eSports Training: Interview with Trevor "Midway" Schmidt of Gotfrag

On the future of eSports and the importance of training

Those of you who have followed the eSports scene for any length of time will undoubtedly be familiar with Trevor Schmidt a.k.a: Midway. Trevor has been a leader in the eSports community for several years now having played competitively and through his former role as Gotfrag.com’s Editor-In-Chief.

In Part 1 of the interview Trevor talks about the future of eSports, his new role at Gotfrag, and what makes eSports and sports in general so fascinating.

Part 2 of the interview focuses on eSports training: specifically the characteristics a team needs to play at the pro level, how to improve training effectiveness, and a common mistake teams will often make when prepping for a big match.

So with out further delay……..

Interview with Trevor “Midway” Schmidt of Gotfrag.com Part 1

1. How long have you been involved with eSports and how much longer do
you plan on working in the industry?

I joined the hardcore eSports scene when I was recruited to WEW in early
2000. I had played CS since beta 1 before that but spent most of my time
playing other computer games or console games such as Goldeneye.

My future has many options and more that become available all the time but right now I plan to spend the rest of my life doing exactly what I do now; report on eSports.


2. What do you most like about the sport?

An interesting question, you spoke of “sports” not just eSports. I love
all sports and I think what makes sports so intriguing is the player
interactions, and expectations to go with the competition. People create
expectations around their feelings of a team, the concept alone is very
dynamic and often amazing to watch.Combine that with the constant player issues from transactions to even outright fights in Training camps, sports just provides an amazing microcosm of the life we lead.


3. What is your role at Gotfrag and what do your day-to-day tasks consist of?

My promotion to Strategic Brand Director from Editor-In-Chief was an
important move for GotFrag. Jason “Anomoly” Bass had proven to be one of the most capable staff members and his promotion to my old position was well deserved. My roll inside of GotFrag is currently two fold. I create, manage, develop and initiate all the future projects of GotFrag. Currently there are over 20 different projects in different levels of production. From the current v3 of GotFrag’s front page which is do out very soon to the development of advances on our current Gamesense system. The other aspect of my work is to continue writing eSports articles along with helping to develop our current writers and future interns on staff.


4. What changes do you think we will we see in the eSports
industry/community in the next 3 years?

One of two things will happen over the next few years. One, major
corporate sponsors will come in and take over teams helping them to
develop and push the sport to a pro cycling style format with teams
attending events and swapping players every event. The other will be that
one league/event will win out against others and create a professional
league. This would include franchises and a player union. I believe the
second option is much more beneficial to the eSports scene, an idea I have been championing for a while.

Stay tuned for Part 2