Slapnuts Slapnuts Smith Event Demon - Photo Artist Continuing the Wednesday’s Who’s Who series we find ourselves face to face with someone colorful, humorous, and equipped with enough energy to go the distance no matter what the challenge. Slapnuts Slapnuts Smith is an Entropian avatar name that is certain to turn heads. After the laughter subsides, most are curious as to why a name like this was chosen. Slapnuts explains that it’s quite simple, and came about many years ago as a result of playing another online game. He claims that a character walked past him with the name Slap Nuts, and he literally had to pick himself up off the floor. His intent was to give the same entertainment to Entropia Universe when he arrived at Port Atlantis, and so far, it seems to have worked. The Smith part of the name was "nothing more than filler," Slappy says, and is considered one of the most common names in England, so guesses it "gives the name an English edge." In the Beginning Entering Entropia Universe is "a day myself and my bank manager remember very well," says Slapnuts. It was in October 2005 when he spawned in Port Atlantis, and is quick to make known that "in those days there wasn’t the luxury of the Guides to help." He found himself "running uncontrollably around the space port and spontaneously jumping, sitting down, or dancing every so often" in an effort to get used to the key settings. After an hour or so, he seemed to be in full control of Slapnuts, although he says that some would argue that this has never quite been achieved. Slapnuts blames a real life friend for his current addiction to everything Entropian. While minding his own business at work, a newspaper article was dropped onto his desk accompanied by the words … "this looks right up your street." The article was about Neverdie and the Club NEVERDIE phenomenon. Apparently, the article was inspiring enough that he dashed home after work and immediately downloaded Entropia Universe. He claims that "the real cash economy at its basic level was of course an attraction," but what really captured his attention, was the attraction of innovative and interesting people expoliting the opportunities that this type of an environment opened up. Further indicating that, "this enriches the gameplay far far beyond the code stored on MindArk’s servers," and it was also the community he wanted to be a part of. Society Experiences Joining a good society was important to Slapnuts, so he shopped around for a while. He claims a player by the name of Whizz Bang, that he has since lost touch with, took him under his wing and showed him the ropes. It was with his guidance that he experienced his first global, a 120 ped crude. After a while, he joined his first society, which was Silent Assassins (SaS), and considered them a good and fun soc. However, after the structure of the society changed, it was time to move on, but says he keeps in touch with some of the members to this day. At this point, he was spending a lot of time on CND and mining the domes as hard as he could, when all of a sudden he says he experienced "lots of swirlies and fanfare." When the dust settled, he realized that he had hit a 16,750 ped Narcanisum HoF in dome 18. He was seeking advice regarding how to best dispense with such a large find, as well as what to buy with the proceeds. He was fortunate enough to have met Leeloo Leeloo Mountain, whose own good fortune mining lended itself to experience willing to be shared. It was through this association that Slapnuts was invited to join his second society, Belgium Dutch Society (BDS), which was one of the top 50 largest societies with great members under Leeloo’s leadership. In the beginning of 2007, real life events took their toll on the BDS, and it was "with a heavy heart" that Slapnuts made the decision to leave the society, but remains good friends with many of its members. He had pretty much (temporarily) packed up his mining gear and was spending quite a bit of time hunting. It was during this time that he was invited on a hunt by someone Leeloo had introduced him to (Rebekah Beki Viera), and as one good thing ended, an even better one began. Beki invited Slapnuts to meet the rest of the society she ran, and within a couple of weeks, he had found a new home with Nomads of the Apocalypse (=NotA=). He states that the society is a smaller one and more skills-focused, but claims it’s a perfect fit considering where he’s at, and proudly shares that they are in position 35 in the top 50 highest skilled. "The specialism is hunting for sure," he says, but is also quick to say that "humor, alcohol consumption, and general high jinx are all skills that the soc members have unlocked and have become very proficient in!" Professions Slapnuts has dabbled in most of the professions with varying degrees of success, but his first year was spent mining. Now he spends the majority of his time hunting, and states that the =NotA= motto is, "if