The Sinvicta Interview

Ladies & Gentlemen:

Glue your eye balls in to your sockets for they will be knocked out! I bring you a three course meal for your eyes to feast on. A full appetizer of eye candy reading enjoyment to be followed up by the main course, a succulent interview and for dessert a potential part two to salver over.

The Sinvicta interview is here! I've had the chance to sit down with the man of the hour to get to know who he is and what hes about, the man behind the mask of twitch.

Do you remember the moment that inspired you to take up video editing and do you follow anyone tips & tricks to editing. Was it self taught by books or just by exploring or the combo of anything thereof.

I got in to video editing on a whim. That's how i do anything creative. if something peaks my interest  enough to want to do something for my self, I'll start doing it. When anything peaks my interest like "Man i can do well with this.". This is where I've created my own style. You don't see anyone video editing the way i do, like how you don't see anyone playing Starcraft or WoW the same way I do. I do everything my own way and don't follow anyone path. Everything I'm doing now is self taught, same with my music playing. I was never taught how to play the drums or sing.

What was your original idea with the twitch channel and has anything changed.

 Actually i was never planning to be a streamer. Streaming seemed like it was already a mature market and I didn't think i had enough to offer people but I'm glad i did. The original idea when I started streaming was people would want to see me play WoW and see how a Warrior works in PvP and that sort of thing. You can see my first video on http://www.youtube.com/sinvicta316. It stayed pretty much the same from my first broadcast to now. The original premise of my channel has never changed. I am completely blown away that people enjoy watching me play these games, listen to the radio show and watch the replays. Its a dream come true as for being a twitch streamer. I would say i have a much bigger following thanks to Husky.

Have you tried or thought of joining Networks out there like TGS or Machinima. If not, do you plan to remain independent caster and if so where would you like to see it take you in five years from now or is it just a passion to just stream as a hobby solely and nothing else?

My original intention was to join The Game Station. That is founded by my two good friends Husky and David. That so far is the goal to be picked up by TGS.  I enjoy doing things my own way whether or not if it can be marketable and if its something other companies want to pick up, me as a personality or as a talent. I'm not against joining a organization. If I'm able to help to increase their product, to improve the quality of their product I would be more than happy to do that. If the cards come out of the deck to where as a independent caster i am able to do this and make my self more of a living financially speaking rather than joining a network who may be getting a cut from the revenue I'm making then i would remain as a independent caster. To simply put it i would like to join TGS, The Game Station but at this time i have no real plans to do so and don't mind being a independent caster but i would love to join a network that is out there if there is a mutual beneficial side to that happening. Where do i see my self in five years from now? I hope to see my self doing this full time. I see my self doing this and making a living out of it. I believe I am luckier than most people on the internet with the amount of friends I have and the amount of support I get. I see my self in five years continuing to do this, promoting eSports and doing my video editing. Maybe one day turning SS Radio in to a network. It is a passion and right now a full time hobby while staying afloat with donations. I do get them every now then but just recently started accepting donations. All this information can be found at http://www.twitch.tv/sinvicta/old for PayPal.

Between doing S S Radio & Lawder & now Husky Replay Filtering. Do you plan to use any of these talents to get you in to any form of media like the cable channel G4 for example

I have no interest to get in to big time media markets like television.  Radio i would be interested in but i would not want to be a on air or on camera talent but would like to do voice over work.  Now if talking promotional work for advertisements. I would be more than happy to do that. It would be really fun.

What gave you the idea to start S S Radio and do you have any previous work in radio? like from high school announcements or college radio or doing any short wave radio show. If anyone, who was your inspiration to get in to doing a radio show? Also what does "S S" mean?

