Nicolas Plott (born August 11, 1984), known by his alias Tasteless, is an American
esports
Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...
commentator. He moved to
Seoul, Korea
Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
in 2007 to give commentary to esports competitions.
He has provided commentary for multiple ''
Starcraft
''StarCraft'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series, set in the beginning of the 26th century, centers on a galactic struggle for dominance amon ...
'' and ''
Starcraft 2
''StarCraft II'' is a real-time strategy video game created by Blizzard Entertainment, first released in 2010. A sequel to the successful ''StarCraft'', released in 1998, it is set in a militaristic far future. The narrative centers on a galactic ...
'' tournaments. Together with
Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski, he has provided commentary for
Global ''StarCraft II'' League, and currently provides commentary for SOOP StarLeague games.
Early life
Plott grew up in
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City (commonly known as KCK) is the third-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As ...
, along with his brother
Sean Plott
Sean Saintmichael Plott (born June 27, 1986), better known as Day is an American esports Sports commentator, commentator, player, event host, streamer and game designer. Plott is best known for his contributions in the professional ''StarCra ...
, who is also an e-sports commentator.
Upon graduation from high school, he attended
Regis University
Regis University ( ) is a Private university, private List of Jesuit educational institutions, Jesuit university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1877 by the Jesuits, Society of Jesus, the university offers more than 120 degrees th ...
in Denver studying philosophy and psychology, and was a member of the
parliamentary debate
Parliamentary style debate, colloquially oftentimes just Parliamentary debate, is a formal framework for debate used in debating societies, academic debate events and competitive debate. It has its roots in parliamentary procedure and develops d ...
team.
He considered
law school
A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for b ...
and philosophy dual Ph.D. programs but instead pursued ''StarCraft'' full-time.
''StarCraft'' career
Player
Plott and his younger brother
Sean
Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Hiberno-English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name '' Yohanan'' (), Seán ( anglicized as '' Shaun/ Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; a ...
bought a copy of ''StarCraft'' from a local video game store in 1998 after hearing about the game's popularity.
The brothers would watch each other play while offering gameplay advice.
They played casually online, but were hampered by a slow Internet connection.
They visited a nearby
Internet café
An Internet café, also known as a cybercafé, is a Coffeehouse, café (or a convenience store or a fully dedicated Internet access business) that provides the use of computers with high bandwidth Internet access on the payment of a fee. Usage ...
where they met players about five years older who would play and beat them.
This loss and the ensuing
trash-talk
Trash talk is a form of spoken insult usually found in sports events, although it is not exclusive to sports or similarly characterized events. It is often used to intimidate the opposition and/or make them less confident in their ability to wi ...
were an early inspiration for the brothers to hone their skills, though they never returned to the café.
With the advent of high-speed Internet, the brothers played ''StarCraft'' competitively on Korean servers.
They entered and won tournaments while in high school.
Plott became uninterested in school when it did not let him incorporate ''StarCraft'' into his studies.
He played the game through high school and college.
Commentator
Upon losing to his brother early in the
World Cyber Games 2005
The World Cyber Games 2005 was held in Singapore at Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre from 16 to 20 November 2005. There were over 800 players from 67 countries. Over 39,000 spectators turned up at the games to ch ...
finals, Plott watched the rest of the games as a spectator.
He became frustrated by the tournament commentator's inexperienced handling of in-game nuances and requested to co-host the commentary, which was a success.
He received offers to commentate without pay in Europe, Japan, and Singapore.
In Plott's last semester of college, Korean broadcasting company
GOM TV invited him to provide English commentary for competitive ''
Starcraft: Broodwar'' series as part of a strategy to extend their reach.
He dropped out of college and arrived in
Seoul
Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
within a week.
In Korea, Plott slept on friends' couches and worked as a caster where he could.
This did not guarantee a career or easy move, but offered Plott an opportunity to make a career of his ''StarCraft'' commentary and become the first Western ''StarCraft'' commentator, or
caster
A caster (or castor) is an undriven wheel that is designed to be attached to the bottom of a larger object (the "vehicle") to enable that object to be moved.
Casters are used in numerous applications, including shopping carts, office chairs, t ...
, in South Korea in 2007. Plott provided commentary for the ''Star Invitational'', with around 75,000 viewers for the finals, and 3 seasons of the ''
Averatec
TriGem Computer Co., Ltd. (, abbreviated TG, also known as TGSambo), was a South Korean personal computer manufacturer and technology company. Established in 1980, TriGem was the first Korean company dedicated to manufacturing computer systems. ...
