Talking

INTRODUCTIONIt doesn’t matter if you’re a casual or professional gamer - you’relikely to have heard or watched an online broadcast of an esportsmatch or tournament at some point in the last ten years. Those whocommentate these are often referred to as ‘casters’, or originally‘shoutcasters’. At the top end of the scale today, these same peopleare now full-time professional video game broadcasters, but itwasn’t always that way.The term ‘shoutcaster’ comes from the software written by thegood chaps at Winamp.com, andintroduced what we now knowas internet radio. Then, a shoutcasterwas simply a synonym for an internet radio DJ or commentator.As time moved on, it became inextricably linked to those whospecifically covered gaming matches and tournaments.While the software is no longer updated (but still widely used foronline radio), shoutcasters have expanded beyond the limits of thesoftware (and their bedrooms) to bigger and better things such aslive TV productions, huge events set in sports stadiums and dedicatedgaming TV shows the world over and, more often than not,they’re now called broadcasters or commentators. However, theterm ‘casters’ is still widely used as an abbreviated version of theoriginal ’shoutcasters’.In 2007, I wrote a mini book to help those who wanted to get startedin shoutcasting, and I’ve had many, many requests since to updateand rewrite it.The book you are now reading started life more than 8 years ago,but really came to life only in 2014 with a series of parts published4