[Laughs] That's like ten questions in one right there but i'll answer it as best as i can. The idea came in to my head one day and this is the gods honest truth, I was talking to my friend Sepercrod that is the former co-host of the show. We had been talking about it and with us both having similar interest, I wanted to provide AM sport talk type of gaming show but it would not only be just about gaming since there is plenty of gaming podcast's out there by a dime a dozen. What i wanted to do differently was the length of the show since three or four hour shows are not enjoyable to me and I like doing what I would enjoy listening to. The original inception of the podcast was to create a hour long show. Something that would cover gaming, sports, music and whatever else that's on myself or Spercrod mind. I wanted to give a honest radio professional-like forum for a podcast radio show. I know its called a radio podcast which is kind of a double negative on that but i think that is the appeal of S S Radio and its gone phenomenal and I hope to keep continuing to do it for a very very long time. I have done a couple of voice overs for commercials back in my college days, it wasn't for anything major. Most of my microphone work actually comes from being a bartender for so long and having to talk to many people and putting on a professional persona. Also I worked as a musical DJ in a couple of different clubs over the course of four and a half years. That's where most of my microphone skill comes from. As for inspiration, I guess if I had to draw one conclusion as for who I listen to a lot and I enjoy the way he presents himself, it would be the very well known sports caster Jim Rome who runs The Jim Rome Show. I been listen to him since i was in high school and i use a lot of techniques he uses and his delivery is something i would like to accomplish. I try to stay a little more pg-13 than he does and that is just because i want to give a wide appeal for my show. Not to be a shock jock or cursing and swearing every three words or using any sort of racial slang. I prefer to keep it friendly professional. I believe you can present a professional sounding and a professional looking product without having to be in your force cursing, going for that shock value. As for the SS in S S Radio it means Sepercrod & Sinvicta. Sepercrod was the name of the former co-host of the show and of course I'm Sinvicta  and once Sepercrod departed from the show, I decided to keep it because it was pretty well known at that time and its a cool name. I know there is a couple of other S S Radios that are existing out there but till I'm told i need to change it because of trade marking or whatever. Its the name I'll be going with. 

 While in any form of school, did you ever take anything in the performing arts that helped you get to what you are doing today?

I never taken any theater arts, public speaking classes. Speaking socially has always come naturally and that's not to say i was born with something like that. I had to literally force my self to get used to talking to people i don't know. Truth be told, i don't like talking a whole lot. I don't like the sound of my own voice and where i got the specific skill to talk the way that i do on microphone or show, i would attribute all that to from being a bartender for so long. Having to talk to people i don't know and having to listen to conversation and picking up on what people respond the most to for as far as what i say to them and what not.  So i would say bartending is the origin as to how i present my self when i talk and that sort of thing. 

With Lawder/TWOL, What gave you the idea to start it? it can be seen that its very popular video series, Do you plan to keep it alive as long as you can or do you plan to transition it in to something else? 

Well with The Word Of Law and Lawder specifically, the skinny of it is I've always wanted to do a PvP video of playing WoW. I've been playing since closed beta so over nine years now I've always wanted to do a PvP video but i was a rouge at the time and at that time there was so many good rouge videos. Like one of my favorite WoW Movie authors of all time is a guy by the name of Nair. He was really the inspiration for me for not only to do just videos but also the music he used. You can be presentable and entertaining WoW PvP video but use of heavy metal instead of the techno and trance stuff that was kinda going on at the time. I wanted to do something different, i know there wasn't a whole lot of offensive protection warriors that were making videos and I only played protection in WoW PvP since that's all I've played. A offensive tank in PvP is something I've always been doing in WoW and i figured the appeal was there to say "Hey this guy is a prot warrior and hes actually just blowing up nerds left and right in battle grounds"  and that is really what kind of made the series really take off because i do something not a whole lot of people have done before and even now there is not too many protection warriors out there that on top of making movies, they edit their stuff the way i do. As for the second part of the question, I actually attempted to transition out of World of Warcraft because that is somewhat a limited market and i wouldn't say it failed but it came at a bad time for me when i was unable to produce any more videos because at that time a couple of years ago i had recently gotten a full time job as a IT Professional and that cut in to literally all my free time. Every Word of Law Episode takes roughly sixiy to seventy hours on just editing. That does not include me playing the game, recording and going through clips and scrubbing through to see which clips are actually worth it or not. I kinda put the series on hold while i was doing my full time day job on that. I would love to keep it alive as long as i can. Currently right now i am in a little of a break period. I'm pre-burnt out on doing video editing. The Word Of Law Episode Fifteen was the latest episode that's been released at the time of this interview. Sixteen was supposed to come out a couple of days ago but unfortunately like i said i am personally burnt out on video editing just because it takes so much time to actually edit but i do plan on continuing it for as long as i can as long as it stays popular. 

Everything you're currently doing with the stream, do you plan to push it to where you make any form of monetary gain by showing live stream ad's for products or a personal line like how some casters sell t-shirts, mugs etc with their brand on it?

