So, Hap tell us about yourself.
I am a 20-year-old Dutch student, who currently studies Business IT and Management at the Avans University of Applied sciences. Next to that, I am an esports fanatic.
How did you get into Siege as a game?
I started out with CS:GO. I was really ambitious and wanted to reach the best of the best there. However, after a few months, I realised I’d always have less experience than those on the top. I realised it was harder to reach that level than I’ve initially imagined. At that exact time Rainbow 6: Siege was announced, and I saw it as an opportunity. I decided to put all my attention into this project, and see where it brought me.
What about its competitive side and casting?
People told me it was impossible for me to reach any kind of competitive play, and that is when I met Snuf and Naughty in ranked. Together we formed the base of the new Windigo eSports team. We finally got a lineup together when the BeNeLux was first announced. We played a lot and made it to the BeNeLux LAN several times. Those were my first experiences with the competitive side of Siege, not at the highest level, but it definitely was a start that helped me prove everyone wrong. At some point in my career, the PS4 production missed their analyst as he couldn't make it so I took the liberty to claim the spot and get to try out casting as a one-time thing. After about 9 months of playing, I quit because it consumed too much of my time and felt like an unpaid day and night job. It was very mentally exhausting. That’s when I was approached by Ubisoft to become the official BeNeLux caster.
Hap playing at a BeNeLux LAN
You are an ESL community caster as well as partnered with Ubisoft. What tournaments and leagues do you cast? Do you do any events unrelated to Ubisoft and ESL?
Well like I said before, it started as a one-time thing since one of the casters could not make it. So I started off with a monthly PS4 final in the ESL studio; at that point I had no affiliation with neither ESL nor Ubisoft. When Ubisoft offered me the contract the events started coming in as well. I basically cast a small tournament in the Netherlands, named the Party 16, which gave non-league teams the opportunity to play Siege competitively and get a hold of the game. That was my first real gig. Afterwards, I was soon confirmed for the entire first season of the BeNeLux League. This is where I believe I really started to develop and get the basics of casting. So that makes 7 weeks of the BeNeLux League in the studio, and being on the analyst desk during the season finals to make room for KiXSTAr and Z1ronic. Now, in between, I also did a charity tournament organized by God Tier Gaming. We tried to get as many donations to the World Child Cancer foundation as possible. That is when I decided I wanted to broaden up my perspective, and not stay BeNeLux exclusive. I applied for the community caster spot in ESL and got it soon after. Not long after I signed a new contract with Ubisoft for a few events, including the Siege Summer Series 2018, which featured a few Pro League teams, Challenger League teams and the BeNeLux champions of course. The Reality, which will be taking place between the 21st and the 23rd of September, will basically be comparable to The Party 2016. It will mostly be inexperienced teams competing at this event. To top it all off I also got offered to cast the entire Season 2 of the BeNeLux League. I am also in the talks with IEG to possibly cast their next EU season, and with God Tier Gaming for another upcoming charity tournament. Of course, I also cast weekly BeNeLux cups as well as the monthly finals. So yeah, I got some events coming up! Hopefully, more will come up as I stroll through this season.
What do you do for a living?
I am a student, so I do not have much free time. Basically, shout casting is my biggest income during my study, and I hope it can stay that way as it is something I really enjoy doing. It’s basically my passion. But yeah, I study, so that's why I don't really have time to get like a more stable, full-time job.
Do you like casting or observing more?
Definitely casting! I enjoy describing what happens more than finding the action. Might be partially because I’m not the best observer. I seem to miss a lot of the action and because of that, I have huge respect for observers who seem to get most of the action relatively easy! But yeah, casting is what I feel I do best and thus enjoy it the most.
Would you describe yourself more as an analyst or hype caster? Do you prefer solo or duo casting?
When I just started out, I was asked to be an analyst and this is what I mostly did. However, my co-caster, Toldersma, and I believe that you shouldn't have a clear delineation for who does what. The hype caster should have some analytical knowledge, and the analyst should be able to hype it up at least to some extent as well. Hence I would see myself as a hybrid caster, I can do both, but am currently sticking to the analyst side more as Toldersma is a true Play-by-Play caster. I prefer duo casting for sure. I love to get a synergy going with my co-caster where we kind of makes an act together. It makes it even more fun to go back to the studio, as we became good friends.
Who (if anyone) do you look up to as a caster?
Basically every professional or semi-professional caster. It is really hard to keep the attention of your viewers at all times whilst being entertaining and building up the hype. So I try to learn little things from all the shoutcasting talent I possibly can. Everyone has their own style and a unique way of wording things. Now I try to pay attention to that and get some useful material or smart statements to potentially use myself whenever the opportunity presents itself. But my biggest “role model” at the moment is KiXSTAr. I admire his knowledge of the game, as well as his ability to sometimes spot those little things in a strategy that I would not have thought of. Whenever I watch him cast I just learn so much more about the game than I would from just simply playing it right now on my own. For a real hype caster, INTERRO is definitely the one to watch. I really like his style and the finesse in his casting. And yeah, together they make one hell of a duo with great dynamics between the two of them making it, in my opinion, the most entertaining streaming duo of the scene right now. Hence they are the ones I look up to the most.
What are your goals for your casting future?
I believe, every caster strives for perfection, so indirectly that is what I am doing off the screen. On the screen, I try to make the stream as well as the cast as enjoyable as possible. So my goal as a caster is being as entertaining as I can get.
Hap at the analyst desk at first ever BeNeLux League LAN
Do you want to do this full time one day or are you planning on leaving it as a hobby?
Right now I’d definitely want it to be a full-time thing! It would be a dream come true to make this hobby my job. I really like the people that I work with, and cannot wait to possibly meet more. I will, however, try and combine it with my study. Now, of course, I would have to look at my situation and those around me, as it is a very intense job. In my opinion, you can not really compare this to your average 9 to 5 day job. You will mostly continue casting on either different locations around the world or from your own home and most of the time in the evening and during the night. So I’d need to have a little reality check with those around me.
I heard there is an interesting story about your current gamertag. Want to tell us about it?
Haha, well my previous gamertag used to be StijntjeHap, but literally anyone who didn’t speak Dutch would butcher that. At some point in it got so bad I just started to call myself John in English communities, so I wouldn't have to deal with the constant butchering of my name. When I played Season 3 of the BeNeLux League, which was my last season as a competitive player, KiXSTAr called me, basically, just Hap. When I listened back to it, I thought that it had a nice ring to it, short and simple, and no way to pronounce it wrong. Hence I decided to shorten my name. It wasn’t an easy thing to do as I was called StintjeHap for the entirety of my career in shooters. But I imagined that if I ever had to deal with the international public, this would be the most non-Dutch friendly. Not everyone saw it as a good thing since people were used to my old name. But lately a lot of jokes started coming in, so I assume all is good!
You can catch Hap tonight casting the 2nd season of BeNeLux league tonight over at https://www.twitch.tv/rainbow6bnl