Jorien 'Sheever' van der Heijden Switched over from World of Warcraft in late 2011 Joined the GosuGamers casting crew in mid-2012 Saddened by being the only well-known female caster Dislikes pay-to-watch streaming models Appreciates the in-game tickets for Dota 2 tournaments ![4a2476795ebff6b5c4d7f83a5d77d4eb8b7cb13fa5fe5b5ddc14d28ac4.jpg]()
How did you come to Dota 2? I played various games when I was young, but never spent that much of my free time on it. Some time, one of my sisters got the game Warcraft III (later also the Frozen Throne expansion) and after playing the campaign we discovered the world of Battle.net. We started playing a lot of tower defense, and later also a lot of DotA, until World of Warcraft came out. My sister got an account and I started playing on hers, and later on my dad's account, until I finally got my own. It took me 1.5 years to reach hardcore raiding but ended up doing so for 4 years, of which 3.5 years with the same high end raiding guild. I quit before T13 at the end of November 2011, but was still used to gaming at least 5 nights a week so I just continued on doing so. Dota is super difficult for newer players, what made you stick with and learn it?
As a play by play caster, I do like it when teams are going aggressive on each other, though I am a sucker for huge comebacks, and those usually don't happen all that often in very aggressive games. With all the new heroes that have been added, which among them has really made casting matches more interesting as well as challenging? All new additions have made casting more challenging. For someone who didn't even know there was anything like a competitive scene in DotA, it is rather difficult to know what impact heroes will have on the competitive scene, as well as knowing what counters, strategies and combinations are suitable for those heroes. That has been the biggest challenge especially since the last 2 heroes have been implemented in CM mode instantly. In particular, I guess you could say Wisp is challenging, for you never know where he will relocate to, making it very easy to miss kills.
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As a play by play caster, I do like it when teams are going aggressive.”There's alot of unreleased heroes to come, are there any you look forward to playing or seeing? Like I said, I played DotA only before World of Warcraft came out, at which point there were not even all the heroes in that are in today. So most of the ones still to come I don't know, or I have forgotten about. Of the ones that I do still remember Centaur comes to mind. This was the first hero I ever bought a blink dagger on, and I was able to carry my team with that, so I would like to see that one. That's a pretty great reason. Female casters are rather uncommon as an entity in eSports. Is it encouraging for you being one of the only female caster in Dota 2? No, I would rather say it is discouraging. What makes you think so? <div style="float:left; padding:10px; margin-right:10px; width:190px; border: 1px #260000 solid; background-color:#181818;" "="">
The resistance that is there for any caster in general is already quite big. People don't like changes, they don't like new casters and will always complain a bit. Being a female caster makes that resistance worse. It gives an extra dimension to the change, so people respond to it as such. Do you think given time, the Dota community will become more open to new casters, and female casters in particular? I hope so, but I guess only time will tell. Is there anything the scene could change to help sway this process? It is the scene that gives the feedback, they are not the ones that could help the change, they would be the ones to change. But all that can really overcome that is time. Would you ever consider eSports in it's current state as a full time career option? If I can find a spot in it, where it also pays me enough to make a living of it, yes, definitely. However, I do not think that it is something you can consider and then just do, rather it is something that you grow into, when you do what you can, and can make money from the things you do after a certain point, if that made sense. Do you think Dota 2 lacks a sense of professionalism in it's current state? If you compare it to SC2, then yes, but it is still at the start of its prime. Regardless of DotA, Dota2 is a new game, and will need to grow as such. I believe that in time it will grow to be as professional as it should be. Do you believe Dota 2 has the momentum to become as truly large as titles like Starcraft II or League of Legends? Yes, if supported properly. Maybe not the way riot supports LoL, but some support is needed for tournament organizers etc. to really want to pick up Dota 2 as one of their titles. The ticket system in Dota 2 is a great step towards that. Regarding tickets, in Starcraft II some tournaments have large pay-per-view tickets that you must pay just to watch the streams of the games. Do you think that's a step in the right direction towards the growth of eSports? No, I think everything should be available for everyone who wants to watch it. That is also needed in order for eSports to grow bigger. What can be done, and what is being done by a lot already, is selling the ticket and giving something extra next to the streams for the ticket. Some extra service. The Dota 2 competitive scene has come under fire by the community regarding long delays in competitive games. Do you think tournament admins need to work towards better rulesets and stricter guidelines for their tournaments? Those are things that indeed need to be done to work towards a more professional environment for the competitive scene. I do believe tournament organizers and admins have been a bit more prone to enforce rules more and that is a good development.
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It's rather discouraging to be the only female caster.”
Interview was conducted by Shogunner.
