Jimquisition: Fake Nerd Girls

[T_ConX]

The problem with 'Fake Nerd Girls' isn't the fact that they're girls. The problem is that they're fake. It's not like there aren't 'Fake Nerd Boys' out there. They happen to be smaller in number, and much more subtle, but they exist.

The problem is that at some point in the last few years, smart suddenly became cool. Once Facebook took our social lives and we started carrying supercomputers in our pockets, being seen as technologically literate was a good thing. While this is certainly a good thing, the sad fact is that once being a nerd became cool, you there was a sudden influx of people who wanting in, even if they didn't belong.

"Nerds are cool, and I want to be cool, so I have to do things that nerds do! What do nerds do? Uh... they watch Sci-Fi TV shows! I can do that! And they play video games! I'll do some of that too!"

OH! You played a video game? That sure took some effort. You watched an episode of Star Trek? That must have been HARD!

Here's how you tell if someone is a fake nerd:

Do they brag about doing something 'nerdy' that isn't really worth bragging about?

If they constantly feel the need to 'prove' that they're nerds, and the best proof they can offer up is 'I occasionally play video games' or 'I once watched a TV show that had a spaceship or time-machine in it', well, then they get an E for effort!

No really! If you go to Twitter (NOT RECOMMENDED) and look at the tweets under #suchanerd, you would be amazed at how many people think 'reading a book' or 'playing Call of Duty' earns them nerd cred.

Jim says it's wrong for us to demand that a girl provide us with her nerd credentials when we never ask the boys for the same thing. The sad truth is that we don't need to ask for their nerd credentials. Why would we have to, especially when they're always shoving them in our faces? Of course, we're suddenly labeled territorial assholes when we say how lacking we find their 'nerdy accomplishments' to be.

 

[Mechanix]

I guess it comes down to pandering and being fake. It's hardly a problem only video games face. And I highly doubt video games "suffer" the most from this. I'm a little bit more concerned about people trying to act tough and cool, when in actuality they are just desperately trying to get some attention.

Bottom line is, if a girl likes video games, that's pretty cool. I'd like to get to know her maybe. But if I find out a woman is just kind of pretending to be a "gamer girl" to get some easy attention from desperate guys, it doesn't exactly make me like her any more.

 

[hentropy]

Normal gender issues can't be ignored. Western culture is such since the day we go into kindergarten, friend groups, and as such interests, are divided along gender lines. When puberty hits, most guys see other guys as their "friends", but it's harder to see a girl as simply a "friend". I've had some guy friends that haven't been incredibly knowledgeable on interests we share, but I thought little of it, even if they were 'pretending' to be huge fans of a certain band but only owned one album and a tee-shirt, it wasn't a big deal to me. The same thing goes for people of the other sex.

The reason I think there is white-hot fury on the behalf of men over gamer "posers" who happened to be female is the same reason someone might get pissed off the first time they get scammed or see an advertisement about a free iPad and find out it's not really free, because they see women more as potential mates than potential friends. Every nerd, deep down, wants an attractive and outgoing girl who likes all the same things they like with the same knowledge they have. When it is then revealed that they do not have an encyclopedic knowledge of the Fallout universe like they do, it's not just a difference in perspective as to what makes a "nerd", it's an immoral deception, like lying on a resume. Except the resume isn't for a friend, it's for a girlfriend. They see a girl cosplaying and don't see someone who is just having fun, they see an attractive girl who might just be their dream girl, and when it turns out she isn't, they just don't get disappointed due to unrealistic expectations, they get pissed and go on semi-sexist rants on the Internet.

I never personally had this problem as I grew up surrounded by females, some of which shared some of my interests as I shared some of their interests, able to see them as human beings and form platonic friendships with them, but others have trouble seeing women as anything other than potential mates.

 

[wild0061]

Really i have no problem with 'fake nerd girls', same with anyone who's a poser like mentioned above in Jennacide's post, if its that obvious you can just ignore, i just have to wonder what it would be like for actual 'nerd' girls, who genuinely like 'nerdy' things and have taken crap for it (maybe even called out as 'fake' too), and see some actual poser come in, who years ago would have been one of the ppl giving the crap about being nerdy, suddenly claiming to be a 'nerd girl' or 'gamer gurl' or whatever, and trying to exploit the sudden popularity in it (and would jump right back to giving crap about it if it became unpopular).
I don't see why guys have to complain, if anything the ones who have the right to complain (if anyone actually does), are the actual females involved lol.

