Interview with Kexman - 23/09/2022

Kexman is a streamer for the esports team Method. I have known him for a while through the power of social media and he was very kind in granting me an interview. Previously seen as the dulcet tones of Warcraft Radio, Kexman was one of a dynamic duo with Athalus (who now works for Blizzard).

I approached him whilst he was in line waiting for a turn to play Goat Simulator 3. We decided to hold the interview in the concourse outside of the event, where it was quieter and we were at least able to get a good recording. It did make me realise that I am in desperate need of a mic setup for interviews.

This interview was held on Friday 23rd September, 2022 at EGX London.

N: Hi there, thank you for agreeing to this interview.

K: Oh no, the pleasure is all mine.

N: Okay, so I’m going to ask you some questions. I’ve got eight questions.

(It was originally ten but we got chatting before the interview and he already answered some of the questions. These were not recorded so I cannot type them up!)

K: Cool.

N: So the first one is, what made you want to go into esports?

K: That’s a very good question actually. I’d always known about esports tournaments; CS:GO, Smash Bros, the like…

K: The first time I saw something about esports that I thought I could get into was when Warcraft started doing the arena tournaments, so I thought that was really good fun. But the first time I thought about it seriously was the first ever Race to World First. Method were doing the Uldir race and I remember I was at work, and I was watching it on my phone. I was pretty much watching it the entire time. I actually turned round to my work colleagues and said:

“I’m going to do this one day. “

K: I had it in my head.

“I’m going to do this, this is something I love the idea of”

K: And then I got involved, I started doing stuff in streaming and then Warcraft Radio kicked back off again. And then I just used the connections I made from there. I think it was MrGM who messaged me when Nathria came out and said:

“Would you like to do some Race to World First casting?”

K: And I said to him that absolutely I would yes, I couldn't have bitten his arm off quicker. And from there it just kinda carried on and I ended up doing the Race to World First for Method - so I ended up doing exactly what I said I was going to do.

N: That’s really good. Also, I must say this bit and I’m probably going to sound like a bit of a nerd now but I was introduced to Warcraft Radio through my partner and he is very psyched about the fact that I’m talking to you.

K: Well, I’m very excited that I’m talking to you as well. As soon as you told me you were at EGX, I was like:

“Absolutely yes, we have to meet up.”

N: So why Method?

K: So, first of all Method is one of biggest names in Warcraft history for a number of reasons. Most of them positive, unfortunately some of them not so much.

N: But you could say that about a lot of esports teams…

K: Oh yeah, you absolutely could. They’re synonymous with the success in the raiding scene, they’re synonymous with being one of the biggest raiding teams. You’d argue that they are the biggest raiding team in Warcraft across its history. Maybe not necessarily right now, guilds like Echo, Liquid; these are absolutely incredible, incredible teams. So, I think that played a part in it. Obviously, the fact that I knew the teams as well also helped massively. I follow players like Sco who I’ve known for a long, long time. And you know, whenever you discuss Method specifically and people ask me about it - you can’t ignore the fact that there has been controversy in the past.

K: And quite severe controversy. And that was something I did obviously consider, but I also saw it as an opportunity for me to help them through, for me to bring the community back and to help rebuild Method in the right way. So for me, it was a fantastic opportunity. It was effectively a dream to work for Method. But at the same time, it was also something that I could help give back to the community. I genuinely felt that I could do that.

N: No, totally.

N: So, what’s Sco like as a person away from the cameras?

K: Sco as a person? Um, handsome?

N: Hahahah.

K: No, he is a…he’s kinda how he is on camera. He isn’t what I would call a chatty person. But because of it, when he talks, you listen. He has an incredibly dry sense of humour, which I absolutely love. Actually, very funny story.

K: When we were at Twitchcon, we were going to a party as a group. There was quite a few folks from Method there; myself, Sco, Robin, Cruella, you know really really good people. Honestly? They’re all absolutely incredible. So we were all stood round and this gives you an idea of the group - Sco has a very dry sense of humour but he can also be a lot of fun. He effectively turned round and said:

“I have an app on my phone.”

K: And do you remember the game where you pull the teeth out of the crocodile?

N: Of course.

K: So he had an app version of that on his phone.

N: Hahahah.

K: And he gathered us round and he said:

“Okay, loser has to go and do a big shot of tequila.”

N: Ohhh no no no!

