A spin off of the Get To Know Your SEA series, the Sponsor Spotlight aims to shed some light on the unsung heroes of sc2sea: The Donators. Without these generous souls sc2sea wouldn't have been this awesome!
I'll start this one off with a ballad, so stay a while and listen.
Cordance! The Man they call Cordance!
He was a little rich so he donated to the pool.
He saw we were in need and he gave nirvAnA what for!
Our love for him now, ain't hard to explain.
The Hero of the CO, The man they call Cordance!
Now Cordance saw the CO was fledging.
A dream that could not be sustained.
And he saw that the prize pool needed helping.
So the people may be entertained.
He said I hope I don't cause you any trouble, but I'd like to step forward to donate.
So he made an account
Gave an undisclosed amount
And made the prize pool what it is today.
He was a little rich so he donated to the pool.
He saw we were in need and he gave nirvAnA what for!
Our love for him now, ain't hard to explain.
The Hero of the CO, The man they call Cordance!
Now here is what separates heroes
From common folk like you and I
The man they call Cordance
Well he dropped his ordnance
And let that money hit sky.
He dropped it onto our Master's Cup,
He dropped it into our BSG's.
And the man they call Cordance
Thought it was of no importance
And headed out for the stars.
*Cordance!* He was a little rich so he donated to the pool.
*The Man they call Cordance!* He saw we were in need and he gave nirvAnA what for!
Our love for him now, ain't hard to explain.
The Hero of the CO, The man they call Cordance!
Internet high five for guessing what song this is
As you've probably already guessed, the man joining me today is
Chris "Cordance" Van Every!
Whose generous donations of $200 + and undisclosed amount have not only helped keep this site running, but allowed our weekly tournament to have the prize pools they current have now (which is impressive for a community sponsored tournament).
Lemminks: Although you've been around for quite a while, for those of us who don't know you, tell us a little bit about yourself?
Cordance: Well I’m a silver leaguer who definitely doesn't get to play as much SC2 as I would like too. I work a full time job as an electrician. I enjoy most computer games that take logical thought to progress. I play D&D once a week generally. I also have a long distance relationship with a lovely lady in the US.
Lemminks: Would you care to tell us what started you playing Starcraft 2 and what lead you to sc2sea.com?
Cordance: Well let’s start at my RTS roots. I use to play Dune2 way back in the day. Warcraft 1 & 2, Starcraft and Brood War. When Warcraft 3 came out it didn’t catch me as well the others. I didn’t enjoy the hero-based mechanics so I took a break from RTS for a while. When SC2 Finally came out it was a must get on my list. With in a few days I was enjoying it checking out the blizzard forums on it when I found a link to the site Sc2SEA.com. The CO really caught my eye as a chance to get trashed which generally speaking is the best way to improve your game so it was bookmarked.
Lemminks: The donation drive was only a few weeks old when you donated an undisclosed amount. If you don't mind telling us, what was your main reason for starting off with such a large amount as opposed to a small donation?
Cordance: Well SC2 was going to get a good following; SC1 was always big at school back when I was there. I figured if there were a few months of activity it would help attract other people. At the time CO had a $5 prize for first.
Given the fact that at the time I had a significant disposable income and my computer budget was a little higher than what it cost to get things I needed. I had some spare cash to spend on computer related stuff. In short I wanted to kick start the SC2 eSports and Nirvana had the best vehicle I found at the time to get behind.
The only reason I asked to made it undisclosed is I didn’t want to scare other people off from making small donations at the time. Nowadays people make donations as big or bigger almost monthly.
Saving Koalas one at a time
Lemminks: Well to my understanding afterwards the first place prize was increased and monetary prizes were added to the GPD competition. Were you satisfied with how your donation was distributed to the community?
Cordance: Nirvana always had a good handle on things and as we got to see was willing to dip into his own pocket to support us as a community (servers aren’t free). I did feel at first it might have gone up too quickly at the time. There was a point later on where SC2SEA funds dipped a bit low AKA to $0. However the CO had really taken off by then (convincing me to donate again at the time) as time has shown it was the right thing to do with how it grew SC2SEA.
