Community Member Spotlight: thenumberthirteen

If you’ve been to an Escapism UK event, you’ve probably met thenumberthirteen once or twice. He’s shown a unique combination of artistic ability and leadership here at The Escapist and has just graduated and headed for a career in IT or Business. This guy’s probably going to be everyone’s boss in a decade, so I would suggest making friends with him ASAP!

Here are his answers to the interview questions:

What first brought you to The Escapist?

Same as most people it seems: Zero Punctuation. I saw a link to his review of Medal of Honour: Airborne back in ’07 and decided to check out the rest of the site. What drew me to come back each day were the news articles. I had recently stopped my subscription to the Official PlayStation Magazine and so I was without a good source of news, reviews, and analysis. The Escapist gave me all the gaming news I could ever want without a £5 a month price tag.

What is your favorite thing about The Escapist?

I really like the user groups. There are plenty of gaming forums and websites, but none with such a fantastic and wide array of user communities. The groups have done a lot to really make The Escapist a more personal site. I’ve made a lot of good friends thanks to user groups, and I run a couple of my own such as the Stargate Fan Club and the Avatar Store (both of which I inherited from other users).

If The Escapist suddenly disappeared, what is the first thing you would do?

I guess I’d get on Twitter or something and track down a bunch of users from Escapism UK. I’m hosting Escapism UK: Halloween in a couple of weeks and we need to decide whether to bring Twister or Pop-Up-Pirate.

A zombie is attacking you and you were caught off-guard. You are startled, start running and notice a bag of marshmallows. What do you do?

I keep running. When being chased by a zombie there are more important things to consider than why there are marshmallows lying about.

What is your favorite movie and why?

That’s a tough one, but I’d have to say it was Watchmen. The plot is great because it is almost a scene for scene adaptation of the comic, but it is well-shot, well-acted, and has some great set and costume design. The Ultimate Cut is over 3 1/2 hours long and is fantastic.

What is your favorite type of music, band, and how did you first discover it/them?

The thing is I don’t really like to listen to music. I mean I do from time to time, but I don’t have a favourite genre or band. If you see me walking down the street with my iPod, chances are I’m listening to a Podcast. I generally listen to The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe, The Gateworld Podcast, In Our Time, or one of the IGN Gaming podcasts. At the moment I’m listening to the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series on Audiobook. Great for long trips.

What do you do for a living? Do you find it interesting?

I’ve recently finished a bachelor’s degree in IT Management for Business and so, like all university graduates in the UK nowadays, I’m working at a minimum wage part-time job. I love it though as I work at a cinema and get to see movies for free and can take home all the out-of-date stock I want. It’s the first job I’ve had where the staff just phone for a pizza in the middle of a shift. Good times.

If you could change one thing about The Escapist, what would it be?

I’d have it so there is more than one page of group news in user groups. At the minute, the old news items get pushed back and eventually disappear. I spend a lot of time writing news items for the Stargate Fan Club and there are times I can’t refer to old news posts since they’ve gone. I would imagine this’d be hell for RP groups where it’s important to keep a history of what has happened for new players.

Do you like bacon?

I sure do. For years I was unable to cook bacon without burning it to a crisp, but now I’ve got the knack for it and cook it on a regular basis. There’s nothing better in the morning than a bacon and fried egg sandwich on lightly toasted bread with brown sauce.

If someone gave you a million US Dollars, tax free, and you were required to spend it instead of investing, what would you spend it on?

First on the list would be to pay off my overdraft. When you’re overdrawn by more than you make in six months then you’re in trouble. With the rest of the money I would build a house with a room just for strategy games. I’d have a big screen built into a table and a giant monitor on the wall to play DEFCON like a NORAD general.

If you would like to nominate someone for an upcoming Community Member Spotlight, feel free to let me (that is, Kuliani) know through a PM! When nominating, please tell us why this user deserves to be in the next Community Member Spotlight and provide links if possible.