it moves, kill it, if it doesn’t move, kill it anyway just in case it does." He says he enjoys the soc hunts, but it’s often difficult to see the mobs through the tears of laughter these hunts produce. He keeps his mining gear polished, and indulges his urges for a regular mining run, but continues to spend most of his time hunting. However, he may at times combine the two. A brief period of time was spent crafting, but claims he "really couldn’t get on with it," so he tries to avoid the crafting machines these days, although says that from time to time a (L) BP might catch his fancy and can’t resist a few clicks. When asked if he had any advice about the professions, he said that there are endless theories on how to "squeeze the most ped out of them," and while he enjoys a profit as much as the next person, his primary piece of advice would be to have fun. He’s quick to say though, that it’s wise to be sensible and economic to maximize the ped card, and that a 50 click crafting run, or buying an amp and 50 bombs for a mining run in hopes of hitting the big one isn’t always the best choice. However, even with a loss at the end of the day, if he’s had a good laugh and a day’s worth of entertainment, he doesn’t regard it as much of a loss. He’s aware that not everyone can deposit, but it’s still important to enjoy every ped spent, and not allow it to intensely stress you out. Event Circuit There’s no denying that the name Slapnuts is showing up more and more on the event circuit. From Pink Saturday to Sunday’s Global Madness and Champions League, he has become somewhat of a growing force to be reckoned with. It’s not unusual to catch him in the fertilizer room at CND signing up for an event. How could he be missed decked out in purple, complete with sneakers seemingly ready to sprint to a dome in search of more of the many globals and HoFs he has enjoyed in recent weeks. It’s also not unusual to hear his name echoing through the domes and the control room after each either. It appears that Neverdie takes great pleasure letting the name Slapnuts roll off his British-accented tongue almost as a chorus to whatever 80’s track is streaming through the domes and the control room at the moment … and not once, but in triplicate after each HoF, with perfect crescendo that would rival any real life sporting event commentator. He has been dubbed by Neverdie as an "Event Demon," who also gives him credit for pulling off a "Hat-trick" in Champions League. Slapnuts claims the word comes from a player scoring 3 goals in a soccer game, and drawing a parallel with Entropia as being 3 globals. "The Hat-trick in the Champions League was especially satisfying," he states, because "they were consecutive global loots and in such a short space of time." Slapnuts admits that his current focus is indeed the CND events, and has made a commitment to himself to attend as many of them as possible. He enjoys the entertainment value, as well as the community feel, and now can’t imagine these events not being a part of his Entropian life. Pink Saturday is a fun event he says, because its unique quality is that "there are prizes for the event, but also at the afterparty which is held in the CND disco." Prizes are awarded for dancing, fashion, and lots more, and tops off the event day quite nicely when sharing more great streaming music and fun friends. Most recently, Slapnuts achieved one of his goals to actually win an event, which was accomplished in Global Madness-VI on Sunday, October 7th. The event is different from Pink Saturday and Champions League in that it takes the highest single loot to take home the prize. With 20 minutes left to the event, a 350 ped Caperon in dome 6 was enough to clinch the victory. What he finds unique about the Champions League is that it is played out over a season, and has the element of Total War (PvP) at the end of each event session. He says it gives it that added dimension, and encourages regular participation, which in turn "spurns healthy competition." Nowhere is the Slapnuts name more prevalent these days than with the newly-created "Glowbones and the Egg" skillquest event taking place at CND. Tied to an incredibly unique story written by fantasy author A. A. Attanasio, seven skillful quests must be achieved in order to receive letters that represent a word unlocking a spectacular prize. However, if you are not first to finish each of the seven quests, your letters will not be in their proper order to spell out the secret word that ultimately wins you the prize. Well guess what? After nine hours of intense labor with the red acid-spitting Fungoids, Slapnuts once again proves that perseverence pays off, and came in ahead of the others by completing SkillQuest 1 and achieving the required five globals to collect his first letter. Not only collect his first letter, but in its proper order, which is a great advantage over the others. He thanks Sodiak for sending him a private