Sajam Talks Commentary & The Politics of Freelance in Esports/FGC | The HenryG Retirement Interview 

Lots of people mentioning, "This is life/all of freelancing" which is totally true! I mention that quite a few times during the stream/discussion and how this probably echoes the experience of many people.

Something that kind of freaks me out about pro gaming in general is just how many layers of business exist just to keep the machine running. Players rely on TOs who rely on sponsors and publishers who rely on rights holders, and if in any of these steps the people in charge decide "you know what, this just isn't making me enough money to be worth the trouble", the whole house of cards falls and no one has jobs anymore. Anyway hope everyone has a good weekend

People are in for a real earth-shattering moment when they realize this is applicable to the whole economy and not just videogames.

Sajam in commentary jail for being a rollback advocate while everyone else getting online tournament jobs and having to pretend the code is good goddamn

Watching these videos of Sajam’s streams makes me realize how many people in Chat are not yet adults and understand how brutal the world is

Mike Ross warned us.

Rollback shouldn't be politicized

The only weak link in the commentary team of Sajam and Tasty Steve is Sajam's arm.

Without trying to minimize or downplay these issues at all-because they’re real problems both for the longterm sustainability of Big FGC and for the quality of life of the people in it-most of this just sounds to me like the ugly intersection of 1) the inherent challenges of freelancing in a competitive and/or niche market, and 2) the corporate exploitation that almost always eventually crops up in any industry that is fueled primarily by intrinsic-rewards passion and/or deep camaraderie. A lot of this definitely sounds very distinctly from the world of big-money e-sports and much less from the perspective of the old-school, enthusiasm-driven, no-money FGC. I think that much of the new-school FGC currently exists in a strange space somewhere between those two things, and so some of these e-sports-y problems probably apply to us very accurately, and some of them perhaps do not. The biggest defence I can come up with here for TO’s within the FGC is that there are plenty of grassroots, “by the players, for the players” organizations out there who survive on volunteer work and struggle to break even financially and just want to put on really fun events for everyone. No matter how good a commentator you might be, they literally may not have the budget available to pay you a dime, and if that’s the case, as a professional commentator, you are absolutely free to choose whether or not you wish to give them your (valuable!) time and talent for free, purely out of love for the game and the community. Nobody automatically owes you a living in this insane first-world career. Organizers have no right to pressure high-profile commentators to work at their event for free, just as professional commentators have every right to refuse to work and simply enjoy an event as a regular attendee. The most damning criticism I can give of TO’s in the FGC is that, if your brand is growing and your events are booming and you’re courting significant external sponsors and you’re making real money... why aren’t you paying your f***ing staff?! Pay your workers, pay your streamers, pay your commentators! If you’re lying to your volunteers about your budget, you are exploiting them. If you love this community, then support the hard-working people who ensure that the FGC exists, and that your organization has relevance within it. If you don’t love this community, then expect no loyalty from it through the highs and the lows; people will only support you while your events are good for them. Two last thoughts that don’t fit neatly into anything else I was saying: - Minimum wage! I think it generally does a lot of good in a capitalist society, I think...? (Not trying to start a debate, I’m not an econ major and if you want to debate this then you probably already know way more than me.) BUT, in the strange case of running small-scale, broke-ass, recreational video game tournaments for funsies... does it become illegal to compensate “volunteers” with a small, token amount? Of course it’s legal to pay volunteers nothing, and it’s legal to fully compensate them as an employer for the (taxable!) hours they worked as employees, but... Am I correct that there’s a large middle-ground where you legally CAN’T just kick them a few “thank you” bucks unless you do it under the table? - I think it’s absolutely insane to expect that anyone would ever want to TRAVEL to an event and then work for free. Only mildly insane if you cover their expenses. Clinically insane if it’s all out-of-pocket for them. (To the people who are willing to do this, you guys are saints and heroes. Anybody who thinks that you’re “suckers” doesn’t actually understand why the FGC is so amazing, full stop.) I wrote too much and I’m not going to proofread. Sincerely, A nobody who hauls equipment and runs brackets P.S. Much love, Sajam and Moste. Excellent content as always.

Holy shit, this was a depressing interview. Real and sobering, but depressing. I hope HenryG will be able to accept love and friendship back into his life, that's what we all need.

"You can't replace Sajam!" Hey, where's UltraDavid?

