I'm ashamed to be called a Geek

[Blind Sight]

Perhaps you should stop trying to place yourself in a little social group and instead accept the fact that you're an individual different from everyone else? It really pisses me off that people try and just lump everyone into little categories.

Define yourself on your own terms, not what everyone else is or thinks they are.

 

[Andrew Bohan]

Isn't it a little bit down to your definition though? I mean I'm with you in as much as it's not black and white. I'm just talking about an annoyance at the ideal of people wearing the stuff etc who have no interest in them or idea about them. Honestly I just think it's retarded to do these things because people want you to. i'm more commenting on conformism than stealing a hobby. I have no problem with people gaming. Perhaps I didn't express that in agreeing with the OP but that was what I meant personally. I don't really care who games. More diversity the better. I just feel iritated when I see people stand behind banners they have no idea of the origins/representations of.

It is a little annoying when it's political or such, but in entertainment I honestly don't care. The important thing to remember about gamers is that it's only the real freakers you can identify by eye, there's no reason those hipsters can't have been playing games since before you were born and just have been delighted to finally see some cool shirts on sale.

No, no they probably aren't as in to gaming as us but we probably won't ever really know. I just don't think we should work on the assumption that they aren't really gamers because they're not stereotypical nerds. It's not enough to insist that they play something other than FPS, an FPS is as much a game as any other and we each have our pet genres (RTS man here) but I think a lot of the resentment is that they haven't had to suffer ridicule. It seems a lot of people view ridicule and ostracism as a kind of entry ritual into being a gamer, but that ostracism had nothing to do with gaming. I didn't discover gaming as a method of escape, I found it as a form of fun and dived in headlong with my mates!

Gamers seem to want others near them but also seek to rive them away.

Plus as a closing thought, bear in mind that you hardly need to be in the scene to recognise Space Invaders, Mario or a Pacman ghost. I'm willing to bet they've played those before.

Tl;dr: I don't think we should be telling them that they're not gamers based on how they look, it seems hypocritical to exclude people and complain that no one understands us.

Fair point. I do agree that we shouldn't necessarily start splitting us purely because we're at different levels of obsession for want of a better word, but it's honestly just the sheer pointlessness of doing it for peer pressure that bugs me, that's the only thing I feel. I dread that as much as people who've never played a game writing off an entire media on a stereotype. I'm not one for elitism, I just don't see the point in doing something recreational because someone else thinks you should.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I have no idea what you're talking about, but good luck with needing to label yourself...

I assume you have a name, no? Oh, and look at that, you have an escapist profile! with a picture and everything!

OT: fuck the hipsters(no matter how bad I want to be one), we geeks rule the ironic and unordinary!

I have no idea what you're talking about either, so I'll just assume I should be offended.

You cad! I'd beat you within an inch of your life, if I had a tape measure.

They were pointing out that you have a name and a profile, therefore you have been labelled.

A completely unrelated statement masquerading as wit. Since the point you were making is not that you hate labels of any kind. Rather you don't see the need to create superficial identities that the world can categorise you with.

I'd tell them this... but it's not really my argument.

Just keeping you up to speed.

That was my initial reading, but I wished it not to be so. My mother taught me never to judge a book by it's cover, evidently that was too absolute a lesson for this world or this forum(she was a drinker). It lead me to assume that their was depth that wasn't truly there, thus I became the slayer of truth, twas I who tied the noose around it's neck!

Hand me Occam's razor so that I might slit my throat with it...

/scene/

You, my dear Panda of sexually exploitative needs, deserve an Oscar.

LOL

An Oscar? But I haven't even auditioned yet! I may have deceived you with needless melodrama, you probably didn't even notice that I have 3 left feet(all wearing right footed shoes), half a moustache and an alarming array of stolen and unwashed cutlery under my coat.

Simply put, I'm not cut out for show-business, I never have been. My mother always said I'd change the world, maybe I'll have to settle for changing tyres...

But who's to say what's unrealistic, unfathomable or impossible to attain for a 3 legged boy with the fire in his heart and a song in his belly? I'll do it! I'll dare to dream, to reach for the stars. I'll do it for tripods everywhere, for myself, and for my dear old dad who hasn't moved from his chair...or at all, for a number of years.

He's only sleeping...

 

[feycreature]

I'm me. You're you. Someone wearing a retro gaming t-shirt because they think it makes them cool isn't going to change that. It's a lot healthier and more fun to define yourself by who you are than by who you're not.

 

[Boletes Net]

It used to be that the few of us who were known as nerds or geeks were fashionably unconscious, smart, and social outcasts. And we didn't care.

