The Story of Sniff Sniff

It was October, 2012. Only two years had passed since I began my journey into the world of esports, but I was spending most of my time playing Dota 2. Playing isn't exactly the right word. Don't get me wrong— the gameplay was fun, but I wasn't just playing for entertainment. I was playing to learn and, eventually, become a Dota commentator— if I could get good enough.

At the time I was still contracting with Garena, a popular gaming platform in Southeast Asia, as their lead commentator for Heroes of Newerth. They knew my plan was to move on from Heroes of Newerth as soon as I could find more opportunities casting Dota 2, but it helped pay the bills while I made my transition. I was also running short on time to start generating more income before my parents vowed to kick me out of the house.

But playing Dota was actually fun. I woke up every day excited to try a new hero and uncover more nuanced details about the game. The deadline to prove my endeavors worthy and generate more income was stressful, but something felt right about the path I was finally on.

All of that changed on Saturday, October 13th, 2012. Just three days before my 23rd birthday.

My friend Josh and I were livestreaming our weekly show called News Report in which we played different video games and talked about financial news. The show failed to cultivate an audience, as most gamers aren't interested in investment advice from other gamers. That didn't stop it from being a fun little side project. This Saturday was no different than those past; we finished recording our 11th episode and decided to stream for a few additional hours after the show.

Once Josh and I were finished broadcasting, I turned off the livestream like usual and started preparing for the rest of my day.

Except.

Somehow, I made a big mistake when shutting down the streaming software. To this day, I don't know if I clicked the wrong button, the software malfunctioned, or I simply forgot to turn it off as intended.

But the stream kept running.

And I had absolutely no idea.