K: So he put this app in the middle of us and we all formed a circle round it. And he said:

“Right, I’ll go first.”

K: First tooth, snaps shut. It was the funniest thing. So yeah. Sco is good people, like I said he’s not what I would call a chatty person but when he does talk, you pay attention and you listen.

N: So. What would you recommend to someone who wanted to get into esports?

K: I mean, if you’re sat there and thinking that you want to get into esports, that you’re going to make a load of money…

N: It’s not like that.

K: Yeah. Unless something extraordinary happens, that’s not realistically going to be a goal. You can make a living off it, but you’ll never going to be rich I would say. Unless of course you get into the top tier, but it’s very rare that happens. I think the biggest thing for me is whenever people ask me:

“How do I become an esports commentator?”

“What do I do if I’m on the desk?”

The two main things for me is: first of all, if you’re not having fun it is very easy to see that on camera. It’s very easy to see when you’re not talking. Secondly, just be yourself. I know a lot of people that will try to fit into the role that they are doing. Which again, you spend so much time trying to fit into that role, you almost lose what makes you …you. If someone approaches you and wants you to be part of their esports organisation or at the very least, be part of their commentating team - they’re doing it because of who you are. So, just be yourself. And enjoy it. And the other thing is, nobody is good Day One.

K: I’m still improving as a caster, people have been doing this for ten, fifteen years and are still improving as casters. And try and for relationships. If you are always working with the same person, they get to know how you work and you get to know how they work. Working with Bookmarker at Method, who’s an incredible producer. Him and his production team, we’ve worked together so much now that we know how each other works. A lot of things can start of being a little bit awkward, all of a sudden they can be become second nature because you know how each other works.

N: How do you feel about disabled gamers being a part of esports? Recently, teams such as Team Brit which is a racing esports team - they’ve started enrolling a couple of disabled games, especially one in particular that uses a wheelchair. How do you feel about these kinds of changes to esports?

K: Incredible. At the end of the day, I think for me personally the biggest thing for games is (and gaming as a whole) is that it is accessible to everybody. It is something I’ve particularly strived for and especially on stream, I will basically say:

“This is for everybody. No matter who you are, you can be part of the community.”

K: And honestly, I think it’s one of those…more needs to be done, more needs to be done across gaming communities as a whole because there is a lot of toxicity in regards to not only disabled gamers, but also LGBTQ gamers, racism in gaming and I think it’s on every single person to help stop that. I think more needs to be done to make it a point of this is for everyone. I like the idea of setting up teams, I know Liquid have recently started their Women in Gaming team; sorry I can’t remember the exact name. It’s got some really big names like Cruella and Naguura, they’re involved in that and I think that’s absolutely fantastic. And it genuinely upsets me when you go into a Naguura stream and there’s always that subsection of horrific comments. I think the biggest thing is that I just don’t understand it. It’s not a case of:

“How can you say that?!”

K: I just honestly don’t get it. So, I think we are getting better, it’s absolutely getting better. But I think more does need to be done. And honestly, that starts from the ground up. That starts with everybody. It doesn’t matter. Don’t wait for the organisation. If you see someone saying something, call them out. It starts there and when the organisation sees people doing that, they’ll ease into it also.

N: Totally, yeah yeah. I get that. Could you ever see Method taking disabled gamers into their roster?

K: Absolutely, absolutely. It’s always one of those questions where to get into the end game, you have to be the best of the best like Echo or Liquid. If there is someone who is a disabled gamer who is at that echelon, I couldn’t not see that happening. It’s one of those situations where some people would say, oh no they’re doing it for visibility, they’re doing it for a bad faith thing. But at the end of the day, these guilds want the best of the best. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re disabled, a different race, it’s honestly just being about the best of the best. And I couldn’t see that being diminishing in any shape or form. If they can hit what they need to hit, then absolutely.

K: And I think the other side of it is as well, the WoW Community - there is a subsection of it that is incredibly toxic.

N: Yeah.

K: And I’d like to think that is changing. But one thing I do appreciate is that now starting to see guilds coming forward and being a big part of the community in areas that are not known for being covered. Like for example, the d/Deaf raiding guild over in America.

N: That was incredible what they did.