But now it seems the term "geek" has been hijacked by hipsters wanting to break away from the old archetypes. Everywhere now I see "ironic" retro gaming t-shirts, jewelry made from video game cartridges,store bought steampunk gear and worse, being worn by the kind of people I spent my childhood years playing videogames to get AWAY from. You know, the fucking Beautiful People.

So I propose a new word for the socially malnourished outcasts I associate with. Let's have some suggestions!








(/angry old man rant)

Who gives a fuck man? seriously grow up, people do shit, other people do other shit and people copy each other. You just accept it. Who fucking cares about your title....and you know what? If you played games in fear of the "beutiful people" you missed out because before you were done being a kid those people grew up, you weren't a geek because you played games at that point, you were a geek because you self titled yourself an outcast.

 

[whycantibelinus]

Why do you like geeks being social outcasts, again?

I have a feeling that it's not so much that he likes that but that he doesn't like the "posers" and he feels like they don't really have a right to turn it into a passing fad. It's kind of like when someone is a fan of a local band, supporting them with every fiber of their being, wanting them to make it big because they deserve it. Then when it happens and the band explodes and becomes super popular and people that you hate, who themselves previously hated the band, start worshipping the band just because they are popular now. The fan becomes nostalgic of when the band was little and all the people who were into the band had generally the same interests and were a tight nit community. The fan feels a certain kind of ownership of the band and doesn't like to see people use it just to be cool.

I think that's probably somewhat close to the OP's thought process.

OT: Yeah I hate that retro shit and I get irked when I see a 12 year old with a shirt on that has a NES controller and says "ROOTS". I also get irritated when I see people that are my age (27) that I went to school with and were part of the cool crowd and made fun of nerds who are now "geeked out" just for fashions sake. Although I just don't think about it too much because I don't really give a shit what they do with themselves, I enjoy what I enjoy and I don't really care, or let people influence me, on how I should react to things.

 

[CoL0sS]

Jesus Christ, haven't we outgrown these things?? What are you, 12?? Yes it may be hypocritical of them, but why the hell should you care?? So what if you spent most of your life avoiding those ppl, shouldn't you just be a better person and accept them? Cause if you don't than you're not any better than them, right? Damn that's a lot of questions...
Anyway day I see something like that happen here, will be the day I sprout wings and fly to Middle-earth Just consider yourself lucky that ppl are actually accepting games.

 

[Jacob Haggarty]

I fail to understand your problem, you seem to think that being accepted is a BAD thing? Your saying you would rather have people look down on you, just so you could care less? Thats fairly messed up, i gotta say.

 

[Sn1P3r M98]

Why do you like geeks being social outcasts, again?

So we don't catch the virus.

You know, the one that's gonna start the zombie apocalypse?

 

[Edorf]

But fashionably unconscious?

Dunno, your vest and pants are not the same colour! looks kind of weird to me (no offence) Nontheless! Very neat style, my friend!

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Really?

Really?

It really bothers you that people who you don't identify as geeks wear gaming shirts and act like they enjoy retro gaming?

Ever thought that they may do?

Now this seems to me that you're more resentful of the fact that people can do everything you can do AND be popular. They're just as likely to be in to retro gaming as you, in fact if they're a bit older they're MORE likely to be in to it. Geeks are only unique from other people in one regard; they suck at socialising. Geeks aren't necessarily any smarter or more likely to have gaming as a hobby, they're simply worse at balancing that with social skills.

Once you leave the schoolyard it becomes readily apparent that everyone is more similar than you'd have thought. I work with people with very diverse musical tastes, hobbies and backgrounds. There is nothing intrinsically worse about people who take an interest in something casually, they're following a fashion (like we all do) and they've found something new and are understandably interested.

You just sound annoyed that people haven't had to pay the perceived 'price' you had to to be in to gaming. But that wasn't a 'price' that needed paying, it was an inability to do something they could, not an ability to see something they were blind to.

Your post and especially the parts I emboldened says everything I wanted to and more; and more eloquently at that.

 

[CoL0sS]

Just consider yourself lucky that ppl are actually accepting games.

I won't when the genres I would like to play get potentially damaged because of the emphasis on quasi-realism in the likes of the Call of Duty series, which I wouldn't mind if it didn't mean a backlash against realism by more entrenched gamers, which has the potential to damage the markets of simulator games because gamers won't give them a chance because of their hyper-realism.

Well no arguing with you there, but it's kinda hard to talk about realism in games when AI is idiotic, choices always come down to baby eating devil or saint, path is strictly linear, etc.
Games are supposed to be fun, and realism is just...well, too real. I don't suppose you were talking about realistic shooters (you did mention Call of Duty series) cause no one would want to play that kind of a game. Not to mention Army would likely ban it immediately, cause they wouldn't want kids training for real life combat situations, right? However all this realism talk is a bit off-topic so....

