Solver: Apolytoners know you as Locutus, the CtP manager of Apolyton, and one of the most prominent persons in the CtP community. Can you tell us a bit on the real man behind this identity?

Locutus: Well, I'm not a particularly colourful person in real life, really. My real name is Wouter Snijders and I'm a 23-year old Computer Science student in the field of Software Engineering. I'm from the Netherlands: I study in Enschede (a large town in the east of the country, near the German border), at the University of Twente, but live in Hengelo (a neighbouring town). I am currently single and happy about it (for the moment anyway); I live with my parents (mainly because it's cheap ;)) but am looking for my own place now (not in a hurry though). To finance my studies, I work on an international computer helpdesk. For those of you living in Europe, if you've ever called your computer helpdesk and gotten someone on the phone with a slight Dutch accent, you may have talked to me... 

My primary hobbies next to Apolyton include travelling, watching sports (mainly snooker, cycling and football (both regular and American)), reading/discussing history and watching movies and some TV shows like Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. And recently I've been getting into photography. I'm not really a party animal but whenever I have time and money and feel like it, I enjoy going out with some friends for a drink, dinner and a movie, a game of pool or snooker or even just hanging at someone's place playing board games and talking all night. In short, I'm a nerd-in-denial :)

Solver: Just how did this nerd-in-denial happen to stumble across Civ and even sign up for a fansite?

Locutus:I was introduced to Civilization in my first year on secondary school, when I was like 12 years old (1993 or thereabouts). A new school meant all new classmates so I was busy building up a new circle of friends. One of my classmates was coincidentally also named Wouter, which immediately created a bond. We soon found out we were both interested in computer games and his brother has just bought this brand name computer game called 'Civilization'. Every day at school he told me enthusiastic tales about all the discoveries and the conquests he had made. Eventually he invited me to his home to play it with me and from that day onwards we spent countless hours playing the game. I don't think either of us initially had a clue of what the game was about and we were absolutely baffled when we discovered that you could play all the way into the modern age and even build tanks and space ships! At the time I didn't have a computer suitable to play Civ on myself so I could only play it at his place.

When after a while my namesake moved to a different part of the country and I was very disappointed (and not just because I couldn't play Civ anymore). I then went on to whine and whine until my parents bought a new PC and put a copy of Civ1 under the Christmas tree :) In the months that followed I spent every hour I could spare playing Civ. It wasn't until then that I truly began to understand (and love) the game. Before that, I only played a few hours a week, basically just messing around, and always together with someone else. Once I had a copy of my own, I could start to systematically experiment and take the time to understand what was going on. Particularly the manual was an eye-opener :)

Fast forward 6 years to 1999. Over the years I had grown somewhat tired of Civ1, and I had bought Civ2 as well but didn't enjoy it nearly as much (it had overall better gameplay but missed some of Civ1's best features and had horrible, horrible graphics; plus I had no clue about scenarios or MP until I found Apolyton). I still spent a fair amount of time playing both games, but had also moved on to other games and hobbies by that time.

Then, in 1999, I was finally able to get my PC connected to the Internet (I was an 18-year-old secondary school student who was too lazy to get a job, so my budget very tight). Up to that point I had occasionally been online using library or school computers, and before that by socialising with Internet pioneers (the first time I used the Internet was around 1990-1991, although I barely realized the significance of that fact at the time). Once I finally had my own modem up and running I started randomly surfing a bit, but soon found out that the Internet isn't much fun unless you know exactly what to do or where to go (neither of which I did). Considering how long I had been waiting for my own connection, I was quite disappointed.

That is, until I saw a feature about this upcoming new computer game on a Dutch TV program: 'Civilization: Call to Power'. I figured: "That sounds cool, I want to know more about that" -- the feature, like most TV programs, was rather shallow. I realized I had found a good use for the Internet. I started searching for 'Call to Power' in search engines and soon ended up on Activision's official website. The info there didn't really satisfy me -- until I saw the links to fansites. I first tried Apolyton, which sounded very strange but also sort of cool: dead link (by now I realize the server must have been down :)) Disappointed, I tried SidGames instead. I was very excited about the info I found there and browsed around on that site until my parents dragged me away from my PC (an omen of what was to come :)).

A few days later (when my parents weren't at home :)), I went back to the Activision website to see if I could find more info on this game. I wasn't sure if I had gone to Apolyton or SidGames earlier, so I tried Apolyton first. This time the link was not dead and I immediately realized this was not the same site as SidGames: it was much better!

At that time I was still a total newbie though, so it took me a while to realize what a huge site Apolyton already was back then. Initially I only checked in every few weeks to read the news, (p)reviews, strategy book and things like that. It was only in the summer of '99 -- after I had bought and become addicted to C:CtP -- that I discovered the forums and the fascinating developments that had been taking place there in the months in which I had been 'stuck' on the main site. So I used the next two or three months to read up on everything (in the CtP forums) and after that kept up with current forum events. I started to download and play mods and, not much later, to mess around with the text files myself. In late '99 I finally decided to register and started posting. And the rest, they say, is history.