Meet jchensor Raise a glass and sit and stare, understand the man

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

What Is A Man? A Miserable Pile Of Flaws.

I saw this posted on Facebook at one point this year. Usually I see a list like this and am happy that I do most of the things advised, but for this particular image something really struck me as terrifying:



I was guilty of being at the wrong end of all six of those things.

It really struck a nerve with me and made me realize why I probably spend the majority of my life being depressed and hating myself, which is a particularly unhealthy way to live when you are a public figure in the Fighting Game Community. I've always said that to be a commentator, one of the first requirements to have is a thick skin... which is funny because that's the one thing I definitely do not have.

I constantly contemplate quitting the commentator role because of the negativity I've received, and believe you me I probably get more negativity than the majority of commentators out there. I can't even link friends and family to YouTube videos of me commentating to show them what I enjoy doing because there are some really terrible things being said about me in the comments sections. And many times it's not even negativity about my commentary, but negative things directly about me. I've contemplated quitting even as recent as last week.

But by quitting, I'm basically falling prey to disobeying all 6 of those pieces of advice.  So I've been thinking long and hard about this, and it's prompted me to write up this post.  And no, I'm not going to try and garner sympathy from my haters with this post.  I'm not going down the "woe is me" path anymore.  What reading those 6 pieces of advice above made me realize is that I can't derive my own self worth from what people think of me.  So instead of trying to garner sympathy from people, I'm going to do the exact opposite here.

Because I'm NOT quitting.

First of all, to all the people who do constantly shit on me and say negative things about me and my commentary, I'm giving you all a big collective "Fuck you," for the first time in my life. I'm not saying this because I hate all of you, I'm saying this because I'm no longer going to let you bring me down anymore. I don't care what you the haters think: I still do this commentary shit better than most commentators out there. I have a ton of people who tell me all the time that they appreciate my commentary very much, that they are glad someone out there tries to appeal to the people who don't know the games extremely well, that they learn a lot from watching matches that I commentate, that half the time they can't understand the game at all unless myself and David are doing commentary, etc. Every new venue I go to, every time I go to a state or location I've never been, I have a lot of people who thank me and shake my hand and tell me that I'm doing a lot of good for the FGC. Many even say they wouldn't even have cared about the FGC if it weren't for some of the things I've done.

Secondly, even having said that, the sheer amount of people out there who shit on me cannot come from nowhere without an actual reason, so I realize there are definitely things I do that annoy the hell out of people. Hell, sometimes I'll rematch a match I've commentated and think, "Holy shit, I sound like a fucking idiot. What on earth was I thinking when I said that?!?" So even though I told you all to fuck off, that's not actually the case.  In fact...

I actually want to apologize to every one of you that I've ever made watching a stream an unbearable activity.

See, I started doing commentary for no other reason than to try and bring more people into the FGC and to improve commentary in general. So if I've done the opposite for you, I'm sorry. One of the most important things to do as a commentator is to realize where your weaknesses lie and continue to try and improve. It's no different than playing Street Fighter itself: you have to really analyze what you are doing to get better.

And so to all the people who hate me, instead of ignoring them or pretending their opinions don't matter, I'm going to do the opposite now. I'm tired of this whole, "If you have haters, you're doing something right," line of thinking. I use that too much to shield myself from actual critical opinions that are 100% valid. It just happens that these criticisms come from people on the internet, which allows them to critique in ways that are far more harsh than they would be if said in person. I mean, come on, we've all done this. I myself have wanted certain NBA coaches to die in fires, to have a commentator or two of national sports telecasts to shut the hell up, etc. But I never actually mean it as harshly as it comes out.

So what I'm going to do is here is ask everyone, especially the haters, to let me know what I can do to improve as a commentator. Tell me what problems you have with me, and I hope you can be as constructive as possible, especially when you know you are speaking directly to me. And please don't tell me the things I can't fix. Don't tell me my voice sucks (I know), don't tell me I'm fat (I know), don't tell me I'm stupid (I'm not). Don't tell me you hate my jokes (I could change this but... why? Being yourself is the most important thing you can do as a commentator and, frankly, humor is highly subjective. Even so, I've definitely toned down the number of bad jokes and puns I make nowadays -- I only made one bad pun at Capcom Cup, and it wasn't during a match). Don't tell me I don't know Marvel, because I know I don't, and you'll notice I've purposefully avoided Marvel commentary the past few months as much as possible.

Instead, tell me things I can change that I CAN work on.

For example, I know I ramble. I'm gonna try and keep that more in check now. I've already worked on it, interrupting myself at times to just say, "...but I'll talk about that later." I know people think I'm constantly wrong about things and say factually incorrect things. I do, but dammit everyone does. I can't watch a stream where the commentators aren't wrong about something constantly, but that "trait" has become associated specifically with me so people notice it most when I do it and have learned to ignore whenever I say things that are correct. I know I go off on a lot of randomly stupid tangents because that's just how my thought process flows, and that's something I really need to quell.

Again, give me stuff I can work with. I'll promise try to fix it. Hell, Tweet me live during commentary about stuff I do badly so I have context and can try and fix it from that point forward. I've fixed lots of things people have told me in the past (but I still can't seem to stop adding "there" and "here" and "right now" and stuff to the ends of my sentences, which I am conscious of and trying to stop... sorry, Adam). I don't know a lot of the things I do that piss people off, so, if you tell me, I can try my best to fix it.

I'm not big on resolutions, but in 2014 my goal is to really do what I can to make the FGC a better place. I have a lot of ideas and plans for making us PROUD to be a part of the FGC this year by finding ways to appreciate who we are and finding ways to fix our faults. But I can't do that unless I'm willing to fix my own flaws, so, as cliche as this sounds, I'm starting with the man in the mirror. So I've given you guys an open forum here:

Let me know why you think I suck as a commentator in the comments below. I've even enabled Anonymous posts.