K: Yeah! And not only that, but the fact that what they did was specifically covered by websites like Wowhead, Icy Veins. You had guilds like Echo, Liquid, Method that were retweeting that as a big success. And I think that’s a really positive move forward. The fact that they can do that, I would like to think that it’s helping to spur people on:

“If they can do it, we can do it as well.”

K: There’s no reason not to. I think it’s a good thing across the board. I think the moment we do see more of this, that’s the sort of thing that will make people sit up and think:

“I can do this as well. There’s no reason why I can’t do this.”

K: I think that if there is anyone out there is thinking to themselves that they can’t reach that level because of their disability - it’s not the case at all. As long as you have the drive and passion for it, absolutely you can do that.

N: So, obviously with the controversy and everything that has gone on with Method recently, could you ever see them mixing females into the roster or making an all female team?

K: At the moment Method do have at least three women on the roster, Cruella who’s been with them since Nathria and for my money, was probably one of the best players across all of Shadowlands; playing Death Knight and then Demon Hunter. The grip of Cruella during Halondrus is mind-blowing - I’ve never seen play like it. They’ve recently picked up players from Pieces after they unfortunately folded, so yeah absolutely I can. It’s very, very easy. It’s one of those things that will always be that if you talk about Method, you can’t sweep under the rug what did happen.

N: But don’t you think it’s kind of admirable that they stood up and said:

“Yeah we did this”

N: Rather than trying to sweep it under the rug?

K: I don’t think they could, to be honest. But the other side of it is, we talk about the team but then you don’t see what happens behind the scenes. Method have some absolutely incredible people working for them, specifically Artemis who does a lot of the add-on stuff. Massive, massive shout out to Jessie as well, Jessie is an incredible person.

N: She’s one of those people I’d love to meet.

K: Oh, same. She’s an incredible person. And I think that people see Method on the outside, they see the raid roster and it’s not going to go away, it sadly never will. But what I will say is that as someone who is actually involved in the organisation, who came into the organisation with the idea of:

“Hey. I can potentially do something to make this a better situation for not only the community but the people working for Method.”

K: But there’s so much work going on behind the scenes, people you don’t necessarily see because they’re not the front end of the team. But they’re working hard. When I signed on with Method, Jessie was massively helpful. Not only in helping me in regards to joining Method, but also in the respects of:

“What can I do for you? What can I do to help you feel comfortable?”

K: And I think that’s across the board. I’m very excited for the future, very excited for the future. And I think, we are starting to see people like Cruella - it’s nice to see these players coming through and be respected for their talents as players. I love the fact that we’re starting to realise the skill and talents of these players have.

N: I loved esports for so long, I actually is…well, my funny story is I went into labour with my son whilst watching a Starcraft esports match with Tasteless and Artosis.

K: Let’s go!

N: So my son has been very much bought up around that kind of environment, we’re very much esports fans in my house. When my partner found out that you’d crossed over from Warcraft Radio into casting…well, we’re Echo fans in my house but when we know that you’re doing the casting- we’ll happily swap to whatever game you’re casting.

K: Oh thank you!

N: Sorry for slightly inflating your ego there, haha. So as someone who’s slightly older and isn’t the general demographic of the typical Warcraft community member, how would you say that they could get into esports?

K: I think it is easy in some regards and for me personally that I’ve noted as a caster and specifically as a host; quite often you’ll put on an esports event and they’ll be using terminologies that have been a part of the event forever. But they are terms that are known by everyone at the event. If you’re tuning in for the first time, you don’t have that knowledge and you don’t know exactly what they’re referring to. Or, why they are referring to it. One thing I try and do is to try and be that bridge between the audience and what’s going on. So, if anyone new does come in:

“Okay they are doing X, but why are they doing X?”

K: It is crucial for new people coming in that you do that. I think the other side of it is as well is which has definitely sprung up over the last year and a half; people getting more community tournaments. Big shout out to Cherry who is running the Oasis group, she’s doing incredible work - they do some incredible tournaments, I’ve done both PvP and PvE stuff for them. Method are doing community tournaments, they’ve been doing PvP tournaments with their Method Mayhem plan which is absolutely fantastic.

K: I think the big events are good fun and they look flashy, but sometimes you can lose a little bit of the recognition because it’s so focused on what it is. If you’re looking at the community tournaments, you might find that it’s a little easier to get into because they are breaking it down into slightly smaller chunks.

N: Thank you very much for your time.

K: No, thank you - absolutely thank you.