The OG:Crystal Success Stories would like to establish a closer relationship with our supporters, members. We are excited to share the latest interview with one of our community members, CryptoPlantDr.
1. Who are you and what do we need to know about you?
I am a recent PhD graduate in Plant sciences (hence the name) but have pivoted to a more computational role in genomics, where I am currently employed in the biotech sector. I’ve had always been surrounded by technology and gaming, but never started to do any programming until my PhD, which is also when I first started to look at Ethereum (2017).
I was very intrigued with the applications of the blockchain and wanted to expand my knowledge of computers and crypto, so I decided to build some mining rigs. Once I had two rigs running I was hooked and have never looked back.
2. When and how did you discover NFTs?
I got into NFTs around the same time I started mining and used the ETH that I mined as my seed funds for my NFTs ventures. What initially drew me to NFTs was one of the first articles about CryptoKitties. The mechanism of the CryptoKitties breeding system was what really intrigued me and I started to see the future potential of what NFTs could really be. Since I was studying genomics at the time and starting to learn some programming and dive into the crypto space, it just felt like the right thing to do.
In the early stages of CryptoKitties (CK) everyone was super speculative, and no one knew how the breeding system was working. I remember spending many hours on Discord speculating with everyone, trying to bring in my genetics knowledge to understand the system. We eventually determined that it was a system of dominant and recessive traits and from that point started a whole new era for CK breeding.
At first, it was spreadsheets of binary data to understand what traits our cats had and which partner cat would give us the best probability of producing a rare offspring. This task eventually became easier with the implementation of community-written third-party software (CKBox extension, from @papaNFT). This was truly a magical time as the NFT space was so new and everyone was having so much fun collaborating, trying to build on top of CK with external tools, branch out into new NFT ideas, and just breed some amazing-looking cats. I then spent the next two years grinding away, breeding, trading, buying, and selling CryptoKitties. During this time, I met and made many new friends who were also encapsulated by the NFT space, such as @Pranksy, @NateAlexNFT, @NiftyReport, @Carlini8N, @Jihoz_Axie, @Altcoinceo, and @j1mmyeth to name a few.
While CK started to boom others started to play around with NFTs and this largely started what many OGs may call the “hot potato” phase (e.g. CryptoCelebrities). During this time websites were coming out almost daily when people would buy NFTs in the hopes that someone else would re-buy back their NFT at a pre-determined high price and receive royalties on all additional sales after their sale. While I admit that I dabbled in these, I eventually got left holding many bags and decided to focus on CryptoKitties and similar projects that had a less-toxic community. I wanted to be in projects that encouraged others to succeed, learn, and grow together and not just try to get someone else to buy your bags.
3. What was the first NFT you’ve ever bought?
CryptoKitty #68560 (https://www.cryptokitties.co/kitty/68560) was the first NFT that I ever bought. While this was likely one of the worst cats to buy, it was the first step I needed to take to enter the NFT space. I eventually got my footing and ground my way to a collection of over 7,000 CryptoKitties and became a CryptoKitty Grandmaster by breeding the first fancy for three different fancies. I still love my CryptoKitties but I also did learn a valuable lesson that it wasn’t good to have all my eggs in one basket. To diversify a little bit, I ended up trading 3 CryptoKitties (priced around 0.3 ETH at the time) for 3 CryptoPunks. I only regret I didn’t trade more.
4. How did you hear about OG:CR?
I heard about OG:CR through a re-tweet from an old CK friend. I immediately became fascinated with the idea after a brief read of the website. What really drew me in was the fact that this stood out as a completely novel and innovative project that was totally different than the current PFP or NFT art market. After spending a couple of days in the discord chat, I got nostalgic for my early CK days due to the growth mechanics and supportive community. I became instantly hooked and knew that this was a project that I wanted to be a part of.
5. How do you grow your Crystals?
I was lucky enough to have joined the OG:Crystals discord early on and was given the rank of OG:Quartz, which granted me 3 whitelist spots. I also minted 10 during the public sale, so I had a decent supply of crystals to try out some different strategies.
Initially, I performed a few trades between two wallets that I owned which provided some good results. However, from a strategic perspective, I knew I was limiting the potential of my crystal’s growth, both in terms of wallet variability and lack of all NFTs within the collaborative network. I then started to look around in discord and find some other members to conduct trades between. These collaborations ended up producing some magnificent crystals with @LEOS10301 and @talnted.eth. These trades were conducted by simply selling crystals to each other and buying them back.