It's gonna be painful, this will not be a fun process for someone who reacts poorly to criticisms.  But I'm going to do this and I'd rather get it all here, right now, and let everyone know I intend to fix and change my flaws. It always seems that, without declaring this publicly, people assume you're never changing and will continue to hate on you even if you stop doing the things they hate. Hopefully if they know I'm actively trying to fix the problems, they'll give me a second chance. In fact, Retweet the link to this to the people who aren't following me so that those who dislike me can come and leave comments.

That's my New Year's Resolution and I'll talk more about my ideas as the year goes along. Again, I have a lot of ideas brewing in my head on what we can do to make the FGC an awesome place to be and not the media dumping grounds that we always are. I'm going to try my best to use my position and make a more positive environment for us. And no, I'm not going to do this by ignoring the negatives of the FGC, not at all. I'm not gonna pretend the FGC is amazing because "if we have haters, we must be doing something right." In fact, it's better that we address all the negatives, focus on them, and try to figure out ways to fix them.

And I'm starting with myself because I'm not going anywhere in 2014. Not yet.

Now. Enough talk. Have at you.

And Happy New Years, everyone.

- James "jchensor" Chen

57 Comments:

  • You do fine, James. If I have any complaint about you, it's that sometimes you put the smaller communities on blast too much for being small, as if they don't want more people to play their game just as much as you do. But that's got nothing to do with your commentary.

    Your commentary is good. You're not perfect, but nobody is. It's like you said, the internet enables people to be far more critical than they'd otherwise be. The only suggestion I can think of is that I think one of the most important things I commentator can do is help others see the "story" of a match; to explain how certain things that happened earlier in the match built up to the thing that just happened (for instance, one player conditioning another player to block at a certain range allowing them to get close enough to throw). You do that sometimes (and certainly more often than a lot of other commentators), but I think you could be better if you made it a more consistent part of your commentary.

    Have a Happy New Year.

    By Anonymous SecretInformant, at 6:55 PM  

  • Without you I would never have gotten into fighting games.

    >> I started doing commentary for no other reason than to try and bring more people into the FGC

    You've accomplished that goal with at least 1 person and I'm 100% sure there are many more.

    I love and appreciate what you do!

    Happy New Year!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:56 PM  

  • James you're doing good stuff for the fgc. I'm a Marvel guy, but people like you and David make me enjoy watching Street Fighter. :)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:00 PM  

  • I don't usually listen to any commentary when I'm watching matches to improve, because I discovered that I like to learn like JuiceBox on his stream by trying by myself and come up with my own doubts. But when I just want to relax I like UltraChen by a lot because you two are the most teaching, and appealing and let the match shine which can be bad if the matches aren't going well, but overall it's professional, and always a safe bet. Maybe a catch phrase could work like when the flip the table was huge on wnf chat. Keep the puns and keep being fooled by the tailored trends every event James <3

    By Blogger Rafael, at 7:06 PM  

  • MORE PUNS wait no shit

    honest answer: teach yourself to hit points harder. as weird as this'll sound, treat your commentary like tweets. you need to make your point, and do so efficiently as possible, before a limit's hit. honestly, I'd consider you as knowledgeable in FGs as the best commentators, but all that happens is that yours never feels as direct, there's a lot of fluff surrounding. stutter's here and there, too.

    honestly? if you can learn some more in-depth stuff on how people learn to get into public speaking well, you'd probably be perfect from just that.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:14 PM  

  • Don't fix anything.

    Do you, and I will continue to watch. As a fighting game fan close to how old you are. (Actually, older) it's nice seeing someone more passionate about fighting games than me.

    Fuck these entitled shits who have nothing better to do than try to bring you down because you're doing something you enjoy.

    To add something constructive, don't be afraid to explain details to people that might not be familiar with tech or execution. It invites discussion and that's what the FGC needs.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:15 PM  

  • Hey James,

    I had no idea there was a lot of negative sentiment around you or that you were being affected by it.

    The things people say about you in YouTube comments is the same thing that's been said about every fighting game player that's played on stream or had a match video posted on the internet, everyone that's ever produced game content for other people to watch, etc...

    People don't care about the effort that goes into these things and just want to talk shit. They're just bored / stupid / negative and turn it into shitty youtube comments. just ignore it.

    I could not do what you do at tournaments, i.e. get hype for SF4/Marvel all day while still being well-informed enough to talk about it. Most commentators just make jokes about stage selection and shit.

    thanks for what you do, keep it up
    -Tim

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:15 PM  

  • James, if anything, you are too ambitious and brave as a commentator. As in, you take risks and say things that might make somebody roll their eyes because you know that it's important to do all that stuff. The very thing that makes you open to so much criticism is the same exact thing that makes you such an ideal commentator. Other commentators are often afraid to make any big contributions to the dialogue because they see it as too much of a risk, but you (and david) care about getting people the information they need (while also keeping things fun) which is what made you (and david) as famous and well-respected as you are today...


    However, if you need a real thing to improve on, just work on the rambling thing, and maybe work on paying more attention to when other commentators might be able to contribute some words (sometimes ya just need to say "but what are your thoughts on this?")...and i think that'll be a great start... Happy new year, from Canada!!!

    By Blogger UncleBibby, at 7:24 PM  

  • honestly i think the puns are fine and they fit your style. the humor from puns is supposed to be derived from how bad/corny/etc. they are so you're fine.

    i also appreciate that you attempt to give informative commentary unlike random tryhards who hop on and attempt to do their best yipes impressions before being told to fuck off. i can at least say i've learned some things from watching videos with your commentary.

    but please stop saying "owwww" after combos lol. i'm sure you can come up with something better to fill up that space with. come on.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:27 PM  

  • Hi James,

    As someone who constantly undermines their own self-worth and place in life, I admire your courage. You have shown confidence in who you are whilst striving to become a better person, both of which no doubt reflects a big heart and strong mind. I take inspiration from your message and hope that I too can find such courage to become a better me.

