SC2SEA.com - Starcraft 2 SEA eSports Community Site

**x5.Crescendo** · Sun, 29th-Mar-2015, 6:55 PM

Behind the Username is an interview series where I ask some questions of regular players I meet in and around SC2SEA and our tournaments.

Today I have a chat with William 'Philosopher' Hebblewhite, head of SEACraftTV and organiser of the SEAcraft weeklies and melees.

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How long have you been playing Starcraft 2, and have you always played Protoss?

Hey, Thanks for having me. I've been playing Starcraft 2 since the release of Wings of Liberty, and yea switched to Protoss after finishing the campaign.

Describe your playstyle in ten words or less.

I live for the late game.

<Insert obligatory griping about protoss deathballs here>

How did you decide upon your username?

Well I've gone through a lot of usernames throughout the years starting back with old MMOs where I was known as Alchemist. When Wings of Liberty was released in 2010 I was doing my Masters degree in Philosophy and thought that I would take up the ID Philosopher because I hadn't really seen it being used before.

It can get annoying when people are like "Do you know [insert famous Philosopher's Name]" and then attempt to speak to me about them while I'm trying to play

Never let me on a Skype call with you. I have the Monty Python Philosopher's song memorised

A lot of us, whether in tournaments or on ladder, have games which stick in our memory as being more fun or entertaining than others. Do you have a war story or favourite match you'd like to brag about?

There was a ladder game that some people know, in which I used DTs to defeat a particularly (in)famous member of our community. I got a lot of congratulations for that from members of mGG
Good old DT into Robo expand, such a good build

So dirty =D Not going to name names?

I am not going to name any specifics, this person already believes, illogically, that I have an axe to grind with them.

Haha, fair enough. I'm sure the speculation alone will incite drama as it is

Moving from the game in general to your role as an event organiser: the first SEACraft weekly was on May 5 2014. As we get closer to the first anniversary of the event, could you share with us what inspired you to start it?

Well I really love watching Starcraft, more then I like playing it really. and I wanted to do something which would allow me to watch more starcraft and be involved in the community. At first I thought about starting up a team, or sponosoring one player. But then with the dearth of tournaments that sc2sea was putting on; this was a little while after the death of wT weeklies etc. I decide to start SEAcraft

Unfortunately because my bad internet and the high quality stream of the casters, I don't often get to watch SEAcraft hahaha. But I can see with the influx of tournaments such as SEAcraft and Friday Fun Night by Elusory, there is more activity going on in our scene, its great!

But then SEAcraft couldn't have become as big as it is without the help from Maynarde and Ronso...Those guys put in the builk of the funds each week.

Big shout out to Maynarde and Ronso! Internet woes are definitely something I can appreciate. I often have to rely on VODs to be able to see the SEACraft matches due to my own poor internet connection.

On the topic of VODs, I know I'd personally love for SEACraft Final Series VODs on Youtube to be a regular occurrence. And while I know a lot of that comes down to the availability of casters and their connection for the purposes of uploads, is there any possibility of such content being a regular thing in the future?

It is definitely something that I have been thinking about for a while. At the moment I don't personally have the time or connection to be able to spend huge amounts of time uploading vods, but I do have plans to launch a SEAcraftTV youtube channel where our casters can upload the games.
I just don't know when we can make this a viable option

The curse of our lackluster Australian Internet speeds. Organising any kind of event has its ups and downs. Please tell us about some of the highs and lows you've experienced during SEAcraft, and how you've kept up the motivation to keep SEACraft going strong.

Well the Highs has to be from players, those who win and lose, pm'ing me in battle.net or on sc2sea or even on skype and just saying "Hey thanks for doing this man" like that's really awesome. I think also PiG beating Solar was a huge high, everyone was so excited in the twitch chat..but mostly it is the thanks.

Lows are definitely having to deal with some mistakes on my part. It really sucks when sometimes, occasionally I miss people in the brackets and I can't find space for them or they've signed up just a little too late, and I have to tell them no.

Also prima donna players who come in expecting the world from you. With SEAcraft I usually race home from University, so say SEAcraft is at 8pm...I usually leave Uni at 6-6:30 - 40min train ride - grab a quick bite to eat - make brackets and straight into admining. A lot of the time I don't get a break to just relax from a heavy day of Uni work...and when you're faced with players demanding the bracket, or pm'ing you with questions that are available in the forum thread it's just a bit much. And usually, I'm an asshole in those situations. But at least I'm an honest asshole.

But the motivation comes in that it is just a really good feeling when people thank you for the tournament. Even people who sadly get knocked out in the brutal Bo1 stage. They're like, hey it was fun, see you next week. Thats why I keep doing it.

It's also nice when people like Namakaye and Elusory are able to fill in for me when Public transport doesn't quite go my way, or I have a deadline I can't miss. Those guys are tops, and the community is alot better for having them.

I know I have appreciated your ongoing dedication to these events. When I do get to watch them, I often get to see some awesome starcraft being played

It is fair to say that SEACraft has become an integral part of the Oceania Starcraft 2 Championship series. Taking a look at the current rankings, what are your thoughts on them? Any favourites or early predictions for the grand finale this year?

I think it works both ways, SEAcraft has become a great way for both International and our local SEA players to really accumulate a lot of OSC points. but in a lot of ways without OSC SEAcraft wouldn't have the numbers of players that it succeeds in getting each week.