 

[Grabehn]

While I do get the "ERR MEGEERD that girl doesn't know shit about that game character she's cosplaying as" I hate when I'm aproached by girls that call themself girls just to "try" and get attention, and when you ask they say "like yeah... I'm so totally a gamer, I play facebook games, can I have yours?" At least here that's a thing, dunno why though, but I fucking hate when that happens, I just can't see how is it that important to get attention.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

Ditto. When anyone learns that I play a lot of computer games they get this look: I like to call it the 'what's wrong with her? Is she secretly a man? No, she's probably just lying' look and it drives me mental. Similarly, the fact that people feel you can tell a fake geek just by looking at her is absurd. It's the worst kind of judgemental bullshit, but people feel they can get away with it because the people they usually judge to be fake are people who are fairly popular/mildly attractive/well-dressed/confident and/or female, and so have automatically been dealt a better hand in life and should be ok to get some insults sent their way. It's ridiculous.

It is at the point that I will not `out` myself as a gamer unless I'm pretty sure I'm not going to catch any hassle.
I'll chat to dudes in game shops (I love doing that), but if I'm just out and talking to people and the subject turns to games, I'll usually stay quiet. (Especially after I made a comment about some daedric quests in Skyrim to a dude at my boyfriend's work who was into games and dude just kinda stared at me and froze). Not worth the hassle.
It's funny, considering many guys moan about how their aren't enough female gamers.

Also, cant figure out how to get this into an image but THIS: http://sailorswayze.tumblr.com/post/35678126959/am-i-right-ladies

Sorry for interrupting,

Spoiler: but is this what you wanted?

 

[Dastardly]

Fake Nerd Girls

The latest flavor in the restaurant of controversy is the concept of the fake nerd girl -- women who pretend to like videogames and similar media, all for the express purpose of tricking honest, hard-working Americans.

Watch Video

I see two other reasons this comes up (in addition to what you've cited):

1. You've got guys whose identity centers around their own geekyness. They've likely had some bad luck during high school years with pretty girls who didn't find it attractive, and so now they bear a grudge against pretty girls -- I wasn't able to break into your world, so your world is a stupid place for dumb jerks. Fast-forward a few years, and they see pretty girls "breaking into" their world, and now they have the chance to exclude and ridicule in the way that they (rightly or wrongly) believe they were. It has nothing to do with the girl in question, but rather a series of past girls that the present girl unjustly is force to represent.

2. You've got guys whose identity is based around serious geekyness. Nerd culture is a serious, real thing to be protected and cherished, and these are the people who want "games taken seriously." The fake gamer girls make them mad... but not because of the girls themselves. They're mad because these girls get attention. They're mad because it works. They feel some sense of personal injustice over the fact that so many gamer guys fall for the charade (whether it is or isn't a charade), and they stress over what they feel that says about nerd guys (and, by extension, themselves).

In either case, the unfortunate fact is that the girls in question aren't the source of the complaint. They're simply the object upon which unrelated grievances are piled. Whether or not a girl is "faking it" or not is immaterial. Those of us concerned about it should be asking why we are concerned about it.[/i] It tells us not one damn thing about her, but it can tell us loads about ourselves.

 

[viranimus]

Jebus... really?

Ok... accepting the concept that there ARE fake nerd girls... the simple fact is that it would be logical to be opposed to it because we generally do not tolerate people portraying themselves as things they arent. We as a species have always valued truthfulness, and even at one time would cut out a mans tongue for lying. So portraying yourself as something you are not is being dishonest and essentially a full body character lie.

Confusion concluded. /eyeroll.

 

[CheckD3]

Very odd place for a wedding thingy...and I bet watching the video, Megan Hayes (or what her name was) probably was like...WTF?!