    In terms of feedback, your commentary is gdlk! You and David are perhaps the only 'professional' commentators this community has and your contribution to the genre has been immeasurable. The one thing I would suggest you are already aware of; that being a focus on the balance/timing between anecdotes, analysis and play-by-play commentary.

    Other than that your knowledge is mind-blowing, you're well spoken and perhaps most important of all, your passion for the game truly shines through in your commentary. Such passion and dedication cannot be taught and it's exactly what this community needs.

    Just keep doing what you're doing James. I look forward to seeing your work in 2014. All the best homie!

    By Anonymous Benji B., at 7:33 PM  

  • First off i want to thank you James for everything you do and have ever done for the FGC, you are an invaluable pillar of the community in my eyes and i would hate to see you go away. I look forward to seeing what you do in the future.

    i can't say don't read the comments cause curiosity is to strong and the only advice i can give is to laugh it off and take it with a grain of salt. i certainly empathize with you on how it can effect you though.

    My only critique is when you commentate you have this tendency to get off track when commentating but as you said above you have already started to work on that so during Capcom Cup i noticed you started to change which is awesome! The only other thing is when you get names wrong but in the heat of the match names can get backwards and your mind and mouth are going at a different speed i can understand, just being more aware is what i would say. One thing i would love to see you do is integrate what i hear NFL and NBA commentators do which is talk about the strategy the player could be using more. You do it sometimes and i love hearing that insight of what possible strategy the player could be using, even if its the wrong one the player might be using its nice to hear a way to play the match. But if you can't cause the match is going so fast i can understand.

    I really just look forward to seeing you improve this year and keep the hype coming.

    on a side note it was your commentary on Wednesday Night Fights that really started to help me understand the strategy involved with Street Fighter. I really had no clue what i was doing in fighting games, just pressing buttons at rangers and hoping they had more priority. but then week after week tuning into you and david commentating just afew years ago every wednesday really started giving me insight and knowledge and has made me approach Fighting Games with the same strategy that goes into chess rather than just pressing buttons and hoping for the best.

    ill say this again cause i really mean it, thank you James for everything you have done and will do in the future.

    -Zach



    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:41 PM  

  • James, you and David are by far my favorite commentators in the FGC. You guys make it fun and very informative to watch and listen to.

    The faults you say you have are easily fixed by taking some lessons in pro sports commentating. I have no idea where you might get that, maybe some classes in public speaking and/or broadcasting. And of course that means lots of time and money, but it might be worth it.

    Keep up the great work you already do. James!

    By Blogger Raf, at 7:46 PM  

  • James,
    As one of the few people that believe in the west coast biasism (if that a word) I firmly believe u are the fgc's best overall commentator as a person, personality, and game knowledge. I learned a lot from you and ultra David in the beginnings of my time in the fgc, you two are easily the most informative commentators. I believe your haters don't understand the way your fgc information is being said/ presented I remember not knowing what a plink was and u explaining it but I was not able I understand what it was (not your fault I'm a visual learner). But u directed US!! where to learn what it was ( +1 for you) .
    I have also seen the progress that u have made in general commentary. I have listened to less rants, and yelling about silly puns ( they are funny, even the dumb ones lol) and more to constructive criticism on who's playing on stream and how US (Stream monsters) and players on stream could improve. I think you have improved on most that you discuss in the article without us knowing (most people just continue to hate).
    One thing I can say that you could improve on (this is directed to all commentators, sorry) is where to find such knowledge when it happens on stream (I.e: someone performs and option select, let the viewers know how to see/know it was an OS and if possible let us know where to find said/shown information on the OS. I know it's a lot of work but I remember seeing a general OS video and it being very useful and linking to other videos). As I said before I have no issues with u as a commentator I only have positive things to say.
    I say fuck your haters James Chen and continue what your doing and steadily improve the way you are because your doing a great job, better than any other commentator in the fgc.
    Thank you based "James Chen" god (sorry for the typos I'm not re-reading this lol)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:51 PM  

  • Basically just wanted to second everything people here have already said. The Internet brings out the worst in people, but also sometimes the best, and you're a terrific commentator who puts in the effort to learn about aspects of games or games themselves that someone like me, as an outsider who can't for the life of me get into fighting games, would never know.
    Keep at it dude. UltraChen power!

    By Anonymous Hamsterjelly, at 8:01 PM  

  • Like it was said before, you are a reason why I got into fighting games -no joke.

    Too many people pick at little things in life. YouTube comments are horrific. Tweets are bad. People are hiding behind usernames and think they are important enough in your life to affect theirs. I just feel that lots of people feel entitled to things, and these are the immature kids using the internet. So I love that you are going to be yourself, and I hope that you keep doing these great things.

    I, personally, am not affected by you going off on tangents. I can't remember a time in which you have "ruined" a match because of that. Technically you (and David) know WAY MORE than almost anyone else, and I can't even begin to wonder why people complain that you guys don't know 100% of the frame data and move names and properties. If you go from tournament to tournament and not improve on information, that would be a major surprise and be totally unexpected because you do your homework for commentary.

    So, brush aside the haters, embrace the good people, improve in life, and win for yourself and not others.

    @darkdragon8888

    By Anonymous Troy, at 8:38 PM  

  • I enjoy your commentary. I'm a Tekken player. I have a little knowledge on 2D games.

    But you and David make SF matches far more enjoyable, by helping viewers understand what's going on. Your genuine love for the series, it shows during your commentary and it gets even people like me interested in SF.

    I don't have any complaints on you. You sound like you know what you should improve.

    So why not share your videos to people by embedding them to your blog or somewhere where the nasty comments are not visible.