Imaster I think it was picked up the support of CO and donations got a bit of advertisement around that time. People started to realise they where getting great entertainment for nothing, great entertainment for next to nothing was almost as good but would last a lot longer.
As far as the distribution ... Moonglade probably got more of it than was fair for others. Then again the chance for them to play against Moonglade was worth the loss. Although back then we did have rules on winners not being able to come back for seconds the next week.
Lemminks: Just to clarify: "Imaster"?
Cordance: Imaster was as Nirvana put it, just another player who enjoyed eSports like me. He started putting up the $25 per week as a donation.
Lemminks: Ah ok thanks, and for the lower league competitions?
Cordance: They still came out of the general donation pools.
Cordance and his FPS fan girlfriend.
Lemminks: Has eSports, in particular Starcraft 2, been the only cause you've donated towards?
Cordance: I some times put money towards charities and such. I considered my donation towards SC2SEA as payment for the hard work the people had done to get things to where they where and help them keep things going (in a way more selfish for me to keep enjoying the SEA scene).
Generally speaking I rather buy products to support people back then we didn’t have the store so there was no way to do that. Having said that the access Nirvana has given me to the TGM has more than paid me back for my donations.
Lemminks: As a constant donator, do you think you get enough recognition beyond an achievement or are you happy staying away from the public eye?
Cordance: I haven’t really done anything (well I worked a full time job) for recognition. Its people like Nirvana and his admins who do all the work most of it for free. I mean look at Dox donates regularly, helps out with ACL and builds a team of pros. All I have done is throw a few dollars to help keep the CO going so that I could get smashed by the best players in SEA. I got the offer to name the CO after me, something like The Cordance CO, but I just don't like being under the public eye.
Taken at Bear lake, TargA sightings: 0.
Lemminks: Are there any other video games that currently demand your attention?
Cordance: I do play far to much WoW. I play it as a social gathering point mostly only raiding on weekends with friends alt runs, more to keep in touch with people. I do enjoy myself a little N game from time to time. A small flash based action puzzle game. I dabble (and suck) with FPS with counter strike (I use to play it a lot back in Beta) after I watch Dox stream it some. That’s about it unless you count watching spoiler warning as a video game demanding my attention.
Lemminks: How about current hobbies that you'd like to share, aside from video games?
Cordance: Well I play Dungeons and Dragons once a week (with pen and paper). Currently DMing an Eberron campain in 3.5. Trust me that information makes sense to anyone who knows what I’m talking about. Other than that full time job, computer games, sleep and a limited social life take up most of my time.
Lemminks: Despite the fact that I've never played a D&D campaign, I actually vaguely know what you're talking about.
Anyway to finish off, what are your hopes for eSports in SEA and the World?
Cordance: Simply put I hope it keeps going and reaches a wider audience. Just the other day I was watching GSL on my phone in a lunch break and got to introduce someone to the idea of computer games with commentary as something similar to football. We favored few in the know need to spread the word.
Lemminks: Wise words my friend. Well I'd really enjoyed this interview. On behalf of sc2sea thank you for being such a baller with your constant donations. Any final shoutouts?
Cordance: Just to the awesome people on SC2SEA.com and surrounding community workers you guys work so hard for our enjoyment. Also to my lovely lady Linda.
A nice picture to end it off!
Want more Chris Van Every?
Well you can't cause he's technologically impaired :P
Add him on SEA: Cordance.485
___________________________________
Allez TCP!
: TCPLemminks.185
Piglet Pig! Piglet Pig!
Last edited by TCPLemminks; Tue, 17th-Apr-2012 at 11:13 PM.
" Well let’s start at my RTS roots. I use to play Dune2 way back in the day. Warcraft 1 & 2, Starcraft and Brood War. When Warcraft 3 came out it didn’t catch me as well the others. I didn’t enjoy the hero-based mechanics so I took a break from RTS for a while. When SC2 Finally came out it was a must get on my list". Pretty much nails it for me exactly.
Cordance was pretty much the first person from sc2sea I ever interacted with. Practiced with him for a game or two to try to be gosu enough to win BSG #1. Didnt work unfortunately ;(
Even the smallest donations help keep sc2sea running! All donations go towards helping our site run including our monthly server hosting fees and sc2sea sponsored community tournaments we host. Find out more here.