I read your post before falling asleep so I might not remember it completely here, but it seemed like you indicated that any attractive person can't be a nerd. Now I'd say that is quite insulting and a really broad generalization. It seems like you think that being a nerd ism socially unaccepted and that by being attractive you're automatically accepted. Social skills has nothing to do with it. I might be wrong simply because of the state I am in now and the state I was when I read it though.Therumancer said:Well, manipulative behavior riles most people when you get down to it. The whole "fake nerd girl" thing is simply a kind of manipulative behavior, which is why it gets such strong, negative responses. My problem is that it needs to be understood as a manipulative behavior in order to understand the reaction.Yopaz said:I'm sure this happens to you all the time so it's a really big deal, but having never seen someone I can't see this being widespread.Therumancer said:You, like Jim, miss the point entirely. It's not girls wanting to fit in or being "desperate for your attention" it's girls out to manipulate nerds, either for their own ends, or being paid to do so by someone else (like in the case of booth babes and the like).Yopaz said:I rarely agree this much with him. Seriously, why would anyone get upset over a person being so desperate for your attention that she pretends to like what you do just to get attention? It seems like a strange thing to get upset over, but I don't know.
I wrote a more detailed answer (phrased to aim it directly at Jim) earlier, but I imagine it was too long for a lot of people, and also not what they'd want to hear.
Of course manipulation of anyone is a problem, but are those who pretend to like games any different than any other kind of manipulation? Why is it specific focus on those who pretend to like games rather than those who manipulate in any other way?
Now if you say they are no different, explain why you draw a line separating those. Why is it fake nerd girls rather than manipulative behaviour in full that gets you riled up?
As far as I go, my direct experience has been seeing some pretty solid guilds ripped apart by this kind of thing, and otherwise viewing the damage in various internet communities. For the most part I don't deal with it myself since my internet persona is pretty bloody unapproachable and not especially well liked (even if not hated). You might of course also realize at this point there are reasons why I carry myself the way I do.
In the first post I wrote I went into more detail, but let's just say there was an issue with this kind of thing before it wound up on the radar of sites like The Escapist and commentators like Jim. The whole chan-inspired "Tits or GTFO" is pretty much in response to the "faux nerd girl", rather than just being a matter of general sexism. It basically coming down to the stereotype of some cute girl coming into fringe culture, flirting, and then showing her boobs for gifts (even if worked into subtly). The basic schtick basically being "you might as well just show me your tits now, and get the pretensions over with", or a sort of "I'm onto you". This is why when you see a cute-seeming girl being unusually friendly or acting geeky someone will toss one of the many versions of that copypasta her way.
However I'm not sure if you are actually talking about girls who go around wearing geeky t-shirts without liking games or girls who play online games where they intentionally use the fact that they have a matching pair of chromosomes to manipulate guys. I am talking about the girls appearing as geeks and I am pretty sure that was what this video was about too. Now of course the kind of manipulation you talk about is bad, but that is something else entirely. Those aren't girls pretending to like games in order to get attention, those are girls pretending to like you in order to get something for free. Honestly I think you are the one who missed the point here.