    By Blogger LZN, at 8:48 PM  

  • I never post comments on internet websites, nor do I spend very much time reading them. I will say I was unaware you were receiving any negative feedback, because I wouldn't have ever thought to leave any. People in this community seem to foster a great deal of faith in someone's words based on the amount of time they have been aware of this community, for me it's only been a couple of years but I will say this. A random occurrence led me to find videos of combofiend, gootecks, and mike ross which got me really interested in finding out what this was all about. Quality commentary by you and Ultradavid really helped me start to understand what in god's name I was actually watching. I'm sure for every person that has said something terrible to you, at least 2 people like myself have never made themselves known but appreciate very much what you do.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:12 PM  

  • James - you don't need to fix anything. You're considered one of the top commentators in the FGC for a reason. If there was a robot commentator that could be programmed with perfect game knowledge and sense of humor it would still be shit on because internet anonymity + FGC hivemind is a bitch.

    Happy New Year.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:27 PM  

  • James your commentary is godlike. Just be yourself, corny jokes and all, and fuck everything else. Seriously you and david are like s tier commentators. My only advice would be to try and be more conversational and less play by play. Like SecretInformant said try and tell the story of the match, which is really the most intriguing part of any fighting game.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 9:27 PM  

  • James,

    The only real criticism of your commentary that comes to mind for me is that you kinda stumble over your words sometimes in a way that garbles the point of what your trying to say. I think this has to do with the enthusiasm that you bring (and that enthusiasm is a big part of what makes you a good commentator in my opinion). Really though you are a great commentator who brings a unique voice to any event you commentate.

    Happy New Year!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:44 PM  

  • I'm not going to lie, I rolled my eyes at this before even clicking the link. I thought it was going to be exactly what you said it wasn't, a "woe is me" post the "haters" to fuck off. But it wasn't, and that's fantastic.

    Honestly, I don't have any criticisms of your commentary that you haven't addressed in your post or that other comments brought up. But I do have advice for you about being a public figure in general. Remove hater from your vocabulary. Hater, hating, hate on; they're all made to sweep criticisms under the rug. The more you think about haters, the more you see them. Just like "trolls" and, dare I say, "privilege." Did you know many cultures can't distinguish between blue and green? That's because they use the same word for both colors. Obviously colors and privilege are two very different things, but you get my point. If you don't have a word for something, it's not there. If you learn a new word, suddenly it's everywhere.

    Anyway, that's all I have to say and I don't know how to close things out, so here's a quote I read last year (oho!) that may or may not be relevant fuck idk

    “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:28 PM  

  • Since I tend to ignore stream monsters and the like, I would've never expected you to have any haters. Quite a shock to me.

    James Chen, you sir are an amazing commentator and seem like an amazing person overall. It was always a delight when I caught you, David, or Spooky commentating on streams.

    What I would like to say is, ignore the haters, ignore the overly critical fools. Most of those people hate only because they have nothing better to do. They're just horrible excuses for a human that hide behind anonymity. Don't let those ruin your fun. They never cared about you or anyone, they just came to do damage.

    Forget about them and have fun doing what you love doing. You're a great commentator in my book, you bring new people in to our game. You've shown your value to the community tenfold.

    Please, have an awesome New Year and be a little less critical of yourself.

    Random FGC member

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:43 AM  

  • i think you're a nice guy and that you mean well. i also believe you know what you're talking about.

    however, i do feel like you have made little effort to actually improve your commentary over the years.

    if i remember rightly you started doing it cause you were thrust into it when no one else would, and it seems like you've just run with it and kept going on the mic ever since.

    i think you could do with objectively looking at some of your videos. i feel like you have a tendency to sound bored, go on autopilot and speak without any discernible passion and labor points/complaints.

    talking about commentary and how you need to have a thick skin to do it is a bad start. singers don't talk about what you need to be a singer, it makes you sound bitter. singers just hone their craft: singing.

    i feel like all you need to do is study a few older and newer videos to see what works/doesn't, then ensure you really mentally engage yourself when you're on commentary. don't go on autopilot, really show your passion for it, because i can tell you feel it sometimes.

    i feel like kindof a dick posting this, i don't think you're awful. i just feel like you haven't really carved a niche by working on your commentary, despite having had a ton of time to do this. i hope reading this helps light a fire under your ass in some way, because i'm really trying to be positive and supportive here while remaining realistic.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:55 AM  

  • James, I'm a stream monster. You were awful in 09, you've come a long way in commentating. If you watch sports, you may have heard of the worst guy in commentary: Joe Buck. You aren't Joe Buck. This is not a back handed compliment but one that will help make you make peace with your past.

    I personally love your commentary, it's awesome. Ultrachen is my go-to commentary. Don't be hard on yourself. You probably already know that youtube comments are filled with idiocy. The idiocy in Youtube is just above Yahooanswers in terms of idiocy.

    Just. Re.Lax.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:54 AM  

  • Hey James,

    first of all happy new year to you and your family. Now I have definitely criticized your commentary on youtube and stream chat before. After listening to a lot of commentary (mostly from players) I felt that ultrachen was lacking the insight of a high level player. I also occasionally lamented the fact that you guys do not pay enough attention to foreign events, thereby missing interesting storylines between players and such.

    However, I now realize that I held you up to ridiculous high standard; this insight, coupled with a bunch of other realizations made me change my mind and I now have a much higher opinion of you and your work. Firstly I now understand that everything comes down to personal preference, Secondly, while I have always appreciated your professional approach to commentary, I never really thought about how much time and effort you put into this and it makes me respect you so much more. Finally and most importantly the one thing I never gave you credit for in the past is your passion. I must've been crazy not to notice, but it has become so abundantly clear how much you care for these events, games, players and community. Just listening to the pure and unfiltered excitement in your voice during evo top 8 or capcom cup is really all anybody should need to recognize this. Obviously commentary is a spur of the moment type of thing and can sometimes go in weird directions, but for the most part your commentary holds up very well and I find myself rewatching certain matches or moments over and over, sometimes just to relive the hype and excitement with you!

