plott!". reddit. 2013-08-11. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 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.
  3. ↑ Nieva, Richard (November 28, 2012). "Video Gaming on the Pro Tour, for Glory but Little Gold". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Archived from the original on July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  4. ↑ http://www.novicenats.org/results/2007-novice-nationals/
  5. ↑ Plunkett, Luke (March 30, 2011). "An English Voice For Korea's StarCraft Madness". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  6. ↑ McCormick, Rich (July 7, 2011). "Editorial: Sorry Kotaku, but you're wrong about pro-gaming". PC Gamer. Future Publishing. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  7. ↑ Miller, Paul (November 18, 2011). "StarCraft changed my life". The Verge. Vox Media. Archived from the original on July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  8. ↑ 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 July 16, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Tasteless, Artosis, Apollo, Kaelaris, Redeye & Abedisi to host WCS Europe finals". DreamHack. Archived from the original on July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  10. ↑ 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 July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  11. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (June 25, 2012). "StarCraft 2 World Championship Series UK Nationals hit London". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  12. ↑ "DreamHack Winter 2011 Schedule". DreamHack. Archived from the original on July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  13. ↑ Conn, Alex (June 9, 2011). "IGN eSports Announces IPL 2 Commentators!". IGN. Ziff Davis Media. Archived from the original on July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  14. ↑ Zacny, Rob (April 20, 2012). "Ready Up – Springtime for MarineKing in NYC, winter for PartinG and DRG (4/20/2012)". PC Gamer. Future Publishing. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  15. ↑ McCormick, Rich (August 28, 2011). "Watch the world's best StarCraft II players at Major League Gaming Raleigh live now". PC Gamer. Future Publishing. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Artosis, Tasteless, Day9, Husky and JP McDaniel at MLG Raleigh". Major League Gaming. August 11, 2011. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  17. ↑ Steiner, Dustin (October 15, 2011). "MLG Orlando: Day 1 Wrapup Pool Play Impressions". GameZone. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  18. ↑ Gaudiosi, John (July 2, 2012). "eSports Management Group Founder Brian Balsbaugh Explains Why Pro Gamers Need Agents". Forbes. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  19. ↑ 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 16, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2013.

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