If not a union y'all need a guild like the SAG. where you can discuss the issues affecting your labour market.

Sajam is saying unionizing isn't the key but just getting everyone to ask the same rate is. But like... that's what a union does. And its the only real way to set-up a long-term structure that has minimum requirements. Especially in freelance work

Honestly, unionising is the solution here. The dissertation I'm researching for atm is on the labour movement in the animation industry back in the early 20th century and it's exactly the same shit. When you've got an industry populated entirely by enthusiasts, people who are there primarily because they care about the art/game, then the companies that are hiring them can exploit that enthusiasm to underpay them and force them to work in terrible conditions. Same thing's happening with game devs at the moment too. What you said about keeping your peers informed on the rates you ask for is great, but it'd be even better if you could get that shit written down and legally enforceable. Companies have plenty of legal weight behind their demands, it's only fair that you get some legal weight behind your own. Well established industries like animation have already fought these battles to win their employment rights, new industries like the game and tech industries haven't done that yet. Don't feel like you're rocking the boat with your demands, you're just asking for what every older industry already gets.

A union just gives you the same power and leverage as your employer, so you can discuss things as equals. Rather than being a disposable pawn.

Avoiding the puddle was right and is always right. Its a job, at the end of the day.

This interview kinda hurts to hear. Ive honestly been ignorant of these issues and it sucks that the industry burns at people that are too stubborn to give up on their community. Not to take away from anyone that decides to step back; for example, Mike Ross is always gonna have a place in my FGC heart. But thank you Sajam, Moste and crew for persevering, especially during these weird times.

Freelance is brutal. In avoiding the scumbags I’d advise to do your homework. Try to make sure you’re dealing with a legitimate business person who gives a shit. If they are always emailing you at weird times, other people who work for them are always bitching, they have a poor record of unpaid taxes or you can’t find their business address then beware. Companies and people can go bankrupt without paying freelancers and you have 0 chance of getting that cash. Always try to deal with legit businesses.

It's a tale similar to the players too. A story of desperation and exploitation. I can't imagine trying to dedicate my career to esports, there's just not enough supply to meet the demand so there's gonna be suckers. I'll take stability any day.

As a freelancer in another industry(not esports or commentary) I can relate to everything you said so much I don’t think I’ve ever nodded this much to myself in a room alone by myself. Employers trying to guilt you into asking for less money is *insane* and it happens often.

We should unionize as an audience and practice delay based viewership. We just wait a couple of days and watch Sajam rollback the match analysis. By the time Capcom publicly starts wondering what happened to their audience we just hit ‘em with the good old “audience is 3”.

This happens in a lot of professions. I'm a developer and a real worry is getting too much experience and being unhireable. There are so many fresh faces in my field, so companies would rather hire people fresh out of coding camps and college than pay someone a higher wage that's experienced in the field.

You’re my favorite commentator Sajam

Commentary or not, I'm sure I'll be here supporting the vids and giving my views. Least I can do considering the ammount of enjoyment I get.

Freelance work is some of the hardest I've done currently in the last 4 years, especially for being an artist.

Commentators, Castors, are highly under valued when it comes to the show & events, they deserve better

Ah yes, aka how Jebailey gets annoyed to pay folks.

I think a majority of careers have these emotional issues. How the person handles it is hugely important. Self care, taking breaks, finding the joy in it, and responsible/safe decision making COULD help, but a lot of times it's just the nature of society.

Nice to hear you commenting on this and seeing the advocacy of these issues. I personally haven't had a career in commentary, but I've done it a fair bit. Back in 2013 I even got to do a bit as a player in shootmania, casting with Goldenboy, I did TO work for Brawlhalla and hosted and commentated online tourneys in the early days before they had an official esports team. I've known a lot of those guys and I see how the industry chews them up. Look at Ask Joshy, he finally got a break with Gfuel but he's been struggling for a while now. Esports is cutthroat, it's poorly managed, it's cost cutting and it puts profit margins over the people, and it shows. I've been talking on all platforms for a long time about the kind of things the industry needs as a whole to actually grow to it's potential, but nobody's willing to take those risks to get it there. So much talent never gets a chance to shine on both production and player side, because of how unattainable that lifestyle is on that kind of salary. It's why the stigma that you go downhill as a competitor after your mid 20's.. it's not that the players physically can't keep up, it's that they can't afford to anymore and they have to choose what life to lead. I partly owned what is now the primary esports circuit for brawlhalla, Brawl League. I was hugely responsible with connecting it with the developers and getting the community involved and growing the scene, just to have it forcibly taken away by underhanded bs and drama, and I know I'm not a special case.. it's happened many times. So, to hear someone who "had it all" talk about their experience like this, really doesn't surprise me. Shootmania is another good example, so many people got completely fucked by IPL basically pulling all their money out of what was supposed to be this huge contract that a lot of jobs hinged on, and it literally ended careers. The one and only tournament I got to play in was the launch tourney, and it was bittersweet because we knew it was the last hurrah, but we were supposed to be promoting this game that we were playing and wanted tons of people to get into.