    As someone who has struggled with depression a lot I very much appreciate you being so upfront about it on a very personal level. But I also want to tell you what I think you already know and that is that you are overly critical of yourself. I've often seen you trying to cater and appease everybody, and while I very much admire the effort I just want to say you're doing absolutely fine. I'm not even talking about commentary before, I can't count the times I saw you extend a helping hand and offer advice and support to players, TOs and spectators, whether they are well known or not. I know certain members of the FGC have repeatedly accused you guys of favoring the West coast and such, but I feel especially for you this is very wrong. All I'm really trying to get at is that you come across as a very genuine person who is always concerned about others and even puts their need before his own.

    So please try to take my and the words of all these other people here to heart and continue with what you do as at this point I cant even imagine an FGC without you. You truly are a pillar of this community and you constantly put yourself out there in the open to spread positivity, so thank you from the bottom of my heart.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:05 AM  

  • Happy new year james
    try not to yell OW OW OW during matches pleeeeeeeeeeease
    much love

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:29 AM  

  • I think you are one the BEST commentators out there. I am sad when I find out you're not covering Street Fighter because i KNOW that means im not gonna know what the hell is going on.. you make the game better to watch at high level play.

    I didnt think anyone actually hated on you that much. Mostly stream monsters being stream monsters. But if anyone is actually attacking your commentary style? They are fools. You're Gems Chen. You're the master. No one in my head even rings a bell to compare when your name is mentioned. PLEASE SAY MORE TERRIBLE PUNS!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:14 AM  

  • Your commentary is fine James. F the haters.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:30 AM  

  • Others have covered the biggest and most obvious points. I just want to reinforce the important ones, inasmuch as an anonymous commentator can...

    Competitive fighting game players, while talented at what they do, are generally not capable communicators. You have been the antidote to that problem.

    Your enthusiasm and passion are ultimately what convince people that two cartoons punching each other in the face is actually a delicate ballet of execution, mind reading, and bravery.

    I do, however, want to encourage the idea that you should become a sort of commentary lab monster. Find people you really admire in other forms of commentary (I keep thinking of Ralph Lawler) and see how they've trained themselves to act in the full spectrum of activity on the screen during their broadcasts.

    Also, don't ever forget that you and David are on a short list of people in the FGC who are fighting to maintain any sort of professionalism in what they do. That's what will get the attention of people who will help this whole thing grow.

    Thanks for all of your effort and the sacrifice of your precious free time so that people like me can enjoy mine. It means more than you may ever know.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:24 AM  

  • My only advice would be to consider how often you use the following words: actually, honestly, and literally. Open a thesaurus on your phone and pick a few words to sub in.

    I love a commentator who uses a rich vocabulary. It's something you don't often see on major sports, as they are most likely encouraged to not use words that the average viewer may not understand, but as David always says, the FGC has some of the smartest people of any group he's associated with.

    Become a wordsmith James!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:53 AM  

  • I really like you commentating Street Fighter! I like that you try to cater to the beginner crowd, but you should consider stepping up your commentary on a more advanced level on more "FGC grassroots" events. Example: We all know the people who watch WNF are regulars on the stream, they know what a hadouken is :P

    Either way you're one of the best commentators ever, not just in the FGC but in eSports as general. I can't stand Dota and Starcraft casters but you're way better at commentating than they are. Definitely top 5 worldwide.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:03 AM  

  • I find that you tend to be Captain Obvious a lot of the time, and even when you mention something the average player wouldn't know, you say it over and over again. This may not be objectively true but this is what I think of when I think of James Chen commentary - there's probably a good reason for it.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:38 AM  

  • James your commentary is fine. Honestly, If youre not Yipes then the chat will more than likely complain about something. Nothing you can do about it.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:13 AM  

  • To be honest, I think your bad puns are part of your charm. Don't be afraid to let one rip every once in a while.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:47 PM  

  • I actually started following the scene in the first place because of you and David's commentary on a WNF back before it was at Super Arcade. I really appreciate how you mix important information about the game with what's going on in the fight, it makes it so much easier to actually learn the game and become a little more active in spectating. I think that that's probably a trait that lends itself to rambling sometimes.

    "Aha, that uppercut beat out the roundhouse because it's less frames! I wonder if he could've used this move instead and gotten through with it's armor, or perhaps if he'd timed this special move that character has correctly and then..."

    But it's one of the best things about your style. If you were gonna work on anything, maybe practice ways of delivering that really useful game info as succinctly as possible and then hopping back into the match?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:08 PM  

  • You don't need to apologize for not being the perfect commentator. It's not like you studied to be a commentator, you decided to put yourself in such position because of your love for the FGC, and if anybody has a problem with that they need to go find a big stick and fuck themselves with it. Your commentating will get better over time, the same way that you get better at fighting games if you keep playing. More importantly, even if you are not the ideal commentator if you can make it work with your partner that is much more important and you surely have succeeded at that. Your chemistry with both UltraDavid and Seth Killian is always delightful.

    By Blogger electpaisa, at 3:42 PM  

  • I seriously had no idea people were complaining about anything you do. Your commentary, behavior and professionalism have always been infallible in my eyes.

    In fact, I honestly breath a sigh of relief when you get on the mic. You're head and shoulders above any other commentators, even David (he's a bit too snarky & negative for me at times).

    Not only that but you know how to blend well with ALL other commentators. Even guys who are traditionally hard to commentate with (like Yipes).