OT though, I honestly only have a problem when it would cost money to be tricked, cause at that point, it's like scammers. But I could imagine that the idea that women pretending to be nerds or like stuff we like could come across as insulting, and maybe even make people jealous. "I had to spend my entire life hiding the fact that I played games, read comic books, and was a nerd. I was beaten up, taunted, teased, harassed, and this good looking woman gets to not only enjoy these same things, but also would NEVER get abused because of it? That's not fair!" [edit]So the only logical conclusion would be that there MUST be women who fake being nerds, and while I'm sure there are, there aren't' as many as they'd like to think.[/edit]

That's my take on why people would be upset. Honestly, I just enjoy talking nerd with anyone who can keep up, and especially with people who put me to shame, what appendages are swollen larger, or are innie rather than outtie doesn't matter really, if you bleed nerd, you're a bit of alright in my save file, [edit2]if they're faking it, thanks but I'm gunna go converse with people who actually know what the fuck they're talking about[/edit2] cheerio y'all!

 

[bluestarultor]

I can't speak for everyone and I'm sure there's a segment of male geeks who really are misogynists out for any excuse to hate women. But for the sane of us who dislike fake nerd girls, or at least me, it's pretty simple.

They're annoying.

They're annoying in the same way ANYONE is annoying when they clearly have no clue what they're talking about. If someone claims to love Star Wars and says their favorite character is Han Skywalker, or worse yet Captain Picard, it doesn't matter if they're male or female; they didn't even bother to do the research.

If you're really a fan of something, you can talk about it on at least a basic level, and it frustrates real fans when someone can't but say they can. I don't call myself a retro game fan because my experience is rather limited. I am a fan of individual games, like Hocus Pocus and Commander Keen, but I know next to nothing about any early console library, the CGA and EGA eras of DOS (most of my childhood was VGA), or old arcade games.

The problem with fake nerd girls isn't that they're girls; it's that they're fake. It's unfair that girls suffer more scrutiny, even as more and more are picking up controllers, but like it or not, the gender ratio still isn't even and until it is there's going to be a statistical bias against women reinforcing the social one in geek culture. I know girls who are nerds. My cousin pretty much destroys in Guitar Hero, has played more RPGs to completion than I have, and has played a variety of games on everything from the N64 forward. She can talk about games. My mom is an old Trekkie and can go on at length about the original Star Trek, TNG, and a bit about DS9 and Voyager. Watching those shows was family time growing up and she knew which episode was running within the first minute. Her favorite character was not Yoda. She's a fan of the original Star Wars trilogy separately, which also constituted family time. For me, hearing a girl talk about the merits of "Princess Leah" would be akin to hearing nails on a chalkboard. The same goes for a guy. In fact, this is one of the many problems I have with Big Bang Theory, because their treatment of geek culture is often cringeworthy.

You might say "what's the harm" when girls fake nerdiness for attention. And you'd be right in saying there's none to me. But it's certainly not doing my opinion of them any favors, because nerdiness is not easy to fake, and if they're not going to delve into it at least a little to know what they're talking about, I'm not going to respect them any more than I'd respect some YouTube commenter claiming to be a physicist.

 

[Godhead]

We better be getting an update on that proposal next week Jim. (Or one of those videos on youtube like the girl being proposed to with the help of claptrap and we get to see it ourselves.)

OT: I've been annoyed in the past when I would see people go "I'm wearing a Wario shirt. Such a nerd LOL" or other shit like that. But then I grew up and realized that they go away if you don't pay attention to them.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

The second type, the ones that this whole topic is about, are the people who specificly pretend to be someone they're not, in order to either get accepted into a group and or get attention from people.
Anyway, your bullshit call is irrelevant. I just explained the whole point to you, take it or leave it. I can't help it if you've never met a manipulative person faking interest in order to get attention, just to play with people.

And I just explained to you that the second type doesn't actually exist expect in the heads of paranoid men.

There is no reason for a person to behave that way - my point was that there are easier ways to get the same result. The only reason for a woman to be a gamer is because she likes games - end of story.

*Note: I don't dispute Booth Babes, but they never claimed to like games.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Wait... This is a thing? Really? I would think hot girls showing up at conventions would be a good thing whether their interest in the material was genuine or not. WTF Internet?

If I wanted to see hot girls I'd take up the offer of going to see a catwalk show. Chances are at a gaming convention I'm there for gaming


Can I just say I love the simple fact that so many female gamers are defending this and not realising that without the fakes it would be so much less of a problem for them.