i hear this same stuff happens in the animation industry, except people leave like after a year.

Like Sajam says, this isn't something to get depressed about. It sucks, sure, but that's exactly why Sajam talks about all of this with his fellow commentators and informs us all about it. Gotta cast light on the shadows.

Interesting topic. Something I hadn’t heard of yet am sorry to not quite be surprised about hearing. Curious if there are there TOs or organizations that consistently do these things right? Do any get recognition enough to drive their counterparts to follow suit and be better?

Oh shit im here at 3 minutes after uploading... Uh Hi sajam!

Has Sajan talked about unionizing commentary positions? There are so many great commentators that deserve money in the fgc

Hey man, I think you should tell more stories. I would listen to you talking about bread getting sliced.

Bro I sell vacuums door to door so I feel you on that freelance work my g

Damn if I knew sajam would read it in video I wouldnt have read it myself

Honestly, Sajam is my favorite philosopher.

I'm loving this director's take on the Aris origin story! Seriously, even though it's tough in the US, strong unions do wonders for workers.

"They'll stab you in the back if you're not useful for them" oof I felt that one. It extends to basically all aspects of working events, unfortunately

I couldn't work out who Sajam has beef with... end of 2019... anyone figure it out?

2019-2020... going on for 5 years... is he talking about Capcom Cup??

D'awww, big love for TastySteve.

Did you stop doing commentary for Street Fighter or Dragonball FighterZ? I didn't notice and don't even know which you're talking about, or if its both, because I don't really watch tournaments for games I can't play online. Too frustrating, can't get hyped up and then actually play the game. If you think functional rollback is necessary while living in California just imagine what it's like for people in outlying areas like Northern Canada. We need that wider net to be able to get paired for a match. I watch you for your general thoughts on the FGC, your belief we should have good online in online games and the coverage you do of games that are actually playable online.

Hey Sajam, big fan of your vids/casting. My 2c on this: The precarious conditions described in this video describe the ENTIRE American working class; beholden to those above who don't give a fuck about us. Unions/ Solidarity are our only tools to fight this rampant inequity. As you said: the only way to ensure proper pay for all is to come together and ask for the same price. You describe: "Collectively asking for more pay", but I would posit that this the exact nature of Unionizing. In the exact same way that the TOs would be totally fucked if yall all stood together and demanded far pay for all Casters, or no one Casts for the Scumfuck TO's- the same goes for those in the Service industry, retail, industrial jobs, etc- they wouldn't have shit if we all demanded fair pay and really fucking looked out for each other. I deeply implore you to reconsider your opinion that y'all don't need to unionize, and at the very least strongly suggest you have this conversation seriously with *every* caster in the FGC. Perhaps after that, yall can go around to the other communities(FPS/MOBA) for solidarity in equal pay for every caster. This is a great conversation to begin having (for each and every one of us).

"Did you say the hard R?" "Rollback? Yes I did" mind immediately went somewhere else lmao too funny

I replaced the word 'TO' with 'Promoter' and it described my entire live music career 😢

If i was a caster i wouldn't remember the matches that happen yesterday. lol

This is such an honest look at how the world works. Kissing a$$ is a real thing that can get people far or at least keep them from losing what they have.

Feel FG commentary being a bit more grassroots is less stale then a more traditionally e-sports scene. The MK 10v10 Florida vs Texas was hype and authentic. Think the reality is people are hired for a specific thing and that's what they do. If you hire the same people, and don't give them new content to talk about then of course it will eventually be stale.

Thumbs up to comrade Sajam for showing us the dark side of capitalism!