My dream is to do new media stuff. Regardless if its streaming, videos or radio. Streaming has just now recently becoming something more and more that seems like a good idea to have as a full time job I would love to do is streaming. More than anything else i enjoy interacting with my fans and the live chat. So to answer the question, would i push it to where i could make any form of monetary gain, of course financial gain is always something that is going to be a driving motivation in anything anyone does. I feel my attitude is a little bit more different about it because I'm not doing videos and I'm not streaming with the primary goal of me being I need to maximize my views to maximize my profits or anything like that. I'm not doing this with any sort of financial gain in mind. Is that the goal, is that the ultimate dream to actually support my self and stay independent without needing anyone help just from me doing videos like let's say Husky does. Yes, that is the ultimate goal but its not a goal I'm willing to force upon my fans or even my new fans right now. I'm still too new on the block to really start doing any major brand push like that but it is a goal of mine. What happens if not, i would still be entertaining doing the new media stuff as much as i can. I've been asked to do t-shirts before and i thought about it but right now i can't see a way where it would be financially worth it to do it. I'm pretty much a very not so well known internet celebrity right now. There would be plans later on but not right now is not one of my main goals.

As a fellow youtuber, do you plan to get in to youtube partner program and do the monetary gain based on per view you get?

Being a YouTuber partner is one of the bigger goals i have with my channel. There is a lot of issues going on right now and one of the reasons why i have not yet been picked up by any network such as TGS, is due to the fact that i use so much copyrighted music on it and that is a big problem and i do have a plan to rectify the situation. I'm currently in studio recording a full length album so i can use my own music in my warcraft and starcraft videos. Later on down the line i'll be offering that music as a free album for people to use in their own right for their own videos. Would i ever charge for the album? It's going to be free, it would be a free source of music but it would be pay what you feel basis. So people that wish to support the project are more than welcome to send donations to my PayPal account but to the ones that just want to use it for videos and not support is no problem at all, the only clearification is on what is allowed for what my music is allowed to be used for and what it's not allowed to be used for. My music would not be allowed to be used for any sort of commercial opportunities. So it be a non-commercial purposes only for my music. If any companies want to contact me about using any one of my songs or more i'll provide the business email links and what not. Right now i don't have enough of a fan base or following to really facilitate the take down of all my copyrighted stuff because of the music and what not but it is a future goal of mine to be a YouTube partner. Right now i'm taking everything step by step basis. So yes that is one of the goals.

In the music you help with/part of, Is there a idea that will lead to you making your own for video use or is it leading to something else like sound mixing for a skill later to be used or any reflection thereof or is it just for fun and nothing more than that?

I always have a couple of songs picked out that i'll use on a upcoming Word Of Law episode. I always try to use songs and i do a very very rigorous routine of finding songs that people have never used in WoW Videos. At least if they have used it maybe its one or two authors. I work very hard at trying to keep the songs i plan on using for up coming episodes a secret. I sometimes go as far as removing the mp3 from the hard drive because i don't want to accidentally play them on stream. I'm maybe a little over paranoid but there is a very real consequence for release of a WoW Moive on Warcraftmovies.com or on YouTube that having the same music as someone else that previously just released like just the day before. There is a very very negative reaction. So I'm very very guarded about the music i use. As for does the music lead to ideas? It really has to do with the tempo of the music or the tempo of the song is. I like to do build ups or crescendos, that sort of thing like a really big build up and then the beat drops or if there is a really heavy metal break down i like to have the more intense stuff to sync up with that.

A fan wanted to know if you're going to do more fan games. I think they mean different games from SC2 Arcade or SAWA or games of that sort?

I been asked to do play through's and "Let's Play" and that sort of thing but right now its a very limited minority of people that actually wanna see me do other games. The reason i do Starcraft  mainly as Starcraft Arcade is a melting pot of game styles and a plethora amount of free games on there. So you're still playing Starcraft but you're not playing Starcraft. So it's like a bunch of free to play games that you're playing. That's where most of the appeal is on that. As for would i do a Let's Play series in the future, i might. I feel Let's Play are kind of a cheap way to have new media content on your own channel. Let's Play's have always felt like a cheap ploy to get views type of thing. That's just my stance on it. If enough people wanted to see me play through something like let's say The Walking Dead or BioShock Infinite or any new games that are coming out then i may consider doing it but right now my schedule is very busy as is and to add another video series where i to crop and edit, do audio bouncing and make thumb nails and what not. That would add on to my already busy schedule. I would do it in the future if enough people requested it but currently there is really not a whole lot of people really asking for me to do "Let's Play".outside of a couple hundred people. 

Does any of your real life work play a factor as to what you are doing today? regardless if its current or past or mix of thereof

I quit my full-time job as a IT Professional to do the new media stuff full time. I literally have thrown all the eggs pretty much in to one basket, which is never really a good idea but i was able to save up enough money to where i can live not comfortably but smartly and be able to do this as long as i can. As long as my finical savings will allow. If i end up getting close to where i can't pay bills anymore or something like that then of course i'll have to get a real job and my videos will subsequently take a pretty big hit to that because money makes the world go round and if you're not making money you're losing money and when it comes down to having to eat or not, you're always having to eat. Currently right now i don't have a full time job, the videos and radio show are my current full time job right now but i don't get any money from that right now. 