To be honest the rankings are a little surprising, but in same way make sense. We don't see really the big names of PiG, Petraeus or KingKong, PiG obviously has been hugely busy with WSC and Pet in EU and KK somewhere in the ether..but I like it because we've been able to see the rise of some fantastic talent. Azure and PSiArc seemingly coming out of no where.

In terms of predictions, I don't know. I'll say who I'd like to see do well. I'd like to see DemiLove do well, and Blysk, I've been a big fan of those players for quite a while, and seeing them both develop into dominating forces in our region is great.

As a fan of Starcraft, I have been loving the appearance of new names as strong reoccurring presences in SEA tournaments. Looking to the future, with Legacy of the Void on the horizon, what are your thoughts on what you have seen of LoTV thus far?

As OSC gets a bigger name for itself, and with Eddie at the helm its growing leaps and bounds each day, we'll get a lot of new names.

LotV is I think the last hurrah. It is going to be hugely epic. I can't fathom a Starcraft 3, it might happen, or it might go the way of Warcraft 4, so I think for Blizzard, they are pulling out all the stops on LotV. Some would argue too little too late, but I am super excited for a lot of reasons.

I think the way the economy has changed in LotV is going to have huge ramifications. I think we might see a level of unassuredness that we haven't seen since Wings of Liberty Beta. It is going to be glorious. I feel it is truly one aspect of the game that just isn't being talked about enough. The theorycrafting is going to be amazing during the beta.

Forget about new Units, because we only have an idea of the new units based within a framework of our understanding of the game which will be totally obsolete. Everyone I think will be going back to fundamentals of the game.

I'm also super excited about Archon mode, just because as a content organizer there is so much there for people to work with, I can see BasetradeTV or Pughy really doing some excellent stuff with that mode.

Those would be the two features I'm super excited about. But as a whole I have super high hopes for LotV and from what I've seen so far, and the effort it seems Blizzard is putting into it, I will not be disappointed.

I am especially excited for all the new possibilities when it comes to contests, tournaments and events in LoTV. I feel it will become an exciting game to watch from the very moment the games begin, thanks to the economy changes, and I can't wait to see it being played in SEACraft events =D

Is there a moment in your career which you consider particularly important or formative for who you are as a player, event organiser, and person now?

I can't talk much about a formative event as a player, given that I barely play the game at all at the moment. As an event organizer I think it was when players such as Hack, MyungSiK, Armani and Solar started to compete (when Proleague wasn't running) like it kind of felt I had accomplished something that these awesome players. who were light years away in the Mecca of eSports, Seoul, South Korea, decided to play in my small little tournament.

A similar feeling was when I got accepted into Macquarie University to do a PhD. That feeling of like "wow, maybe I'm getting something right". I mean I'm more of the time thinking to myself, how the hell did I get here, but those are probably the times that were most formative so far in my short time on this rock.

For a bit of fun: if you could have any two players in the world compete in a SEACraft Bo7 showmatch, who would it be and why?

I think no surprise to anyone it has to be two players from South Korea.

CJ Entus herO because he is a god amongst men. Huge fan of his and I think a bo7 would show just how good he is at the Protoss race, He is good at both the cheesy play and a macro king.

And JIn Air Green Wings Maru. Who is just playing out of his mind at the moment, and has been for a while. I wouldn't be surprised to see him either take GSL or SSL again next season. The kid, and he's ******* 17 years old, is unbelievable. I'd be unphased if he did this year what Life has been doing for the last 12 months and just win everything.

A Bo7 between herO and Maru would be fantastic to see, I would be a like a kid in a candy store if that happened.

I would watch the hell out of that! Finally, feel free to self-promote and drop some links here if you want folks to follow you on the various social media/streaming sites

Remember to watch SEAcraft Weekly on Monday and SEAcraft Melee on Thursday 8pm at Twitch.tv/SEAcraftTV (Times are subject to change with Daylight savings coming up). You can follow me personally on twitter @PhilosopherSC2 and you can follow SEAcraft at @SEAcraftTV.

I would like to thank the community for being really supportive of SEAcraft, without you guys it would be even harder to put it on each week. And massive shout out to Maynarde, Ronso for the weekly tributes.

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today, Philosopher, it has been a pleasure!

It has been fun! Thanks for the interview

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As a sidenote, Philosopher should also be congratulated for the quality of trolling he inflicts on Azubu chat during proleague and starleague. He occasionally even trolls twitter. If I ever felt guilty about punning at him with Soul for a good half hour (to be absolutely clear, I never feel guilty for my puns) I would have felt redeemed upon witnessing his antics.

Just saying, if you need a poker-faced straight-man as a foil for your upcoming comedy show, you might want to hit him up.

Thank you once again, Philosopher, for providing us all with SEACraft and more opportunities for players to build rivalries, have sledging matches, and strut their stuff in front of a stream audience.

GLHF All!

**x5_Namakaye** · Sun, 29th-Mar-2015, 9:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IXL.Crescendo

CJ Entus herO because he is a god amongst men. Huge fan of his and I think a bo7 would show just how good he is at the Protoss race, He is good at both the cheesy play and a macro king.

You sir are my favorite tournament organizer ever.

Ctrl+F Namakaye. 11/10 would read again

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x5.Crescendo:

Daily reminder than Life r3kt herO in GSL. Kekeke