Jorby On RLCS X, Casting With ADHD, And Criticism
Enthusiasm and pure passion are at the core of Joey "Jorby" Ahrens' casting career. He gets very excited about good Rocket League, and the hype he brings to the desk is contagious. GGRecon talked to Jorby about the RLCS, casting with ADHD, and criticism.
You're clearly very passionate about Rocket League esports. What excites you most about it?
What I love most about Rocket League is that it is true skill-based competition. Everyone starts on the same field, same boost amount, same positions. It reminds me so much of old arena shooters like Quake and Unreal Tournament - a genre I love for the same reasons.
What is your fondest memory as a caster?
Casting the Season 7 Grand Finals. From the casting booth, seeing almost ten thousand people doing the wave for as long as possible, the crowd so loud I could barely hear myself. It was a dream that I had when I first started as a community caster. That was the goal - casting an RLCS grand finals. Still so surreal that I even did it.
With RLCS X on the way, what are you looking forward to the most?
The open competition of RLCS X excites me the most. There hasn't been a ton of crossover between the RLCS and the Rival Series. We're already seeing teams and players we haven't even heard of making runs against mainstays in the scene. It's an exciting time for our esport.
If you could change one thing about RLCS X, what would it be?
The only imperfection is one out of our control, the pandemic. I want live events so badly again, but it's of the utmost importance to keep our people safe. When it is safe again, that first live event is going to be amazing, and I cannot wait.
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Jorby has ADHD. For people with ADHD, it can be hard to control their attention - it’s either all or nothing. Everyone loses their focus sometimes, but for someone with ADHD, it’s a constant struggle. Everything from day-to-day responsibilities to building a career can be difficult. There are ways to manage the symptoms, though.
People with ADHD are often seen by themselves and others as lazy because they struggle to prioritise important things over unnecessary details, but can sometimes hyper-focus on something that catches their interest. When someone is hyper-focusing, they can easily forget about their surroundings and lose track of the situation.
Do you encounter ADHD symptoms while doing your job as a caster?
The one outstanding symptom I struggle with is talking before having a complete thought ready, and it makes me prone to rambling. I'll get excited, and words want to come out. I've gotten better at being more comfortable with silence and taking my time to know where a sentence is going. This is a persistent area of improvement. My words can go faster than I can, mentally, and so I end up tripping over myself or completely stopping my sentence because I didn't know what word to say next.
How do you overcome any difficulties they may cause?
The best way to overcome the rambling is focusing on slowing down my speech and waiting to start talking. It's all about catching the 'impulse', the base need to say some kind of follow up after my co-caster. I have started to take notes and have them in glance view to remind me, because it can be easy to hyper-focus on a series and 'get lost in the flow', losing poise. I listen to my casts afterwards and note every single time I took too long to get to a point, put too many points together, or dominated the cast, which I can have a tendency for. Leaving space and letting the game breathe is important. I know this, but it requires constant discipline.
Watching my own tape will help me catch those things as they are happening, and then curb them.
Are there any positives to having ADHD for you?
I would say that most positives of ADHD are also negatives. A two-sided coin where the coin flips are random. Though the ability to learn and adapt quickly, and what I like to call 'I connected the dots, but differently', are two overt positives for me. People with ADHD are wired differently - the way they approach problems mentally are usually different. You end up making a unique connection to solve a problem than what the intended connection was supposed to be.
The above can also get me into trouble while casting, because I'll notice the 'wrong' thing, or be focused too specifically on one part of a play, and so I'll miss something obvious to everyone else while I was spending my 'focus' elsewhere.
You speak out against unhelpful criticism. What makes something constructive criticism for you?
This tweet is one of those times where my impulses get the better of me. Before I answer, I did not handle this comment well. I made a public deal out of it when it never needed to be. It'd be one thing to respond to them directly, but to tweet out the comment was wrong, and there isn't a legitimate excuse. I apologise for that and will be better.
Constructive criticism is when you point out, specifically, what it is you don't like about a caster. What was said? Was it the tone? The volume? The cadence? The content? It's hard to tell if someone just doesn't prefer your style, or is frustrated about something specific without answering one of those questions.
What is the best criticism you've received?
Actually, this isn't the best, but just recently I had asked someone on Reddit for some specifics that they did not like. They went through and watched a game from a style he preferred, and then from one of my casts. He broke each down to highlight the specific areas of criticisms he was talking about and was eloquent and concise.
Otherwise, every session I ever had with Gillyweed (while she was the head of talent on the esports team) were the best criticisms I ever received. Thanks to her guidance, I improved so much and knew better what things to look for when I am criticising myself.
What advice would you give your younger self?
The only advice I would tell my younger self is that "IT IS OKAY. Breathe. You won't listen to any real advice I tell you, so I'm telling you it's okay. Be sad, be angry, be compassionate, be open. They don't care as much as you think. You'll grow. Have fun, man."
Images via Dreamhack