Really its the guys fault for trying to make sure something is not a lie, so is it your fault if a guy says he had a condom on when he didn't ?

Thats the kind of response happening here. No-one is denying that girl gamers exist here, everyone knows they do however the issue is those telling lies to take advantage.

There would no doubt be an outcry if loads of jock type guys pretended to be nerds and lied to the female nerds, heck I'm pretty sure there is a lot of outcry about it because of being lied too.

But oohhh no its the guys fault because they are not psychic ?
Sure its wrong to interrogate someone to try and prove them false but you have to realise asking some questions is part of being human and getting to know someone else too.

Allow me to give you two real life scenarios that happened to me.

in January this year

The true nerdy girl who works in my local videogame store
Girl "Hey Metroid Other M, you played the prime series "
Me "Only the first one actually"
Girl "Oh you should try the others, the 2nd one is a bit iffy due to the whole light and dark world system but it had a reason to it. Its a shame they changed after the 3rd one to other M, let me know if its any good as honestly I'm not sure if its worth playing"
Me "will do"
*I pay and as I'm leaving*
Girl "Oh have you heard they're release a turn based game called Xcom"
Me "No, what's it like ?"
Girl "well from what I've read online its a turn based sci-fi game it looks a bit like a turn based metroid game honestly, its meant to be based on a old game or series"
Me "well I'll probably be back to pre-order that in the future.


The girl she replaced

In December last year
*Me waiting and I'm 1st in line with copy of portal 2 and her the only one serving*
Girl *talking to stereotype jock guy browsing new games section* "Oh hi Darren what you doing in here"
Dude "oh I'm just in here to see how much Call of duty is"
Girl "Well if you need anything be sure to ask me"
Me *Cough*
Girl "So how have you been doing, I havent seen you round much Darren ?"
Dude "Oh I'm fine just been a bit busy with football and stuff"
Girl "well how about we figure out a time we can meet up and do something ?"
Me *Rather louder fake cough*
Girl "how about saturday, I'm free then if you want"
Dude "sorry I'm a bit busy I said I'd spend the day with the guys"
Girl "aaawwwwhhh well I'm sure we can find some time together when are you free ?"
Me *stupidly loud rather obvious fake cough*
Girl "sorry Darren we'll speak later"
*turns to me*
Girl "Honestly couldn't you wait 30 damn seconds (at this point I'd been stood then 15 minutes almost being totally ignored)"
Me "I'd like to get his and here's my club card"
Girl "Pah is that all" *snatches the money out of my hand* "here"
Me "Um I had a card too"
Girl * mutters something that sound like "[expletive] useless nerd" under her breath"


suffice to say the girl in the latter one only lasted 2 weeks, I only ran into her twice and she was just as bad the first time when I asked where something was in the store.

Sounds to me like the latter girl was just really crap at her job and presumably couldn't get a job anywhere else, and not really a "Fake Nerd Girl." Esp. since it sounds like she wasn't particularly good at faking it if she was.

 

[kburns10]

No.

Jim's idea of the situation is wrong. It is not about conventions. I always go to conventions assuming everyone mutually enjoys the thing and anyone who doesn't is free to leave. No, the real fake gamer girl problem lies with the girls that will wear Mario, Sonic, and Kingdom Hearts paraphernalia that DEFINITELY have not played the games. They most likely bought it at Hot Topic, as that has always been the case in the past. But if I go up to a good looking girl and say, "hey, I like your Kingdom Hearts shirt," I'm suddenly met with stares like I was rubbing my hands and licking my lips while staring at her tits. I genuinely thought a girl shared my common interest of the Disney/Squaresoft JRPG.

Well fuck her. I didn't do anything wrong and now she thinks I'm going to rape her because I SOMEHOW know the origin of her shirt? Shy should I have to be rejected in such a bad way. And it wasn't one time, no. I've been as polite as possible, but trying to find common ground with these girls is, to them, following them down a back alley way. You wonder why I'm awkward around girls? This is why.

It's like that Dave Chappelle act, where he likens dressing in whore's clothing to dressing in a police officer's uniform. You can't just say it's my fault when you're wearing the uniform.