Unrelated to the vid, but here's a thought that had me curious a few days ago: When picking up new fighting games, shorthand exists to compare similar character playstyles to ones from other fighters, like "X is basically Ryu, Y is more like Ken, Z is this game's Zangief." That's reasonable for staying within the fighting game genre, but what about shorthand that can transcend genres? Like, what SF5 character plays like Red Deck Wins and who is Junk Ramp? Is the difference between Sol and Ragna similar to the difference between playing bass in Rock Band and in Guitar Hero? In a MorriDoom team, who's Boardwalk and who's Park Place? Are Bowser mains basically AWP specialists? Is Mitsurugi the T-block or the L-block of SC6? What's the language to define concepts to help traverse these kinds of questions for players just getting into fighting games?

i love fgc but theres not enough money in the scene

clearly you have value and can't be easily replaced, otherwise that company you don't want to name wouldn't have begged you to commentate top 8 after they tried to haggle down your 1/3rd offer.

So how can a general viewer help

19:17 Sajam...that’s...that’s what unionizing does, man. It’s called collective bargaining and it’s the basis of pretty much all organized labor. If there was an industry standard fee schedule for commentators it would really level the field.

Most companies don't give a shit about their employee. In my opinion you have to be your own boss and not rely on others to find your own happiness.

lmao we don't have this in the melee community? Ever heard of a little guy called Alex Strife?

this is why organized labor is vital and anyone who argues against it is arguing for you to die on the streets once you stop being useful to any given company

"The people in charge don't care if the talent ends up burnt out as long as they saved money" that's not even freelance, that's every industry. The more you care about something the faster you get burnt out and worked to death. At least working for a wage you know that paycheck is coming. Freelance work doesn't even have that

I dont know how many people in the FGC knows him and his work or watches CSGO at all, but csgo was my first competitive game back in 2002, i was 13yo and leaving in Brazil and in Sao Paulo, the competition was fierce here even back in the day, you can look for on the internet for articles from that time or just watch CSGO nowadays where Brazil is not the powerhouse it was couple years ago in terms of winning tournaments, but still one of the biggest and more talented communities out there. Im saying all this because i want to let clear how passioned by the game im and how it effected me growing up, that said HenryG is probably my favorite caster ever for this game and one of my favorites across all games(i also watch all FGs and dota2) and i will miss him a lot. I know his retirement has something to do with all this "cancel culture", and im not here defending him, but if i understood right, his case if one of those it CAN be forgiven after a punishment or a ban for a couple months, the guy may not be perfect and anyone is, but losing him all togheter is sad, his retirement made me really sad =/ I only wish him the best and a bright future in whatever he wants to do, hope someday we can see him casting again.

Working in automotive sales, haggling is just a part of the business. Stick to your guns and know your worth, speak to people in your field as well and know how prices actually work. What is a dollar worth for this service?

I'm imagining a commentator's union right now

Open letter to the working class: Unionize

Sounds like somebody needs to start a union

so Sajam is being blackballed in the industry by a huge player, perhaps a game dev/publisher? for mentioning netcode specifically. leaves either bamco, Capcom, or arcsys (and maybe all 3 lol)

From Esports commentators to teachers to miners everybodies got to deal with crap, bosses, management, whatever.

We gonna get that first esports union

The majority of you all know each other correct? Why not just get everyone together and agree on a minimum payment. Obviously it should be based on multiple things like experience, your portfolio etc.

Just ask for more money. If your pay can't support your lifestyle , find another job. That is all. If people stopped taking low pay , pay will rise , contracts will be offered and everything will improve. As it has for literally every other industry ever.

This is marxist propaganda for gamers and I'm here for it

what happened in 2019?

Making it in entertainment is hard.

Sounds like you guys needed to unionise.

eat sports

Everybody saying how everybody needs to unionize. Meanwhile competitive chess is still relevant. The roof cannot be a heavier than the base can hold.

Did i say the Hard R? ROLLBACK yes i did 💀💀💀💀💀 15:53

UNIONIZE

I now see why u hog the mic... U just trying to live, shit i would answer my own questions too after give the co-worker 2secs to answer

Sajam actually gets less jobs because he talks about shitty netcode? Seriously is that true?

wild how many people are advocating blindly to unionize when many unions dont do shit all and just take union dues out of your check without improving your work environment in any meaningful way. Not all unions are like this of course but saying that people "must unionize and anyone saying otherwise wants you dead" Is just about as stupid as people saying never ever try to do so.

Find another job.