    I think your anecdotes about players are my favorite thing. You give a little background and bring meaning to every match. I especially like when you mention some obscure OG thing or system mechanic. I've learned so much classic SF 2 trivia just from watching your commentary and Ultrachentv show.

    But I'm an OG myself (32), and a software developer like you. I think the problem is younger people who just sh*t on everything. The problem is definitely not you.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:54 PM  

  • You're a great commentator. You point out things that I would have never have noticed in a fight.
    One thing I can say, and every commentator in the fgc does this, is to not yell when getting hype. At least not at the top of your lungs. Seth Killian did that well when he commentated. If streamers had good compressors on their mics then it wouldn't really be a problem. But screaming directly into the mic often blows out the audio (RIP headphone users). That's about the only thing I have to say. But again, almost every commentator does it, so pass the word along please. Happy New Year!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:01 PM  

  • More than anything else in the FGC, I look forward to the Tuesday show. It's smart, I learn stuff, it's fun and easy and laid back and on special occasions a cat will appear.

    James Chen has done a lot to improve the cohesiveness of the FGC, by his First Attack show, by commentating Smash Bros as a way of proving to detractors that community's worth, by participating at PAX panels and tackling hard questions like sexism in the FGC.

    That kind of work is even more thankless than organizing tournaments, but it's really important, and we are fortunate to have you.

    Don't let the assholes rent space in your head.

    By Anonymous Ron Newcomb, at 5:04 PM  

  • Hello James.

    Firstly, let me just say that I wish you'd look at this in positive light and as constructive criticism.

    I liked you and when years ago when you & David was rewarded with bunch of sticks and gifts as appreciation for your wonderful commentary by Alex Valle (I believe NorCal regional?), that sort of cemented you both as the top commentators duo for American FGC majors. You went on to do ultradavid show and seems the premier go to pairing for major commentary team. Since then however, I noticed you guys and in particularly you been slacking somehow. I could understand when commentating your non main games but when you seems lost and unsure of what is happening on the screen when it comes to AE, when the random stream monsters seems to know more, and when you seems to show incredible amount of knowledge of the opponent, history between them, what is happening outside of american major, it seems underwhelming.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:35 AM  

  • Hi James!

    My favourite element of your commentary is the stories you tell about a match as it's happening.

    Basic play-by-play commentary can get dull. He did this, she did that etc. So when someone is describing (or attempting to) the thoughts of the players as the match progresses, from the perspective of the player is an invaluable aspect of entertaining commentary.

    I don't know if you watch Formula 1, but there's a great commentator called Martin Brundle. A former F1 driver with middling success, I've heard many people say something like "how Martin Brundle can explain exactly how a driver feels and what he's thinking through a helmet never fails to amaze me."

    We all know you have good technological knowledge of Street Fighter, that's your jam. You know how the game flows. You know the pace and how people tend to think or react.

    Compare yourself to Yipes and Marvel, who is in perfect tune with the pace and real guts of Marvel gameplay; on an entertainment level and bringing new players in but not drowning them in tech garbage or purely talking in jokes. I think you do that excellently for Street Fighter 4.

    You're a consistently entertaining and illuminating commentator, helping people understand in easily understandable terms what is happening in a match, while having great chemistry with whoever your co-host is.

    You mentioned trying to bring new people into the FGC with your commentary, and worried about doing the opposite. I don't think that's possible, your commentary on many streams in 2009-2010 helped get me into fighting games and the tournament scene.

    It saddens me that you feel this way, I wanted to put in my two cents on how I feel.

    If there's anything I could suggest it would be to continue balancing your technical knowledge and how you capture the emotion and narrative of a match.

    You do stuff like giving the history of a player (PR Rog is a button toucher! - personal favourite), if you're looking to improve in games like Marvel put yourself in the mindset of a Marvel player.

    Marvel is fast. Marvel is ballsy. Marvel is not always smart, it's instinctive but it can be calculating, intelligent and brilliant. Each game captures a different emotion and instinct; you capture Street Fighter very well, maybe look at other games in a different light?

    Thanks anyway James, for everything.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 6:43 AM  

  • You do say a lot of wrong things. But you're commentating goddamn AE. We all should be aware that it's one of the most opaque games out there, the roster is large and the amount of minutiae is absurd.

    Someone doesn't know something about Akuma's setplay? Or those Swedish commentators who had no idea a missed Demon Flip Throw is -17? Well yeah. I'm a shoto player. I have a decent grasp of those. But how much do I realistically know about Hakan, or Fuerte? Nothing. And I'm not talking about setplay or something. I'm talking about a general feel for their buttons or a rough grasp on the buttons' frame data/hitboxes. As a (well, former because KOF13 devoured my soul) student of the game, that's a failure. A miserable one.

    A concrete suggestion since you asked for some:
    Grab each character, look at their hitboxes/frame data and mess with the buttons a little in training mode. It's a relatively small amount of time per day, but clips a lot of those small factual errors out.

    Also, do the UltraDavid and have frame data open in a browser - say, grab an extra copy of Opera and only have a session for the frame data charts. Quick, easy reference > no reference. We have tools, might as well use them.

    By Anonymous Coffeeling, at 7:18 AM  

  • Just for the love of god stop saying cammy is a weak character in sf4 - any version.

    By Blogger Kirk Warren, at 8:28 AM  

  • don't ever change. You are who are you. Just like i dont want zhi, chris hu, yipes to change.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:49 PM  

  • James, you and David provide some of the highest quality and professional commentary to the SF scene. Your demeanor and appearances on stream really let you serve as our first faces for newcomers to the scene. People learn from you guys on UltraChenTV; you two actually create value in the community.

    This is a real rarity for the FGC and only underscores how important you are. I never knew you were struggling with such ridiculous negativity and personal attacks. Please know that you have supporters all over this community, we appreciate you. We might not be the loudest, but that's because we think you're doing such a good job of representing us.

