Interview with Sapr0

This is the final instalment of Rankk's interviews for 2007.

We thank Sapr0, who's rankked #2 at the point of writing, for taking part in this interview.

Sapr0 shared his thoughts and views freely. He even let on a little about what his girlfriend thinks about his online life.

Read on...

You've been playing this sort of games for quite a while...tell us about your experience.

Well I started with some random googling and found CyberArmy. I got all intrigued by the supposedly "hacking" things one would learn.

I thought I was "kool" when I solved the first JavaScript level. But I got stopped by eliza (a chat bot) and went on googling for other sites.

The second site I found was HackQuest where I managed to solve a couple more of JS challenges and Logic ones.

The third site was the Pyramid. It was all good and nice up till level 3, when I got stuck and went back to HQ. After a month of learning to solve challenges, I returned to the Pyramid and progressed to Geb rapidly with a bit of hints here and there along the way.

Eventually I started to solve tons of sites, including TBS, Slyfx, Arcanum and Xavier.

What is your programming language of choice and why do you choose it over others?

My first learned language was Pascal, then in high school I learned C++ while using a old compiler Borland C++ V3.1.

In my first year at the university, I started to learn PHP and MySQL to create my own site, and I got hooked on PHP. Simple syntax, tons of functions available and a 13-mb installer to use it on any comp.

When it comes to brute forcing or cracking hashes, I usually use specialized tools or resort to my C++ old compiler and write a quick program.

Your girl friend...does she ever complain about your online life?

Sometimes...yes, but we already had a conversation about it when we first met.

I made her understand that the computer and the internet things I do (solving challenges, playing games) are like small habits of mine, though I think her impression was more like "vices" :)

When I'm really really close to solving a challenge, she usually let me finish it, and then we go cuddle. But if I'm far away...I usually drop it and prefer to stay with my "woman"...ya know ;)

Are you vying for the top spot at Rankk?

Yes, why not. Who would not want to be #1 :) Though beating quangntenemy is very hard, he got skills :)

If you were to rate Rankk on scale of 1-10, what would you give it?

Hmm, hard to say. Maybe a 8 or 9. Why not 10? You may ask. Well, I guess it's just missing the community of players. The IRC and the forum are mostly rather quiet. On IRC rarely a noob pops in and asks for a hint. It's usually just me, deo and quangntenemy who sometimes exchange a few words.

On the forum it's just Sphinx posting about a new challenge and a few replies with bugs or suggestions. I suppose the site is new and not well known, so I guess the rate will go up once the community gets more active.

What is your favorite food?

My parents taught me to eat everything :) And now since I'm also a student I truly eat anything that is on a plate. As for favorite food, any home cooked meal is a blessing. Otherwise, I just order a pizza along with some beer ;)

"Death comes to all!" That's your signature line. Care to tell us about it?

I don't really remember where I got that signature, probably from some movie or something. I just loved how it sounded...plus its states a truth, no one escapes death :)

What things would you change or improve if you were to take over Rankk?

Nothing really, the challenges are really nice. For a noob, you can learn a great deal by solving the lower level challenges.

That's the main goal for the site, I think, teaching you stuff. There's really no point in having insane challenges like some other sites that I play.

What is your favorite sport?

I used to do a lots of sports even though people might think I'm a computer geek (which i am :P).

In High School I did a lot of soccer, basketball and volleyball. At University I played volleyball mostly and even took part in some local competitions with my team.

Also, I stayed near the sea so during the summer there was a lot of swimming, beach volley, roller blading, etc.

Sadly, I have moved to the capital and working eight hours a day now, which leaves me with very little time for any sports. Though I bought this fancy American football thingy, so I'm just waiting for the spring to do some tackling with my friends ;)