Griffin "Sceptic" Spikoski is an American YouTube star and professional gamer best known for playing Fortnite. Sceptic currently plays for Misfits Gaming North America. Sceptic sat down with Esports Heaven to discuss his background in streaming, balancing time between attending school and content creation as well as competing professionally. Furthermore, Sceptic also shared his opinions on Fortnite Season 7, experience of being part of the Misfits organization and dealing with toxicity in the community. Thank you for taking the time to give us the interview, Sceptic. To start, Could you please tell us about your background and involvement in streaming and esports? My name is Griffin “Sceptic” Spikoski. I’ve been gaming my whole life, but I got into streaming over 3 years now. I first started streaming because I wanted to show my friends my POV of the game since they said I was pretty good at it, then it slowly escalated as people would tune into my stream and tell me I was pretty good at the game. I would say things really sky-rocketed when I killed Tfue and uploaded it to YouTube, with the video reaching over 10 million views. Since then I’ve just gone with the flow and everything worked out. If you are seriously passionate about something you can make it work, no matter what. Did you ever think you would come so far by playing a game? To be honest, I knew this was what I wanted to do since I was 10. I was going to figure out a way to make it work, I just never thought it would happen so quickly and get so big at this age. Are you currently attending school? If so, how do you balance between streaming and keeping up with school work? I had to get pulled out of high school since about 3 or 4 days in kids were chasing me around school, yelling my name in the middle of class and disturbing the overall atmosphere. Following these incidents, I told my parents that it was a huge distraction, and we agreed on online schooling. The online school is great because it gives my schedule the flexibility to allow me to practice, stream, and create content. I can go at my own pace and get my work complete. As soon as I finish streaming in the morning, I usually like to get my school work completed so I can focus on other things throughout the day. You have not competed in Fortnite ever since the Chapter 2 Season 2 FNCS. Could you tell us the reason behind this and how has the move coming along so far? I loved competing in tournaments, but to me having a long career really lies in content. Building a community based on content, where people watch to see me and not a particular game. So, when the time comes to move to a new game, it’ll make it that much easier of a transition for my community. Also, with competing, there was so much practice involved it left little time for other things. That and the prize pool kept dropping, lol. Credits: Misfits official Youtube Channel Do you find it difficult to adjust to the spotlight at such a young age? Not really. I kind of embraced it from the very beginning. I love entertaining and seeing people happy, so when people come up to me and ask for pictures or an autograph, I’ll always take the time to do it and talk with them. At the Fortnite World Cup, there were hour-long lines to meet me up, and I didn't leave until I had a chance to meet everyone. Sceptic, does having a plethora of online friends and a large online presence impact the friendships you had previously? I’m still friends with most of the kids I had prior to blowing up. Most of them are still my mods, both in Discord and on Twitch. They’re all very supportive and have been so since day 1. What is the highlight of your streaming and Fortnite career so far? Without a doubt the World Cup. Playing alongside the best players in the world was something that I’ll never forget. Also walking out on that stage for the first time was incredible. How do you remain motivated to play the same game after all of this time? What do you do to avoid burning out? Taking regular breaks is essential to avoiding burnout. It can be pretty exhausting turning it on every day for Twitch and YouTube. I’ve also really gotten into focusing on my health and fitness. I’m at the gym daily working out and I’ve gotten pretty close with my trainer, Luke Siefert. He helps me with my daily routines. It definitely keeps me focused and feeling a lot better. Have you ever considered switching to another game apart from Fortnite? If so, do you think your community would support your decision to do so or will you face a considerable drop in engagement? I play so many games off-stream, like Rocket League, Valorant, and COD. I have thought about branching out into other games and have actually streamed COD a few times. My community was very supportive, and when the time comes to fully branch out, I feel like they’ll still support me. I’m proud of the fact that my community watches me for me and my content, and not just competitive gameplay. What are your goals as a creator for 2021? Any particular milestones you are aiming to achieve? I always want to keep challenging myself and building my brand outside of gaming. I’d like to incorporate some fashion and brand ambassador deals. I just took part in Ford Modeling’s Esports Fashion Week where I was on a panel with Clipz and HipHopGamer, which was really fun. According to your recent tweets, it looks as if you are hitting the gym quite frequently these days. What was the motivation in doing so and how has your transformation journey been so far? It started out as me just taking my health seriously. When I first started working out, I noticed it was nice to take a break from gaming. It keeps me focused, fit, and overall, just feeling better mentally and physically. Do you plan to continue streaming as a long-term venture or will you eventually quit and move to another career? I plan on riding this wave as long as I can. This is my passion, so even when streaming and content creation runs its course, I plan on staying in the field and working behind the scenes. I feel there’s a lot that I can bring to an org or company with my experience in the industry. Plus, moving closer to Misfits Gaming Headquarters has allowed me to see what it’s like from a behind-the-scenes standpoint of the business. Considering that you are a streamer, there must have been instances where you had to face the unfortunate toxicity in the community. Was it difficult and how have you managed to deal with it in the past? At first, it was really difficult. I wasn’t used to the hate, I just wanted people to have fun and enjoy my content. But I realize there will always be haters and toxicity. People love to their peers fall or try to be taken down for some reason. So, I just put it all behind me and focus on the positivity and people who support me in my community. It has been over a year since you joined Misfits. How has been your experience in the organization so far and how well do you connect with other members? Misfits is honestly like family to me. They don’t treat me as a product or a player but as a person. And that’s what brought me back to Misfits after a year with other organizations and exploring as a free agent. They’ve all seen me grow up and have been key figures in my esports journey, so being close to the headquarters now and spending time there has really meant a lot. It’s a second home. Why do you think so many people love to say, “Fortnite is dying,” when we all know that it’s not? Again, it comes down to the haters. The great thing about Fortnite is it’s always changing and evolving. There are always new names popping up on the scene because it’s open to everyone. I think a few main things have factored into the “Fortnite is dying” hate. That’s been the lack of LANs due to Covid, the decreased prize pools (or the more spread out prize pools), and the lack of new stars that are jumping out and grabbing the spotlight. 3 years ago, you had me, Mongraal, Megga, Benjy, Slappie, H1ghSk1. All these young kids jumping out and making huge names for themselves. It’s so competitive now you don’t really see that many new names. Before ending the interview, what has been your most favorite addition to Fortnite in Season 7? My favorite addition to Fortnite season 7 is probably the Ferrari collab haha. It Speeds up the game a ton and is an absolute blast to fly around! Sceptic, once again thank you for taking your time out to answer this interview. The floor is yours for any final things you’d like to say, give a shoutout, etc Thank you for the time. Huge shoutout to my dad and his nonprofit COPE, Coalition Of Parents In Esports. They’re out here trying to change the narrative around gaming and provide the resources and information to show parents, kids, and families that there are so many areas and paths to successful careers within esports. Go check em out @COPEgg on Twitter and www.cope.gg online

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Sceptic's featured image courtesy of Misfits Twitter handle Kindly support us by following Esports Heaven on Twitter and keep tabs on our website for more interesting content. If you enjoyed this interview of Sceptic, follow the author for more Valorant content at @AashirAhmed155.