Erik "DoA" Lonnquist has a long and rich history in eSports. He started out his shoutcasting career in the StarCraft II scene and jumped on the train to cast League of Legends when the opportunity presented itself. Coming from a large family and a cultivated background of strong voice personalities within, it’s no surprise that he’s been able to make his own success using his voice and personality to create a highly regarded reputation.

DoA took some time to answer some questions and provide some insight on himself and how he works, along with some key advice for those aspiring to make their own careers in esports.

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We began the interview by discussing DoA's origin.

What originally brought you to video games?

I’ve loved video games for as long as I can remember. I remember playing Blue Max on Commodore 64 and Super Mario Bros on the original Nintendo at around age 4 or 5 and being immediately hooked. Gaming has been a big part of my life since I could hold a controller!

What made you decide to transition to casting?

I was playing the Starcraft 2 beta and started watching some content like the HDH Invitational and the Day[9] Daily and thought it looked like a fun hobby. That’s really about it!

How did you transition?

There wasn’t really a transition to make. It was definitely more picking up something new for me. I wasn’t involved or knowledgeable in esports at all before I started casting.

With the origins established, we talked to DoA about his motivations next.

What motivates you to continue the high level of work that you do?

My biggest motivation is simply self-improvement. It doesn’t really matter to me where I rate in esports casting because I look at the best traditional sportscasters, talk show hosts, actors -- and I see how much better they are at what they do compared to me. I want to get to that level so I need to keep pushing myself to speak better, be funnier, and be more prepared, which is a constant struggle, but a fun one. Of course my fans are a huge motivation to me as well, but I know I won’t disappoint them if I keep working towards improving myself.

Where do you draw inspiration? Are there certain people or things that inspire and motivate you or do you primarily develop it from yourself?

Getting inspiration from yourself sounds like an incredibly narcissistic thing to say, but I do think that publicly embracing who you are and letting that show through in your casting is important in sounding genuine. I’d never say “I inspire myself”, but I do intentionally talk a lot about my own life experiences and my own interests on the cast as a way to be entertaining and connect with a lot of people out there that I know have similar things going for them. I do also gain a lot of inspiration from exterior sources though.

My dad’s sense of humor is identical to my own and I’m sure that’s part of it. People and shows like Weird Al Yonkovic, Joel Hodgson, Mystery Science Theater 3000 and now Rifftrax (to name just a few) have certainly had a hand in shaping my attempts at being funny.

Do you ever feel discouraged with your work or the community? How do you find motivation to overcome it if you do?

I feel discouraged with my own work constantly in that I want to make more content. I’m a terribly disorganized person and I could be doing a lot more than I am if I could conquer that demon. Over the years I’ve gotten better at it, but there’s still a lot of work to do on that front.

DoA struggles with the same issue a lot of normal people do, but still works hard and has a long list of experience in his current casting portfolio.

After StarCraft II, how did you make the move to League of Legends?

OGN offered me the chance to cast LoL and I jumped at the chance since I’d been playing it with friends and was seeing how big the game was getting. After that, it was just a matter of doing a ton of prep work to make sure that I could put on a good show for people.

Did anything about your experience with SC2 make it easier?

A little bit I guess? Moving into LoL was more about an opportunity for me to create the kind of cast I wanted to create from the ground up with lots of good planning rather than just being kind of thrown into it in Starcraft 2. I had two months of prep time before my first LoL cast, which was great.

In the same vein, what was the biggest challenge in transitioning games?

The biggest challenge, by far, was adjusting to the difficulty of casting team fights in LoL. It’s incredibly difficult and I still don’t think I’m that great at it.

Now that there’s been a season to settle in to LCK, how has your experience been like and how are things objectively different compared to when it was strictly OGN?

Well -- up until the end of this season, it’s still been OGN Champions, so nothing has really changed yet. LCK is a label that Riot applied to the tournament that I never agreed with. It purposefully separates the show from the broadcasting company that’s worked so hard to make it great over the last four years, and that naturally bothers me since they deserve more credit and more respect than what they’ve gotten. Now that the tournament is being split up and OGN’s kind of a side-player in everything, I suppose it’s actually LCK. GG OGN Champions. We had a good run.

How are you treated relative to the Korean casters?

OGN’s always treated us really well for the most part. You’ll see the cultural divide from time to time, but OGN’s been an amazing company to work with over the last four years and I’ve always been happy here. Honestly, I think we have it a bit better than those guys from time to time. The Korean fans can be brutal!

Can you compare what it is like to work on site at OGN versus being invited to Riot events?

I really can’t compare the two since I work for each under pretty different circumstances. Doing an OGN cast is like coming into the office. You go, you do your job, and you go home -- and OGN is great at putting on regular shows that always go ultra smoothly.