message with an alert that the event had indeed started, and without a wink, was off to it. If that wasn’t enough excitement, as soon as SkillQuest 2 was announced, Slapnuts was off and running. I guess polishing off the sneakers now and then helps. He was in search of solis beans, but it had to be in the amount of 100 ped or more in order to accomplish this next skillquest. His first hit was 23.80 ped, and he felt comfortable in knowing that he was just about a quarter of the way to achieving the mission, and jogged off in search of another find. However, he soon realized that he hadn’t screenied the find. Not deterred, he strapped a 105 amp to his 213(L) finder and headed back to where he knew the solis beans lay in wait. He was determined to make short order of this quest. He claims that it didn’t take more than 5 probes before he got the big 518 ped solis beans HoF. This time he indeed remembered to get a screen shot, and once again, he collects another letter in the proper order for being first to complete SkillQuest 2. SkillQuest 3 hasn’t been announced yet, but SkillQuest 1 and 2 are still open, and Slapnuts says he "encourages anyone and everyone to read the ‘Glowbones and the Egg’ thread, then head to CND and get questing." While the quests are challenging, Slapnuts shares that everyone feels the pain of getting through them, and that there’s a "great community spirit topped with some friendly competitiveness." There seems to be a momentum at play in the event circuit for Slapnuts, and if the last several weeks are any indication of what’s to come, I would venture to say that we are in store for witnessing a rush to the finish line. Will Slapnuts prevail, or will the competition hot on his heels dirty those polished sneakers. Adventure of an Artistic Kind With the advent of personal content into Entropia, many artists have exhibited their talents in gallery showings. While offerings were of sketches, paintings and abstracts, none represented photo art. Enter Slapnuts with a passion hovering between hobby and profession. He had left a job the beginning of 2007 to put more effort into his photography, and while he states that "it’s a difficult profession to crack," it’s moving in the right direction, albeit slower than he would like. His recent photo art exhibit at Ido’s Gallery was inclusive of pictures taken on his East African Kenya adventure. He felt it befitting in an animal kingdom sort of way since his virtual life was also spent hunting mobs. He said "every day held at least one WOW moment," which he took pains to capture. If you missed the opportunity to view the photo art at Ido’s gallery exhibit, it can still be viewed at the gallery in the lower level of Shop # 28 (CND Supplies, South Complex, Zone 2) at the CND Mall. The photos from the Kenya adventure make up the majority of the collection, but other offerings are just as interesting. A beautiful tiger photo not taken in Kenya, and a noble eagle photo both taken in sanctuaries help to balance the collection. Have a seat and imagine what the adrenaline level may have been while taking photos of these magnificant animals in the wild. Plans are in the making to create a planetside gallery at Treasure Island City, Platinum Building, Apartment 7C, which will be announced as soon as available. Despite the massive energy that seemingly exudes from every virtual pore, Slapnuts does have his more quieter moments. Perhaps to ponder his next move, or simply to enjoy his taste of recent victory. This photo was taken in southeast England at Camber Sands in East Sussex. Quite the opposite of an energized competitive event. On a Personal and Entropia Note At the age of 33, Slapnuts has spent the past 10 years living and working in London, which he claims to love. He’s not married, nor has any children, so as a single man, he says that all ladies interested should not only include a photo with their inquiries, but also a 100 ped administration fee. If there’s one thing he’s not at a lack for, it’s a sense of humor. While he spent most of his professional life working in finance, his primary real life focus is to pursue his photography, with hopes in the future to upload yet another collection into Entropia. While he enjoys competing in events, he hopes to one day host his own event, and ultimately to do so on his own land area. He just hopes the bank manager he mentioned earlier doesn’t read this. When asked the usual question about having any pets at home, he shared that he has a "somewhat psychotic Norwegian Forest Cat called Reg." I’m not familiar with such a species, but one can only hope that it bears no resemblance to the cat that we often find him sharing space with in his virtual world. Perhaps there is a source of energy derived from close proximity to the King of Beasts, but no matter the relationship, there’s no mistake that when the dust in the domes settle, Slapnuts is one competitive beast on the event circuit. ***