Oh boy. Hey, guess what guy. Anyone, and I mean anyone, is free to wear whatever the fuck they want. And unless you're a member of some secret "nerd fashion police" you really have no right to look down on someone for wearing an article of clothing with a character that they maybe don't know the entire fucking history of.

Apparently, it's not okay to shop at a store and decide, hey this shirt looks cute/cool, I think I want to buy this. Obviously they need to factor in the feelings of every obsessive fan of that particular character/game/brand before they make their purchasing decision. I mean how DARE they go out wearing a Mario shirt and confusing all of us poor gamer types, who can't handle people liking something a little more casually than us, or maybe just liking how something looks.

From the way I'm reading things, there is definitely something else going on other than women being mean to somebody that just wants to talk about their hobby. You sound like you have a major act to grind, otherwise you wouldn't be so defensive or writing things like "I didn't do anything wrong and now she thinks I'm going to rape her because I SOMEHOW know the origin of her shirt? Shy should I have to be rejected in such a bad way."

Just from reading this post I'm getting "creepy, pissed off at women, entitled" type vibes. So maybe work on that rather than complaining about all the mean "fake gamer girls."

Thank you. Thank you so much for saying this. You mean to tell me I can't wear a Chrono Trigger shirt because I've never played the game before?! Get out of here with that!

 

[daxterx2005]

That was a pretty cheesy joke, Jim.

 

[wild0061]

No.

Jim's idea of the situation is wrong. It is not about conventions. I always go to conventions assuming everyone mutually enjoys the thing and anyone who doesn't is free to leave. No, the real fake gamer girl problem lies with the girls that will wear Mario, Sonic, and Kingdom Hearts paraphernalia that DEFINITELY have not played the games. They most likely bought it at Hot Topic, as that has always been the case in the past. But if I go up to a good looking girl and say, "hey, I like your Kingdom Hearts shirt," I'm suddenly met with stares like I was rubbing my hands and licking my lips while staring at her tits. I genuinely thought a girl shared my common interest of the Disney/Squaresoft JRPG.

Well fuck her. I didn't do anything wrong and now she thinks I'm going to rape her because I SOMEHOW know the origin of her shirt? Shy should I have to be rejected in such a bad way. And it wasn't one time, no. I've been as polite as possible, but trying to find common ground with these girls is, to them, following them down a back alley way. You wonder why I'm awkward around girls? This is why.

It's like that Dave Chappelle act, where he likens dressing in whore's clothing to dressing in a police officer's uniform. You can't just say it's my fault when you're wearing the uniform.

Oh boy. Hey, guess what guy. Anyone, and I mean anyone, is free to wear whatever the fuck they want. And unless you're a member of some secret "nerd fashion police" you really have no right to look down on someone for wearing an article of clothing with a character that they maybe don't know the entire fucking history of.

Apparently, it's not okay to shop at a store and decide, hey this shirt looks cute/cool, I think I want to buy this. Obviously they need to factor in the feelings of every obsessive fan of that particular character/game/brand before they make their purchasing decision. I mean how DARE they go out wearing a Mario shirt and confusing all of us poor gamer types, who can't handle people liking something a little more casually than us, or maybe just liking how something looks.

From the way I'm reading things, there is definitely something else going on other than women being mean to somebody that just wants to talk about their hobby. You sound like you have a major act to grind, otherwise you wouldn't be so defensive or writing things like "I didn't do anything wrong and now she thinks I'm going to rape her because I SOMEHOW know the origin of her shirt? Shy should I have to be rejected in such a bad way."

Just from reading this post I'm getting "creepy, pissed off at women, entitled" type vibes. So maybe work on that rather than complaining about all the mean "fake gamer girls."

Thank you. Thank you so much for saying this. You mean to tell me I can't wear a Chrono Trigger shirt because I've never played the game before?! Get out of here with that!

To be fair, i think he probably meant that it was that if someones wearing X shirt, you could assume they actually like X, or even something vaguely similar to X. Though not really something to say as a pickup line is it?.. i mean if your already in a conversation, maybe say hey i like your shirt, not come up to a random stranger and say hey i like your shirt lol, hell I'd find it a bit odd if a chick came up to me and said that lol.