During Riot events, I’m always traveling, so the amount of support for casters that’s needed is greater and Riot’s always done an awesome job on that aspect of things. The production crew is amazing and runs a really tight show. We’ve always got comfortable places to chill out during games we’re not casting and they’re always willing to tweak things on the caster desk to make life easier for us. Not having to half-listen to the Korean casters to try to deduce when to throw to a commercial is nice, too...

What are your thoughts on the evolution competitive gaming so far?

Competitive gaming has grown much faster and much bigger than I expected and it’s been great. I suppose I really shouldn’t be too surprised though. Our generation grew up with games in a way that no other generation (except this next one) has, and it’s natural that we want to include competitive gaming in our lives more and more. Nearly every gamer can enjoy competitive gaming on some level because at some point we were all trying to beat our friends in Mario Kart or stay alive longer in Donkey Kong Country so we didn’t have to pass the controller back...

Now, onto the memorable and more technical aspects of casting...

What is the definition of a good caster to you?

A good caster is prepared, looks comfortable on camera and speaks well. If you want to make it professionally in the long term, I think you need all three. Luckily, you don’t need to be born with any of those qualities. Nearly anyone can develop them with enough effort.

How do you feel you meet this definition and do you feel like you have inherent weaknesses and strengths?

I think I’m blessed with the ability to be silly in front of other people and not care about their reaction, which helps me when I’m on camera. I also was fortunate enough to be trained from pretty early on to use my voice effectively and hone it into something that sounds good. I do my best to be well prepared for my broadcasts, but that’s something that I could always do better at. It’s great to know what you need to improve on though, and you should never be afraid to seek out and identify your worst qualities.

Is there anything about your personal history that made casting natural and easier for you and, in turn, is there something about yourself that perhaps made it more difficult?

I come from a family of voice specialists. My Grandfather was in radio and public speaking, my dad’s a pastor, and my mom has a degree in music education and is a great singer -- so from really early on in my life, I can remember being pushed to make my voice better. I still have plenty of work to do, but I had a good start!

The biggest struggle has been being an easily distracted person.  I tend to waste a lot of time in the "dark playground" as Tim Urban puts it (Tim Urban, the guy who appeared on Ted Talk, not Tim Urban, the American Idol contestant.)  It's an odd situation for me since I get a lot of content that I can use on the cast that way, but I also end up with less actual prep for the match I'm casting. I try to find a good balance.

Do you have a moment in your career that was the most difficult for you? Why was it?

The beginning was probably the most difficult. Making the decision to quit my job and move to Korea to try this was pretty stressful, but once I got out here and really started working on my career, it all became positive stress.

How did you start incorporating humor into your casting? What was behind your decision to do so?

It was never something I planned ahead for or did intentionally. I kind of just speak during the cast how I do in any other conversation. I’ve always joked around a lot. I’m just fortunate that people actually think I’m funny! Once in awhile I’ll say something in conversation that I think is funny and I’ll think, “Oh I should say that on the cast…”, but that’s pretty much all the “prep” for humor that I do.

Favorite casting moment?

It’s impossible to nail down just one moment. All the big exciting matches are great, but the best moments for me are when my co-caster and I are riffing off of something the other said and making each other laugh. I think the viewer really picks up on if you’re genuinely having fun or not on a cast and it bleeds through to their enjoyment as well.

8. What do you wish people could know about casters and casting?

I think there’s the mistaken impression sometimes that we just show up and talk and that’s about it. What you see on the broadcast is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what actually goes into casting. The amount of real work it takes to be a good caster is a lot more than people think.

Veering off the more serious topics, we looked to dig into some funny experiences, and then to settle down with some closure and recommendations to the inspired.

Any funny, embarrassing or memorable stories you can share about your experiences casting?

There’s way too much to list here, but one time that stands out was when Wolf and I were casting the GSL qualifiers and were told the wrong names for a Protoss vs Protoss match. We were shouting about one guy being the winner and moving into the GSL when it was really the other player. Not our fault, but still pretty embarrassing!

Any advice for potential casters or others looking to get into esports?

Read books about traditional sportscasting and keep making lots of content even if nobody watches it initially!

What are your hopes for esports in the future?

Bigger and better!

How do your own personal hopes and plans fit into that?

I hope I can keep people entertained and do what I can behind the scenes to make sure casting is a viable career choice.

Is there anything else you would like people to know about you?

My favorite number is 4.

Anything else for your fans around the world?

Thanks for watching my content and never feel shy to say "hi" to me at an event! I might not always have time to talk, but I’ll at least say "hi" back!

Connect with the caster at @ggDoA and the interviewer at @poetanarchy88.

Images by DoA's Twitter, Riot Games, and Lolesports Flickr.