It's rare to find someone in esports with the kind of history that Kevin ‘Rotterdam’ van der Kooi has. Establishing himself as a top European Orc player and commentator during Warcraft 3’s heyday, Rotterdam entered the age of StarCraft 2 carrying a lot of weight to his name.

Weight alone won’t make a career though. Rotterdam was thrust into the role of SC2 caster in the very first HomeStory Cup tournament, having almost no experience with the then fresh RTS title. Using his WC3 commentating skills and hard work though, the Dutchman was quick to rise through the scene, working as an ESL in house caster and later moving to America to work with NASL.

The very first esports match that I ever watched was Dimaga vs BratOK in the NASL season 2 offline finals event. Without knowing a single thing about esports or StarCraft 2, I was still completely enthralled by what I was seeing on screen. I had stumbled across the amazing scifi spectacle that is SC2 esports and I was instantly in love. An enormous part of this experience was, of course, the casters. The soon-to-be-iconic duo of MrBitter and Rotterdam were the guiding force that brought me into SC2.

Though MrBitter departed from the spotlight in 2014 for a behind the scenes role in Red Bull, Rotterdam carried on casting SC2 and is almost universally considered to be one of the best SC2 casters in the scene. With no signs of the SC2 passion train slowing down, I spoke to Rotti about his past, present, and future in the esports industry.

 Timestamps –

1:20 – All of your social media is branded under ‘Rotterdam08’. Why ‘08’?

2:56 – Why name yourself after the town of Rotterdam?

6:04 – Do you have any particularly strong links to the Dutch esports scene in general?

7:44 – You started in the WC3 scene. What was the transition like from WC3 to SC2? Both for yourself and for the WC3 community at large?

10:07 – You were the captain of Fnatic’s Heroes of Newerth team. What are your thoughts on HoN, why not be involved with LoL or Dota 2?

13:02 – You’re also involved in the poker scene. What do you identify as your involvement there?

14:59 – Your first foray in SC2 was casting the first HSC. Without that experience, do you think you still would have ended up as a professional SC2 caster?

18:28 – Was there ever any backlash against you, ToD, and Nathanias for the drunken Red Bull casting night that you held on stream?

20:58 – During the declining years of SC2 viewership, many of your peers migrated to other titles. Were you ever tempted to do the same?

25:40 – How do you see your personal skill in SC2?

28:00 – Are you ever tempted to try and grind your way back to the level of professional play?

30:33 – What are your views on SC2’s balance right now?

36:00 – What are your views on the adept in particular?

39:00 – You’re notorious for creating your own, offbeat build orders. What drives you to create these zany builds?

41:17 – how different is the esports industry compared to five years ago? How about ten?

43:47 – Would you ever consider moving to a behind the scenes role or do you want to keep commentating for the rest of your career?

45:42 – Does the perception that you’re some big party animal ever bother you?

47:28 – In the fall you moved from California back to the Netherlands. Were you expecting more SC2 work in America for 2016?

52:35 – What were some of the emotions that you were dealing with during that big move?

57:10 – Fan Questions:

Harstem asks ‘Are there any career moves that you consider to be a mistake? Do you have any regrets in your esports career?’

1:02:10 – You mentioned regretting focusing on YouTube. You tried again last year to start a YouTube channel. What stopped you from running with that?

1:0408 – Avex asks ‘What do you think Protoss is missing that would make its matchups feel less onesided for viewers’.

1:05:46 – BadrockZ asks ‘who is your favourite SC2 player of all time and why?’

1:07:38 – Do you ever regret tying yourself to the NA scene rather than somewhere else, perhaps Korea?

1:1014 – Toast asks ‘what’s your favourite televised match that you’ve ever played?’

1:12:32 – If Warcraft 4 were to be announced this year at Blizzcon, do you think that you’d try to return as a player?

1:13:44 – Do you have any tips for people trying to rise in esports in 2017?

1:14:48 – What are your expectation for the future of SC2?