Behind The Scenes Of MLG
Have you ever wondered what goes on in the day of a MLG staff member? Well I have some good news for you. MLG HammerTime or Tyler Hammer…which ever you prefer to call him has agreed to give me a inside look along with a few tid bits of info that you might not know about the e-Sports powerhouse that is Major League Gaming.
Me: What was the first event you attended as staff or a competitor?
Tyler: My first event I attended was Columbus 2010, I was a volunteer at the Bic Arcade.
Me: What made you want to become part of the MLG staff?
Tyler: I wanted to join the MLG staff ever since I started playing on GameBattles and heard of MLG actually was. I was like, “That would be the coolest thing in the world. Getting paid to be around gamers and geeks alike, it doesn’t get any better.”
Me: What game currently not on the MLG circuit would you like to see at the competitions?
Tyler: Hmm that’s a hard question. I feel some games have competitive potential but it’s really hard to say. I’d like to see League of Legends com on full time. That would be sick.
Me: Tell me something that people would be surprised to hear about the day to day of working for MLG?
Tyler: Again, another hard question. I guess it would be that a lot of us are like family. Yes there is a chain of command, but like the higher ups like John Curran and Adam Apicella for example, they know a lot about their employees. We’ve had a lot of good times together.
Me: What has been your most memorable moment on the MLG circuit?
Tyler: Oh man, too many to count! A lot of real fun happens after the days work, when all the staff are unwinding. We usually LAN Halo 1, which is a ton of fun and extremely competitive. My favorite moment would have to have been at the Orlando after party. I walked into the bar area and out of no where, Adam Apicello (Clap) come up to me and goes, “Hammer, I didn’t know you were 21…” and my response was “I’m not.”. Adam just gave me the death stare. It was epic.
Me: When it’s all said and done, where do you hope to be within the MLG community?
Tyler: Someday it would be nice to be a full time MLG staffer but we’ll see.
Me: If there was one thing you could add or change to the MLG circuit what would it be?
Tyler: If I could change one thing, it would be how all the communities interact. There has to be a way to bring all the communities together in order to grow e-Sports to it’s maximum potential. When we are constantly giving each other crap and having to take sides, we stunt the growth and in the long run basically destroy ourselves and everything we love.
To wrap thing up I asked Tyler to give us a run down of what a MLG event consists of for him and other staff members.
Every event referees job is different. Some do multiple things, some don’t. Some are head ref, some are more senior refs so they get to ref main stage, some do registration or help with other tasks.
My events start out like this.
Friday morning I’m down in the venue by 7:00 or 7:30. Between 9:00-10:00 we usually have some sort of staff meeting to go over new rules, and make sure people are there. From there, I go out to help handle registration until about 4:30. I do this with Deimos every event. I help train the guys that have never done it before. At about 4:30/4:45 I go inside to begin refing whatever game I’m assigned to. If it’s Halo, I usually get out of the venue at a decent time, if its StarCraft I wont get out until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning which is really not an issue with me because I love SC2. From there I go back to the room and pass out.
Saturday morning, I’m usually the first or second person at the venue (It’s usually Deimos or myself). I help set up registration early, and then from there I help Dan until I’m required to go instead to watch warm ups (I usually volunteer for warm-ups since I’m already there, that way no one else has to get up so early). Then at about 9:00 or 10:00 competition resumes for the day and we wont get out until around midnight or so.
Sunday my morning is the same. Registration, then warm-ups. Sunday is usually a slower day for me since I am one of the “newer” refs. In Providence, I got to ref main stage a lot on Sunday which is really rare for a new ref like myself. It practically never happens. Especially with SC2. Once I’m done working which is like 3 or 4, unless I help with main stage, then I wander around for the rest of the event and watch Halo and StarCraft 2.