    Many gladly say: "Thank you, JChensor."

    -One thing that I'd love to see in your commentary to improve, and this is unilateral to all aspiring commentators in the scene, is to make it so one could listen to the commentary and understand the game without even seeing the game. Too often, people get caught up in making noises or being silly. Instead, get down and commentate the footsies, the buttons that come out and what a player capitalizes with. A good example is when Justin lands a st.lp,st.lp,st.mp combo with Rufus. Going by commentary alone, you'd never know Justin lands this combo. You might hear "oh he dropped the medium punch link" but never a descriptive about what led up to him landing the st.lp series in the first place.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 1:10 AM  

  • Hey James.

    As someone who is an aspiring commentator, I love what you do. You and David inspired me to do more for the community, rather than just being a player. When I read stuff like this, it really hurts my heart because I know how much you love the FGC, and you do not deserve how the general plebeian comments on your work. The fact you were willing to give commentating tips to a random like me showed me how much you love this community, and made me feel really good as well. Full disclosure, I may be fan-girling a bit because I am a massive fan of what you do, but here goes.

    As far as the puns go, I personally love them. It shows you as a character rather than a copy/paste commentator, but what you do with your jokes and how much of the populous' opinion you decide to soak in on the matter is up to you. I will agree with whatever decision you make, since frankly I enjoy 100% jPunsor.

    As for the rest of your commentary, one of the only things I may ask for revision on is the hype moments of games. I'm asking you to do something I am incapable of, but the commentary becomes a bit inaudible when it you get extremely hype (i.e. Sako vs Xian CC 2013 grand finals, final round). I know exactly how difficult it is to do, but I believe that it will make you a stronger commentator.

    Theres a billion other comments, so I'm sure they have things to consider that I missed. As an ending statement, all I can ask you is to be the best James you want to be, because he's pretty swell.

    Cheers

    By Anonymous Sami Nash, at 3:26 AM  

  • Hi James,

    I really enjoy your commentary and think you and David are the best commentary team in the FGC, bar none. Don't be so hard on yourself.

    What I enjoy most about your commentary, particularly SF4, are your insights into characters' moves and deep insights into matchups. These really help tell the story of the match.

    Another thing I enjoy is whenebver you try to bring insight into the matchup from a player vs player perspective... ie, in the previous matchup these two guys played, x happened, and look how they've adapted in this match.

    These are the kind of fascinating insights that I think you are the best at, as you clearly have an analytical mind. Keep it up dude :)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:50 AM  

  • The first time I came across your work was reading an X-Men vs. Street Fighter FAQ on gamefaqs.com.

    Ever since then I have admired your deep knowledge and love of fighting games.

    I highly enjoy your commentary, both with and without UltraDavid. Your style of commentary is fine, because it is YOUR style, which I very much enjoy. Please don't stop what you are doing, you've contributed a ton to the FGC, more than you probably realize yourself.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:20 PM  

  • Advice 5 is stupid. Advice 4 is gay. Other advices are too ambigious to be universally true. Don't base your life on stupid facebook posts.

    Anyway, you are great commentator. You and Seth Killian commentating SF4 at Evo is best FG commentary I've heard, after Rockefeller's 3rd Strike commentary, of course. You and Ultra David commentating SSF2T at Evo made it much more interesting to watch. As for advice, just stay away from games you don't know in depth, because it will reflect badly on your commentary.

    I like your voice, it has personality, which is a lot better than listening someone with radio voice.

    By Anonymous Ryukenden, at 1:26 AM  

  • I am really surprised that you are hated upon. You are not my favourite commentator, nor do I think you are any of my friends… But none of us dislike you! And when we talk about this sort of thing, say for example, my favourite commentator is Zhi, for the insight he provides with witty (and very creepy) turns of phrase… This really turns the rest of my friends off, however… I always felt (and I know this is a bit of a back hand compliment, but), no one ever got fired for hiring IBM? Nobody ever got fired for getting James Chen and UltraDavid to commentate! You are probably the "safest" commentators for SFIV in the business. You don't bring the hype like Yipes commentating an MvC3 match, no. But that's a different style of commentary for a different game, the structured nature of your commentary suits the structured nature of SF! This is all meant as positive points, but I appreciate you may read some bad here. Personally, I make these points from a positive point of view, I hope they are read as such!

    However, some of the comments above I think are missing some of the point, and I just have to comment on those also. There are some comments about vocabulary and range of phrases, etc. And as many words as there are in the English language, I've been watching your commentary now for I don't know how long… You're going to run out of different phrases to use sooner or later, without starting to use words that don't really mean what you want to say. Sure, this can't hurt, but you don't have an infinite well from which to draw from here, so I don't think should be a primary concern (personally).

    Secondly, there are some comments saying that you don't provide enough insight into either character match ups or player match ups, and I want to address some of those. On player history or whatever, and offering insight into players, there is a hell of a lot to deal with inside the commentator "booth", and remembering and getting right any history two players may have between them must be incredibly difficult. I agree this would be a big boon! "Oh, Infiltration and PR Rog, they last fought at Evo 2013 when Infiltration baited out a headbutt and punished with a full combo, let's see whether PR Rog makes the same sort of mistake here"… But for lesser known players and events this is just never going to happen… Without some sort of assistant working in the background, the commentators knowing which match is coming up on stream next, and having the assistant/s feeding UltraChen various different facts as they worked… I think that sort of commentary, if possible, would really take this to the next level, but would require that extra level of manpower! I mean, you could crowd source that sort of information, via something like Twitter, but that's an extra thing to keep an eye on, and there will always be trolls trying to spoil things for everyone else ("this is why we can't have nice things"), and it's not really practical to spend time sifting for the gold, or verifying the information sent… There would still need to be extra assistance on hand to feed you verified information as you go, and god knows who would do that extra work for that little extra gain in commentary!