How did you come up with the name/gametag Sinvicta and does it hold any significant meaning to you as a person for any gaming memory or anything of that sort? Also what does the S316 mean on your twitter image and how does it tie in to your handel/braodcasting image.

The name Sinvicta, I've been carrying that name since 1996. Back when i was in high school we had a heavy metal band called S. Invicta and that was the name of our heavy metal band. We got the name from reading Reader's Digest. I was reading a article on fire ants and the actual full length full name of the fire ant, the latin scientific name is solenopsis invicta and i read that while i was looking and by this time we were already in a band but we had no name and i read that article and i was looking and i was like if i just took off the olenopsis part and just made that like a "S" and then start the second word be preceded by a period and have Invicta, our band name would be S. Invicta. I think that's awesome and it sounded good and everyone loved it. That's the name we ended up getting. I ended up going by the name of Sinvicta since 1998 i believe. When Starcraft one was released. Obviously battle net 1.0 would not allow you to use periods in your name so i combined the two terms and by then the band was already broken up and we did not go anywhere really. I just combined the two names and that's where the name Sinvicta came from and that's the name i been going by since i can remember being on the internet since 1998. As for what the S316 means, at the time i established my email and AOL handel, Sinvicta was not allowed for whatever reason but it wasn't taken. AOL actually required you to use numericals in your name. So at a time in high school it was the age of WWF and WWE. Professional wrestling was all the craze and i was a big stone cold Steve Austin fan and that's where the 316 came from. It has no baring on what i do now but that's just a number that kinda came out. I was looking at Sinvicta316 and that just made sense to me. cause like i said at the time you have to keep in mind i was much much younger than what i am now and i was a big Stone Cold fan. So that's where the 316 came from.

Your PC Specs

- ASUS Crosshair V Formula AM3 Motherboard

- G.SKILL Ripjaw Series 20GB (3 x 6GB, 2 X 2GB) RAM

- 4.2 ghz AMD FX8350 Vishera X 8

- EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Superclocked+

- 1 TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 (storage drive)

- 64 GB Samsung SSD (operating system)

- 128 GB Samsung SSD (game installations)

- COOLER MASTER Storm Scout Case

- 24'' Acer Widescreen Monitor

- RAZER DeathAdder Black Edition Mouse

- Sennheiser G4ME 360 Headset

With the current following you have now, how do you feel about having people follow you and always looking forward to your next show/stream and has this had any effect on you in any way if it be a touching moment or one of those "omg i remember this one time" moments.

It's been pretty surreal to have such a explosion of support come out of the wood work and i cannot thank Husky enough. He really is the largest pillar of support i have and that is something i'll never be able to repay him for and i am more than happy to do the work that i have been doing for him. He certainly does not have to be plugging my name like he does.but it's very surreal and very awesome for me to have people that actually look forward to seeing me and only me stream. That they enjoy listening to every word that i say and the music i play. They like the way i play games and obviously this is every gamer dream and I'm just getting started pretty much. I have a very very dedicated and awesome core following of people that love to help me and support me and listen to me whenever and that is amazing. It is my goal to build upon that to where i can put on a event and help other people and start plugging other people channels and spread the love around. I have to reiterate the fact that i owe Husky a lot for the support hes shown me and for helping me attain my ultimate dream and goal and that is to have a following of people who enjoy my content, enjoy me for who i am and of course enabling me of course to do this a full-time career and make it as a new media producer, a new media personality. Again i have to thank husky for all that. I can't thank him enough.

How did you meet husky and get the chance to be doing the filtering of Husky Replays for Bronze League Heros?

