Caster Loviel “Velly” Cardwell worked for Activision Blizzard for 6 months commentating on Call of Duty Pro League games. Now he has given up his job: The background is a bizarre incident that is described as a “drunken bar fight”. Another drunk caster tried to settle the argument, but only made things worse.
Who is this?
Many hope that Call of Duty will experience an upswing again with the new titles:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II “Ultimate Team” teaser
Caster surprisingly resigns in the middle of the season
The news got people thinking: On July 23, the Call of Duty League said it had accepted Cardwell’s resignation and wished him the best.
That was unexpected because it was the middle of the season (via twitter).
A caster in e-sports is something like a sports commentator in classic sports. He comments on and analyzes what is happening in the game and tries to convey to the viewers what is happening in the match – at the same time the caster wants to create a good atmosphere and spice up the game emotionally.
How did the termination come about? There was an incident after the big tournament “New York Major 4” which took place from July 14th to 17th.
It says: The incident happened after the actual event at the “post-event” celebration. Apparently the pro players and members of the Broadcasts team were already indulging themselves by then. They are described as “drunk”.
There is no video footage of the incident, but there is an eyewitness account by a well-known professional player that some witnesses have agreed with, so it appears to be correct. Crimsix says (via twitter):
crimsix says:
I was probably the most sober that night because I was stuck on the F1 simulator for 3 hours. From my point of view, this was a drunken bar fight that everyone would have forgotten about in the morning because it was totally stupid.
After the termination, Caster is proud to have “confessed himself”.
This is how the caster reacts:
The caster himself says that during the argument, two friends talked and argued with each other like “cousins” or “brothers”.
Then suddenly a “larger person” attacked him, which “escalated” the situation.
Being touched went against the grain of Cardwell. He is not someone who fights. He’s not that type of guy, he doesn’t have time for that. So he resigned.
The caster doesn’t see the fault in himself. He’s not a wild guy who messes with people, he says on Twitch.
This person, whose name is not given, laid hands on him without any reason. The person had already come into the situation aggressively.
However, the caster is apparently ok with his decision to quit. He says:
Leaving a HUGE job in industry isn’t easy, but I’m glad I stood up for myself.
I’m pretty good at what I do and I won’t let such a small situation get me down.
According to messages shared by Cardwell, he resigned because he “didn’t want to work in a hostile environment any longer.” He would prefer to “retire quietly.”
He also says he has such confidence in his own ability that he didn’t want to risk anyone’s job when he announced his resignation. Apparently Cardwell is sure to find another job soon:
How is this discussed? There’s general disappointment that they lost such a good caster in Cardwell to such a strange situation, for which he doesn’t appear to be much to blame.
There’s a lot of debate as to who the “evil Caster 3” is that caused the trouble.
No one can quite imagine who the aggressive person is supposed to be. A European caster is named as a suspect – but others say: He’s as soft as butter, you can’t imagine that.
LoL: Casters risk “their damn job” to avoid a deal
This is behind it: The video game industry has always been seen as a little “wild” and “unprofessional,” but having a drink at a party and having an argument at a bar isn’t in and of itself something special now that only needs to happen in gaming. In such a situation, conflicts break out, which often ferment even when sober.
Cardwell’s immediate resignation response appears to be a drastic step in any case. One can only hope that he has thought this through carefully.
From the outside, it sounds more like the third person who meddles in a fight between friends and threatens to sue deserves a snub from Activision Blizzard.
But when you’re drunk at the bar, rarely does anything happen that you’re proud of afterwards:
CS:GO: professional team kicks out a player in the middle of the match – “He’s drunk”