About me

Hello, my name is Douglas Rivelli and I’ve been a journalist for the better part of ten years now, and eight of those were spent in the esports/gaming beat. When I first went to college, I studied marine biology, which I loved, but didn’t find any passion there for me. When I was speaking with a friend about this, they had heard me mention in the past that I wanted to try writing and that I should work for my school newspaper at the University of Rhode Island.

I ended up applying and was able to write one article for them before leaving to try working in the field for a bit to see if I really did enjoy it. So, I left school and got my first contracting job at a small company called Dark Star Gaming, which later came to be a massive League of Legends tournament ground for scouting new players. After my time there, I knew that journalism was my passion. However, it wasn’t just written journalism that enticed me. I would also use my free time to sportscast for esports events in my free time, and when I broke into the trading card game (TCG) scene, I would produce content for games like Flesh and Blood, Magic: The Gathering and Altered TCG, both in the form of written and video content. Producing content about my hobbies and sharing my knowledge gave me a feeling of fulfilment, so from there, I continued on producing more and more content for more organizations, doing internships, freelance gigs, and so on.

At a certain point, however, my opportunities tapered out because I lacked a degree. So, I decided to go back to school to pursue a Bachelor’s in Journalism. I started at Mass Bay Community College, and from there transferred to Lasell University. It wasn’t always easy, and I faltered at times, but from those experiences I learned that success is not linear. Even while in school, I made sure to still produce and create as much as I can, either as a freelancer, at internship position, or just for fun, to maintain my practice and continue to build experience so that, with my completed degree, I would be more equipped to take on the professional world with hopes that I can get positions that not having a degree had locked me out of in the past.

I sincerely hope that, even with my degree and all my experience, I never stop growing as a writer. As much as I love esports/gaming journalism, I would love the opportunity to cover any beat that sparks an interest with me. Anything from winter sports to photography to science, all provoke a feeling of intrigue, and there’s no better way to learn about those topics than to do research and conduct interviews to see what those fields are like first-hand from those who have been doing it as long, or even longer, than I’ve been a journalist.