 

[Cozzzy]

I think you're all overlooking why this is bad.

Imagine some giggly moron hipster going on about how much of a "geek" they are and "how cool it is to be weird".

Now imagine that person everywhere.

 

[bak00777]

i have embraced my nerdieness. I also determined the differences between Dork/Nerd/Geek
I choose to call myself a nerd rather than a geek, because the classic image of a geek is basically gone now.

 

[CoL0sS]

ARMA 2. I would want to play that game. I do play that game [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.218127-ARMA-2-Operation-Arrowhead-A-Comprehensive-Review], which at its core, shares the same game engine as actual military training simulators. In fact, some of the modding community for Bohemia Interactive's civilian games have programmed or designed content for the VBS line of military simulators.

Sorry I should have said... I wouldn't want to play that kind of a game, just not my cup of tea I guess. In my defense I honestly don't know anyone who plays(or played) ARMA. But I'm glad you're enjoying it. Will read your review, maybe I change my mind

 

[theSovietConnection]

It used to be that the few of us who were known as nerds or geeks were fashionably unconscious, smart, and social outcasts. And we didn't care.

But now it seems the term "geek" has been hijacked by hipsters wanting to break away from the old archetypes. Everywhere now I see "ironic" retro gaming t-shirts, jewelry made from video game cartridges,store bought steampunk gear and worse, being worn by the kind of people I spent my childhood years playing videogames to get AWAY from. You know, the fucking Beautiful People.

So I propose a new word for the socially malnourished outcasts I associate with. Let's have some suggestions!

(/angry old man rant)

So let me get this straight, you're perfectly content with letting people you can't stand be the controlling force in your life? You'd rather lose who you are then stand against people who are so completely self-conscious they have to follow trends so that they "fit in"? If they so desperately feel the need to fit in and be accepted, I don't even care what they think. I pity them, almost, because they are so uncomfortable with who they are.

 

[thenoblitt]

meh i dont care if they want to do their own thing its fine as long as it doesnt drag me along with it.

 

[Lord Thodin]

I smell an awful lotta hipsters in this thread. I, for one, agree with OP. I hate hipsters who dress in our garb ironically.

I offer up that clothing can't be worn "ironically." When you wear clothes you either wear them because you like them, because you want to be in them and they mean something to you, or you wear that as part of a statement, because you think you're "saying" something by wearing them- in which case they are a costume to you.

Fair enough. But when I see people wearing things with Kingdom hearts logo's on them, or with Mario mushrooms that say 1up, something of the usual scenario happens. I look at their shirts, and chuckle. I understand it. Its like getting an inside joke. However, on the off occasion someone notices me, they say something. I usually reply with "I just like that game." or something similar. They normally chuckle as well and wonder off. However, there have been occasions where something went wrong, and its those occasions that I hate hipsters in our clothing. One such was I saw someone with a shirt that had Link from Zelda, holding up the Tri-force. I did the whole chuckle thing and when they realized what was happening and asked whats up, I replied with "I just love Zelda is all." They replied with "Yea, I dont get why he's holding up the triangle though. I thought he used the Master sword." "Who, Link?" I replied. "No....Zelda." Its shit like that. Now, I offer up, whats another word I can use to express "I hate hipsters that wear clothing thats has references they dont get, but wear anyway cause its popular"?

 

[KazTheKing]

I don't care how people are dressing. I think it is awesome that so many people are getting into gaming, A passion I have had since the age of 2. What I don't like is that all these people who are newish to gaming are all buying games like CoD. There are minimal amount of new types of games and every new game that comes out has a number attached to the end. Before gaming got so popular you really only had a small group of gaming frachises that lasted past 1 or 2 games, but they were ACTUALLY GOOD. Now we are stuck with CoD games coming out every couple months with $15 map packs every month. You then have people that see the success of games such as CoD and instead of making a new better experience they rip it off. /rant

I don't mind if gaming is cool as long as it doesn't effect the games.

 

[Netrigan]

It used to be that the few of us who were known as nerds or geeks were fashionably unconscious, smart, and social outcasts. And we didn't care.

But now it seems the term "geek" has been hijacked by hipsters wanting to break away from the old archetypes. Everywhere now I see "ironic" retro gaming t-shirts, jewelry made from video game cartridges,store bought steampunk gear and worse, being worn by the kind of people I spent my childhood years playing videogames to get AWAY from. You know, the fucking Beautiful People.

So I propose a new word for the socially malnourished outcasts I associate with. Let's have some suggestions!








(/angry old man rant)

Damn nerds stole the word geek away from us carnival workers. I didn't spend all that time biting the heads off of chickens to get lumped in with social outcasts

(/really angry old man rant)