-
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...
Classic''.
Plot was joined by Susie 'lilsusie' Kim as co-caster for one season of the ''Avertec-Intel Classic''. Plott first met Kim at
BlizzCon
BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including '' Warcraft'', '' StarCraft'', '' Diablo'', ''Hearthstone'', ''Heroes of the Storm,'' and '' Overwatch''.
The first BlizzCon was h ...
in 2005.As ''StarCraft II''s launch neared, Plott and another American commentator living in Seoul,
Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski, had individually amassed followings, and had the interest of commercial broadcast networks.
The two began casting together and became known by a
portmanteau
In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together. of their nicknames, Tasteless and Artosis, as Tastosis.
Before this partnership, the two knew each other through their former competitive gaming careers, but became friends in Korea.
''
Polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain.
The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...
'' attributed their success to their "magic" dynamic from complementary personalities, with Plott bold and sociable, and Stemkoski encyclopedic and analytic.
A
crowdfunded
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance, to fund projects "without standard financial ...
documentary about their careers, ''Sons of StarCraft'', was released in 2014.
Plott and Stemkoski prepare separately, with Stemkoski constantly watching ''StarCraft'' matches and Plott studying commentary from non-traditional sports and major ''StarCraft'' news.
Together, they incorporate team histories and their respective strategies into their commentary.
Plott has said that he considers Tastosis' nuanced readings of player tactics and their eventualities as a "gateway" for bringing unfamiliar crowds into ''StarCraft''.
Due to the age range of their audience being 15–32, they try to incorporate humor as well.
Plott cast alongside Stemkoski at the
2012 StarCraft II World Championship Series Europe finals,
Australian and Oceania finals,
and UK nationals,
DreamHack
DreamHack is a Swedish ESL Gaming brand specializing in esports tournaments and other gaming conventions; at its root, a massive LAN party and computer festival, recognized by ''Guiness World Records'' and Twin Galaxies as being the world's l ...
Winter 2011,
IGN Pro League
''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
Season Two,
and
Major League Gaming
Major League Gaming Corp. (MLG) was a professional esports organization based in New York City. Founded in 2002 by Sundance DiGiovanni and Mike Sepso, MLG held official video game tournaments throughout the United States and Canada. The ''Boos ...
2012 Spring Arena,
Raleigh,
and 2011 Orlando.
Plott was among the first group to sign to the electronics sports agency eSports Management Group in 2012.
In a ''
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm''
Easter egg
Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are commonly used during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The ...
, two in-game characters are named after the casters.
In 2016,
AfreecaTV
SOOP, previously known as AfreecaTV (, short for "Any FREE broadCAsting") (), is a video live-streaming service. It is owned and operated by Soop Co., Ltd. in South Korea, which was rebranded from Nowcom's AfreecaTV Co., Ltd, itself split with ...
brought back ''Starcraft: Broodwar'' competition with the AfreecaTV Starleague. Both Plott and Stemkoski were English commentators.
In 2017, Plott as well as his brother and Stemkoski hosted an event marking the release of
''Starcraft Remastered''.
In an interview with the ''
Korea Times
''The Korea Times'' () is a daily English-language newspaper in South Korea. It is a sister paper of the ''Hankook Ilbo'', a major Korean-language daily.
It is the oldest active daily English-language newspaper in South Korea. Since the late 1 ...
'', Plott stated: "Since I was a little kid, I always wanted to come to Korea because this is the place where the StarCraft tournaments were started."
Personal life
In his free time, Tasteless regularly streams
Starcraft
''StarCraft'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series, set in the beginning of the 26th century, centers on a galactic struggle for dominance amon ...
gameplay on his
Twitch
Twitch may refer to:
Biology
* Muscle contraction
** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation
** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction
** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...
Channel in which he typically plays as Protoss.
As of December 2022 he has over 53,000 followers on Twitch.
See also
*
''StarCraft: Brood War'' professional competition
References
External links
Life as an e-sports TV commentator-
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
Nick Plott interview- Korea Observer
Tasteless and Artosis on 19 Years of StarCraft (And Counting)- Blizzard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plott, Nick
American Internet celebrities
American sports announcers
StarCraft commentators
Living people
StarCraft players
People from Kansas City, Kansas
1984 births