Interview with Jesse Cox

August 28th, 2012

Author: Grant ‘Ava’ Hill

Jesse Cox is an American voice actor and rising Youtube star, now known as a prominent gamer in the online scene after working with people such as HuskyStarcraft and TotalBiscuit. I recently had the opportunity to find out how much he knows about eSports and competitive gaming.

Hey Jesse, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. First of all, competitive gaming is growing, what's your opinion on pro gamers? 

- I'd like to think being one of the bigger gaming channels, knowing countless pro-gamers, and being friends with several of the casters/commentators would mean I'd be able to stand here and give you some insight or in-depth opinion, but I'll be honest - to me it's like voodoo magic watching them play. I don't get how they are so damn good, I mean I understand it's practice, but have you seen their hands!? It's incredible. I have all the respect in the world for anyone who trains to be the best at something - Streetfighter, SC2, WoW, CoD, LoL, HoN, whatever... And thankfully they exist, so lazy nerds like myself can watch them.

You have become active in eSports with your petition for a Hardcore arena in Diablo, is the pro gaming scene something you can see yourself  becoming part of as a player or caster? 

-A player or caster? No no, I imagine myself as more of a Don King promoter type, offering a "splenderificus bout of magnitudinal proportitunity on a grand diabolical scale“!  That's pretty much my role - I just want to see this thing happen. Can you imagine the first eSport where players who lose, lose for good. There's no "see you in the losers bracket!" - if you lose, you have to wait 'til the next season to relevel a character from scratch - your previous avatar now dead for good. The stakes would be almost as high as the entertainment value.

You're most known for your YouTube channel OMFGcata, covering MMOs and doing Let's Plays of games, but if you could become a professional and live financially from playing a game, which game would you pick? 

 - Professionally? Final Fantasy VI. There's money in being in love with old SNES RPGs, right?

In the coming months, which new game releases are you most excited about? 

- My latest obsession is Awesomenauts. I've been playing it on Ps3 and more recently Steam. It's a great side scrolling MOBA that I have fallen in love with. Other than that, I'm definitely excited for the PvP in Guild Wars 2 and SC2: Heart of the Swarm. Not to mention Assassins Creed 3, Saints Row 4, the Tomb Raider reboot, Borderlands 2 and the new Halo.   

You spent a significant amount of time with HuskyStarcraft during his and Rosanna Pansino's live stream for charity and have also done other large scale charity events. Do you feel being in the spotlight means you should set a good example and help out with awareness? 

- Of course! I realize every day that what I do for a living is amazing, and I am very VERY lucky.  I'm constantly humbled to receive any well wishes or fan letters and I never once have thought of myself as any type of celebrity. In fact, two years ago, I was jobless, penniless, and had just been let go from a teaching job (yes, I was a teacher!). So I tend to have a different perspective on "success".  And when I see people who are in need, I always give. Be it the guy on the street corner, or the child in the hospital bed. When it comes to events and awareness of causes, if it's something I can help with, I will gladly. I think anyone in the spotlight has the obligation to use it draw attention to those in need and redirect that light onto the problems we should all be helping alleviate.

You spend a lot of time interacting with your fans, is it important for you to spend that time communicating with them? 

- I think it's very important. I'm sure many would argue that you don't have the time to communicate with them all, live a life, make your content, and do all the small daily things adults have to do. BUT, I still try. I like to think that at least counts for something.

If the zombie apocalypse came tomorrow and you could pick just one of the housemates that live with Husky, who would you pick and why? 

- Well, Dodger of course. She'd be a fun "end of the world" buddy - and more importantly she'd be easy to throw to the zombies if I ever needed to make a quick escape. ...what?! It's every man for himself in the post-apocalyptic hellscape! 

You have grown as a gaming personality massively in the last two years, where can we expect Jesse Cox and OMFGCata to go in the next twelve months? 

- Expect bigger and better. More highly produced shows, more comedy, more playthroughs and more nonsense. But we'll still keep all the buttclenchingly bad gameplay :P 

Finally Jesse, do you have any shout outs? 

- Big shout out to all the people who have helped me on the youtubes: iamchiib, AevynneLulzTiem, wowacai, wowcrendor, totalbiscuit, huskystarcraft, presshearttocontinue, Yogscast, and the folks over at the gamestation. Also to my Mom and Dad, who when I said "I want to make videos on the internet" didn't think I was a crazy person.