Due to owning some collaborative NFTs (CryptoPunks, Ksoids, and Meebits) I also helped fuel the growth of some other members by providing a service to pass their crystals through my wallet for attempts to get collaborative traits. Since some of these collaborative NFTs are currently expensive to obtain, I wanted to provide a way to help others obtain rarer crystals. While the collab traits are still only chances, I was able to help others hit a collaborative crystal while also receiving some heart-warming words from my first client @ahmadkadhim
“Thank you so much for doing this! I just want to let you know that I really appreciate it (whether we get traits or not). As much as I love this world and I have so much fun, it hurts sometimes to have dynamics that favor the insiders and not have any way to access that, so you making this service and giving access to people like me is so refreshing and appreciated”
Who was also lucky enough to hit a Meebit trait, several minutes after sending me this thank you.
6. What is your OG:Crystal’s growth strategy?
The main growth strategy that I use with my primary trading partner, who is an old friend from CryptoKitties, is to try and stack as many collaborative traits as possible on a crystal. A goal of mine would be to achieve a 7/7 collaborative crystal (1 with each of the 7 different collaborative traits), however, this is extremely difficult. I have gotten close with a Gen4 4/7 crystal, but my further attempts were not successful in getting the final 3 collaborative traits (#2940).
For us, this strategy brought us right back to our CK days as we also worked on breeding cats with as many rare traits as possible. We personally love the look of the collaborative traits and honestly, we find it very intriguing that OG:Crystals can grow a crystal that connects you to other NFT projects. For example, I personally do not own a Bored Ape (BAYC), however, I was able to get lucky and grew #9497 with a BAYC owner who I met through the OG:Crystals discord, which I like to call “BAYC is gold” in respect for the tremendous community and project that they have.
One thing I do struggle with, in my growth strategy, is the ability to stop the growth of a crystal when something truly unique is achieved. In fact, I still struggle with whether I should grow #9497 one more time, as it’s only a Gen 6, to try and hit another Gold Fractal and git it that extra rarity boost. However, there is always the chance that I get something non-gold-related, which could ruin the artwork.
That urge is always there to try and get the rarest crystal, however, I am starting to learn a lot about art and am beginning to understand that the piece of art is done when you say it is.This knowledge has led me to stop the growth of #5979 which paints a very aesthetically pleasing piece with a white bright background and very colorful Meebit structure in the foreground. I still haven’t found a name of this crystal yet, but have been toying with some names such as “Color” or “Meebow”
At the end of the day, everyone will have their own growth strategies such as stacking single traits, growing until the crystal meets their idea of beauty, or trying to hit the rarest one.
This is one of the aspects that I like most about OG:Crystals as it allows the owners to be in control of their own crystals’ destiny. To me, this mechanism completely beats other NFTs where your success at getting a rare NFT is determined solely on if you were lucky during the mint.
7. Why do you like the OG:CR project?
Besides the point above, I can go on and on about why I love OG:CR, although to save you all from a long rant I have listed my top three reasons below.
1. Brings me back to the days when I fell in love with NFTs by being in an amazing community that collaborates to help each other grow the best crystals that they can grow and share their wisdom and experience about the NFT landscape.
2. OG:CR is truly an innovative and novel generative art NFT project. The fact that the crystals growth is seeded by several aspects of a wallet’s history, gives me tremendous excitement that the structures of my crystals are being influenced and reflect my past NFT adventures.
3. The dev team is also amazing and is working tirelessly to add new features to OG:CR, such as 3D and AR models for all crystals, the ability to rotate our crystals so that we can choose the best image for a 2D representation, and finally their final goal to merge all crystals together into a reef that will be displayed at museums around the world! Being a scientist, I personally cannot wait to have the ability to bring my kids to a museum and tell them that I was part of a collaborative effort to make an amazing artwork known as the Crystal Reef.
Thank you CryptoPlantDr, for taking the time to share your amazing story and your dedication and enthusiasm for the OG:Crystal project! We are proud to have you as a member of our community. If you would like to check out CryptoPlantDr’s OG:Crystal collection, click here.
If you want us to be featured on Snark.art as a successful OG:Crystal collector send us a message on Twitter or fill out the form here and we will be in touch!