    By Blogger Thujal, at 6:26 AM  

  • Thirdly, and lastly, It's like, there are 39 x 39 = 1,521 match ups in the game… There's no way that commentators can know each and every one. And that's going up to 44 x 44 in USFIV… And there's going to be a *lot* that changes for the one's that were there previously, and new insight that has to be re-learned. It's not like 2T that has 32x32 match ups (and a lot of cross overs with the old / new characters there), been out for however many years in a stable state… What happens if a match up between Feurte and Hawk comes up on stream? Stream monsters can scream at the commentators (particularly Hawk or Feurte players) that they should know that stuff all they want, but at the end of the day, they really can't be expected to! And what happens if you do learn insight into each of these matches, and then Super Ultra Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition 2015 Turbo comes out and a lot of that knowledge is then useless or very slightly wrong? It's just impossibru!

    The only way you would over come that sort of hurdle, and I'm really taking flights of fancy here, is by building a website, basically a glorified database, of all match ups, and adding notes to each page. Sort of like how Infiltration takes notes, except he only takes it from his point of view, not from both points of view. Pages broken down into "overview" (moderator only editable) and "details" (crowd sourced?!), where detail on a page such as Sagat vs. Chun would be "Sagat can pressure with fireballs until Chun gets super / U1, as then she can punish from full screen" as the first of about 5 bullet points. This can then be checked when you see a particular match come up on stream you are unsure of to give pointers on what to look for "oh look, Chun has super now so expect the Sagat player to now switch up styles" (he uses as a really obvious and trite example). Of course, you wouldn't want to compile this yourself, so you just crowd source this information with some sort of wiki (with proposed changes being approved by moderators).

    And then you back this up with forums that has a new thread opened for every match up that comes up on a stream you are commentating. This gives somewhere for the stream monsters to direct their energy at (each other), usually, for example, Sagat and Chun fans fighting amongst each other, instead of the commentators. Threads are left open for a certain time after the match ends, and can then be reviewed (and any good information used) to enhance the main match up based pages. If the match itself is ever posted to YouTube, you can then embed it at the top of this thread for posterity. Better yet, if you have verified accounts for the players themselves, they can then log onto this thread and clear up any misconceptions and add extra insight into, for example, why PR Rog did that random headbutt against Infiltration at Evo (I still have no idea myself, but I'm sure it's something like "I noticed this pattern, where Infiltration was doing X, Y and then Z… Except this time he zigged when I should have zagged and I had the wrong read, and he won the set because of that", or even simply "I miss timed my punish / got the spacing wrong, x punishes y normally"). Once you have verified player accounts, you can then just search (via auto completed player searches) Infiltration vs. PR Rog, and you have their match history right there!

    By Blogger Thujal, at 6:27 AM  

  • And then you have a great resource for, for example, online players also! See that your opponent has chosen Akuma and you have Rog… Hit that page on UltraChen (laden with ads, of course) and read the detailed section (which lists all punishes) while the game is loading. Then you have a crowd sourced resource that people use for both eSports and their own online play, a source of information for match ups you aren't sure about, later on player match ups you aren't sure about, a place for the stream monsters to channel their time and energy which isn't hating on you, but hating on each other, and everyone levels up.

    And, as a web developer, I of course know that all of this sort of functionality can be pumped out in roughly an hour… Weekend tops! And that my above ideas that I am posting on some random blog that will probably never get read are entirely bullet proof and have not a single flaw, as I've just typed it out off the top of my head during the course of the last 45 minutes or so…

    Hope this helps(?!?)

    And keep up the good work! Both you and UltraDavid are such a massive asset to the community!

    By Blogger Thujal, at 6:27 AM  

  • Wow is this blog post a joke? I had no idea about the haters.

    James, you are the best commentator in the scene, hands down. You have an amazing personality on the mic and you can make a game that I know nothing about absolutely fun and exhilarating to watch.

    Now come to Toronto so I can play against your Cammy.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:28 PM  

  • Hey James.
    I'm both surprised and saddened by the fact that you receive negativity. Me, personally, LOVE your commentary. You and Seth Killian are my favorite duo in commentary. And besides all that, you just seem like an incredibly nice guy. I'm not really sure how much my comment would effect you, but I wanted to cheer you up even just a little bit. I've been watching you for quite a long time and was glad every time that you were still THE commentator around. (besides, Zhi get's a lot more hate imo)
    Some people get and appreciate your humor and some don't. But the ones who bad mouth about it are probably little kids with too much time on their hands.
    Just wanted to say that even though this was kinda posted like last year.
    I would be legit sad if you quit. DON'T QUIT! I REALLY REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR STYLE OF COMMENTARY!

    - anonymous fan

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:36 PM  

  • Hey James.
    I'm both surprised and saddened by the fact that you receive negativity. Me, personally, LOVE your commentary. You and Seth Killian are my favorite duo in commentary. And besides all that, you just seem like an incredibly nice guy. I'm not really sure how much my comment would effect you, but I wanted to cheer you up even just a little bit. I've been watching you for quite a long time and was glad every time that you were still THE commentator around. (besides, Zhi get's a lot more hate imo)
    Some people get and appreciate your humor and some don't. But the ones who bad mouth about it are probably little kids with too much time on their hands.
    Just wanted to say that even though this was kinda posted like last year.
    I would be legit sad if you quit. DON'T QUIT! I REALLY REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR STYLE OF COMMENTARY!

    - anonymous fan

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:06 PM  

  • I have never been into USA, I have never played any of the games you commentate (maybe i did 15 years ago) , I have never met you .
    But I really love your commentary. Thanks for making every event you cast better and more enjoyable. And keep up the good work dont change and keep being yourself. Thank you

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:45 AM  

  • This comment has been removed by the author.

    By Blogger Neo, at 1:06 PM  

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