Esports Pro Interview - Chris Blevins Curse CoD

(First published on 360 Icons)

 I’m very pleased to introduce the first in a new series of Esports interviews. These will take the form of some light hearted questions about the interviewee, and also some more searching questions about the current Esports world.
 
Starting us off is the General Manager of the Curse CoD Esports Team, Chris Blevins or @CrsBlevdog. Chris was very kind in giving up his time to allow me to do this article and for this I thank him.

What are your Top 5 favourite games?
My top Five favourite games of all time are Call of Duty, Everquest, Fallout 3, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, and FIFA 98.
 
What interests do you have outside Gaming? 
I love playing Golf , University of South Carolina Football and really enjoy watching MMA.  I used to do MMA for a couple of years, but now I’m pudgy and old.
 
Who is your closest friends in Esports?
My closest friends in ESports are Mr. Ernest Le (Works at Twitch), Steve Arhancet (Director of eSports at Curse) and Rawn Valenzuela (Producer at MLG)
 
What lead you into competitive gaming, and then onto your current position within Curse?
I started playing Multiplayer Call of Duty when Black Ops 1 released and I was hooked constantly trying to get better.  I started getting into Competitive Call of Duty by watching Ernest Le doing the Race to Master Prestige last year with the release of Black Ops 2. After that I started watching the competitive call of duty scene and really tried to become a student of Competitive FPS.  I eventually thought there were some things/ideas I could do to make the scene better so since Ernie was local I reached out to him.  We met for lunch and talked about some different ideas we could and became friends.  Through him I met Stan Press at Elgato at MLG Anaheim and we developed a relationship and then through Stan I met Steve Arhancet and Nathan Lindberg (VP of Sales).
While working with Curse to emphasize the importance of the competitive eSports and Youtube Scene within Microsoft I started consulting with them and eventually Steve asked me to come on board to run the CoD division.
 
What do you feel sets a Pro player apart from an amateur/Public player?
Pro players have a much better sense of Map awareness and overall flow of the game.  I think really good competitive players can make instant decisions about where the opposing player is and is going versus the amateur.  They also have a much better understanding of lines of sight and strats.  The Pro player will try multiple times to master a strat where an amateur will usually rely on gun skill alone.
 
Are roster changes a necessary evil, or do organisations/teams change too much?
I think roster changes will happen just like they do in any other sport.  The problem we have is that Pro Points travel with the player. So players can make themselves valuable not only because of their talent, but also because of their Pro Points.  I hated doing the roster changes we have so far.  I really want to promote longevity and continuity.  The changes I have made were due to Chemistry.  I don’t anticipate making any changes for the rest of 2014 no matter who comes available.
 
Trash talking in games recently became a hot topic. What are your views on this and do you think it has a negative impact on eSports image in the world outside gaming? 
I think hype and excitement is so important, and trash talk is a byproduct of that.  The problem is that when that becomes disparaging or derogatory comments it goes too far.  I think because it is such a spectator sport and the nature of Video games in general is to trash talk it can have a negative impact.  There needs to be a balance between hype and trash talk.
 
Where do you see eSports and competitive CoD in particular going in the short to mid term future?
I think eSports are going to continue to rise in popularity.  We see that from League of Legends and Dota and how big their championships have become.  For COD I am not so sure.  We need consistent developer support and right now we didn’t see that from IW.  All the goodness that Treyarch gave us went out the window.   I do think there is a huge appetite for a FPS eSport and eventually we will see a Riot or a Valve or similar come along and create a console  FPS that will become the standard if Activision doesn’t do something. 
 

Thanks again to Chris for being my first interview in the series! Keep a look out for more to come and please get in touch if there is anyone you’d all like to see being interviewed.

Let me know your thoughts people, and feel free to get in touch -
Twitter - https://twitter.com/Old_GrumpyGamer
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Peas out chaps! 

 
Neil