I met Husky during the time of The Old Republic MMO which was release by BioWare a couple of years back. He was playing the game and i was playing the game and we happened to be on the same server. That was a one hundred percent chance of coincidence that we were on the same server because i was actually following Sepercrod. He was guiding me to which server i should go on and then of course I've been a huge fan of Husky for a long long time and that's why i was surprised to hear on his YouTube channel one day that he announced he was on cloudstrider which i believe was the name of the StarWar Old Republic server he was on. and i like hey I'm on there too. I randomly messaged him one day and was "hey can i join" and of course he was running a guild called Husketeers on the server and i joined him up on that. I had and i was very very lucky to have played a couple of games with him and luckily enough i was one of the higher level characters in the game along with Husky. Then our mutual friends Cox & Jason all hanged out and played games together and then it just built from there. I helped Husky do some other stuff. Then later on in the future i helped him do some PC stuff. and eventually to the point now where we are very good friends now. I trust him alot and he trusts me a lot and he came asking me a couple of weeks ago, about a month ago almost. He said if I be interested in doing the Bronze League Heros Replay Filtering and i said sure why not. He knows me on a personal level and he knows i just recently quit my job to do the new media stuff full time. So he figured i have plenty of free time which i did at the time. Asked me to do it and i said no problem. He offered to pay me, i said don't worry about it i'm happy to help the rest is just history. He started plugging my channel and sent many new people to me. I can't thank him enough for that. 

If you ever get a huge enough following, would you be doing the "Sinvicta Fan Meet & Greet" at the same time in or around or at for example BlizzCon because of your Lawder/TWOL work? or something of the sort.

If i were to ever get that big of a following, I'd be more than happy to do that. I love meeting new people. I love talking to gamers. I love my fellow nerds and nerdettes out there.and i would. Again that's part of the dream come true. I would love to do a fan meet and greet at a big organization or at a big meeting like Blizzcon or MLG. I'd be more than happy to do that if i ever were to get that lucky enough to have that large of a following. where people would actually want to meet me in person and do autographs and pictures and just hang out. That would be awesome. I'm all for that.

Where do you think this new media will take you?

I don't have any idea where it will take me but i know where i wanna take my self and i believe that in anything you do in this world its important for yourself to be your own best friend, to be your own manager type of thing because ultimately you are the only reason why you cannot attain your goals. It's no one else fault but your own. If you can't do you either have to alter your vision or alter something about your self. that helps you attain those goals. My goal is obviously again as i have said before many times is to be financially independent and to be able to do this as a full-time career. so i can present more content to people who enjoy watching it or listening to it. 

Who helped you in making the stream happen? such as all the graphics you use, overlay, the mods, etc. How did you pick your first original Mods for your stream and are they still Mods now? Did you make the graphic web design for your twitch. Who are these unknown team members of team Sinvicta?

I don't want to sound selfish or disingenuous but i am the creator of everything you see with my name on it. I am pretty adept at photoshop and with other editing tools. I made all the backgrounds and all the graphics etc for everything that I've done. I never had any help on anything, including the overlay. All those have been created by me or I've borrowed a template and then modified from there. My original Mods, most of those people were just like part of the three or four people that watched my warcraft stream. and i said I'd make them a mod, its cool. Most of them are still around right now. They really don't help out in the StarCraft stuff all that much. but they are still around and still Mods. Since I've been kinda declining with my live stream of WoW and more increasing amount of StarCraft that i stream, those mods have been kinda tapering off due to the fact i'm not doing WoW stream anymore. I'm a one man team for as for team Sinvicta. As for the support team i have, it encompass anyone and everyone who wish's to follow my stream, listen to the radio show, sending emails, sending fan art, everyone who participates in the games or talks to me. That is the real Team Sinvicta and I'm just the face of it. 

 What is your Favorite Three Course meal? and that of the Sinvictalisk as well

[Chuckles] Well if it has to be a three course meal, the appetizer would be fried calamari. I'm a huge seafood fan. That's what i was born and raised on. For those of you who don't know what calamari is, it's squid. The dinner portion of that would be a very very nice filet mignon. cooked medium well. I'm not a big rare red meat type of guy. I like my stuff cooked pretty well done. The dessert portion would be vanilla ice cream, i'm a pretty easy simple going person so i like my vanilla ice cream. If i had to pick that's what it would be. [Chuckles]

There you have it folks! The man of the hour Sinvicta! You can find his Live Stream at http://www.twitch.tv/sinvicta/old and to find out when he is online and live streaming you can Follow @Sinvicta and if you want to catch anything that is his podcast or VoD's of past streams, you can do so at http://www.youtube.com/sinvicta316. If you would like to donate to him to help out Team Sinvicta make sure to check out his Twitch and click on his PayPal and make sure to leave a memo telling him the Sinvictalisk made you do it.

I thank Sinvicta for the time he spared for doing this interview and looking forward to the chance of doing another, perhaps live streamed and taking questions. If you have not seen this great man broadcast yet then you truly don't know what you're missing. You will find something that will entertain you, maybe even amaze you. I know for sure i'm full from this long interview and need to find myself a toothpick.

How about you? Leave your comments down below! or tweet all of them to @Sinvicta.

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