This is why I hate "Fake Geek/Gamer Girls"

[Toilet]

Overall video games is experiencing a commodification of a culture where what used to have meaning is being sold en masse and this makes people who are actually part of that culture mad. It would be like if I played 10 minutes of basketball and called myself a professional athlete and tried to fit in with other 6'4" basketball players.

The best example is the punk rock which was anti establishment but now you can buy punk rock on iTunes and buy spiky belts in Hot Topic.

mod note: please embed your videos

 

[riccyd]

Of course you couldn't call yourself a "professional" basketball player you're not earning any money for casually playing one game of Basketball.
EDIT: am i troll baiting here? or is this what you actually think?

 

[krazykidd]

I agree , but i don't care anymore . I spend most of my free time playing games ( like 40 hours a week ) but i refuse to call myself a gamer periode . I don't want to be associated with the "gamer" culture anymore . Not to mention fake geek girls and fake geek guys ( yes those exist too ).

 

[Rawne1980]

Overall video games is experiencing a commodification of a culture where what used to have meaning is being sold en masse and this makes people who are actually part of that culture mad.

Okay ... i'll bite.

When did it have "meaning"?

I'm genuinely curious.

Now, gaming started long before this "gaming geek" became a thing.

Some of us on this site were gaming when it first started, literally, we played the very first home video games on the very first consoles.

Now not all of us were stereotypical "geeks". Some of us had active social lives with no personality disorders that seems to be the "in thing" with self proclaimed "geeks" at the moment.

What happened was, these self proclaimed "geeks" came and took OUR thing and made it theirs.

The fact that most of the people saying gaming is "their" thing and non-geeks be damned weren't even sperm when it was getting started.

Not all gamers, since the dawn of gaming, were "geeks". Other "types" of people that are invading this so called "geek culture" were playing games long before this debate became a hot topic.

I know this is feeding it but there are people out there that really do believe that gaming is "theirs" and should be theirs alone when, if it hadn't been for us getting it rolling, there would not be much if any gaming at all.

 

[Phasmal]

Yeah... This again? Are you really that afraid of girls in your club or why do you specify the gender? Do you want to imply that there is no fake behaviour from the other gender or do you just imply that you hold the female gender to such irrational standards that no one could qualify as geek or nerd in your book when they have a pair of tits. If including this, do you also hold overweight males to such standards because they also have a pair of tits?

Well. Eplain this to me with your own words and not with some stupid yt link I won't even bother to look at: Why the need to specify the gender?

Also, no, I don't feel particulary enraged by fake geeks / nerds. Because they have *shock* zero impact on my life.

And finally: You imply that being a nerd or geek had some kind of entry barrier. Well, it had only one in particular. Have a non-mainstream hobby which consumes a big chunk of your time. Tadaa, you are a geek / nerd.

Wow, this is lovely.
I heart this comment.

Stupid bullshit about fake girls is stupid bullshit and I really don't care for the frustrated tears of gamer hipsters who don't want ladies in their treehouse.

Gaming is not `your` thing. It's just a thing. And everyone can enjoy it.

Oh yeah, and, I'm a gamer girl.
Come at me bro.

 

[go-10]

gamers used to be mocked and made fun of, anything dealing with video games immediately made you a loser, a nerd, an outsider, and a socially awkward kid that kept to a small group of other losers.
Culturally we didn't have any value and as a market we were a niche... Now people want to be us, they want to act like us, and pretend to enjoy the same things we do; and do you know why? Because now, we're cool! So stop complaining about being a purist and start enjoying the fact that; plain and simple, we won!

 

[Rastien]

Okay...

So the gamers that seem to have a problem with 'fake gamer girls' man i hate that term -_- what is your beef?

Like seriously a large amount of male gamers are lonely and wish they had more female contact?

So... okay let me get this straight

Girls are interested in the culture and want to embrace it without much 'knowledge'


so...... could you not seize the opportunity that these 'fake gamer girls' are interested in your culture? and teach them or show them new things within the culture? or are you so scared of these girls that you would rather belittle and degrade them? forcing them out of the community? In the process prolonging your loneliness?

Overall video games is experiencing a commodification of a culture where what used to have meaning is being sold en masse and this makes people who are actually part of that culture mad.

Also don't take heirs and graces like your speaking on behalf of people in the 'culture' because as far as i'm concerned and i consider myself a gamer and the more people playing the better it is. This may not be the view of all gamers but that's the point.

I want more people playing because it means more people to socialize with (not just because it means there is more noobs to stomp on either as much fun as that is hehe !)

 

[Bertylicious]

I love teenage posts! They're so bitter!

Spoiler

In fairness though I had a discussion in a pub once with an Everton fan about Liverpool fans and it was basically the same reasoning, said Everton fan was in his 30s. Anyway gaming, like Everton and Liverpool FC, have never had any special meaning beyond that which communities of individuals have invested in them and belonging to a fandom does not impart any special attributes upon that individual.

You'd agree with me, wouldn't you Rawne?

 

[Phasmal]

Oh wow. How can someone be so far off the mark.

This bullshit "Fake-Girl-Gamers" fiasco has nothing to do with preventing girls from playing games or identifying themselves as gamers. It's the issue of girls (and even guys) pretending they like something, identifying themselves as part of the "culture" (emphasis on quotation marks) and yet knowing absolutely nothing about it.

No, I don't buy that.
If it was an issue of `and even guys` it wouldn't be framed this way all the damn time, but it is.
If certain gamers were not interested in preventing girls from identifying as gamers I wouldn't run into geek-checkers all the time and certainly not guys who see it as their duty to geek check girls just in case. But I do.
You may not see it like this, but I do.

I know a couple of girls who are genuinely 'hardcore gamers' and I've known others who constantly identify themselves as gamers, constantly feel the need to bring up that they're gamers BUT have in their entire life only played Farmville and bought one or two other games for the kitsch value.

Then there's the others who play COD for 5 minutes and then post about it all over facebook saying how they're a "gAM3R GUURRRLL" to impress their dudebro boyfriends.

It's not a big deal but it is mildly annoying when you see it. Truth be told I'm confident this whole fiasco becoming a big deal was simply because of people (such as yourself) completely missing the point of what this supposed issue is and then being offended by it. That or the Escapist wanted to sensationalize something.

Uh huh, it's all us.
Nothing to do with dickheads ranting about girls who show up at cons and shit like that.
Hell, I've had people on here get annoyed at me for saying dudes shouldn't be pop-quizzing every female nerd they meet but apparently it's their sacred duty.

Either way, even if it was the `slight annoyance` you describe, it's stupid.

 

[Christopher Fisher]

Why is this directed only at women? If you're dating someone that's into videogames, but doesn't really have a whole lot of experience (not all people have been playing since they were four like many of us) with them, introduce them to the great games. Don't just be a douche and get all uppity because they don't have as much experience with games as you do. Most women in particular never used to play videogames.


The entire video was annoying...a very hipster video over analyzing irrelevant off-hand comments people make.

 

[Rawne1980]

I love teenage posts! They're so bitter!

Spoiler

In fairness though I had a discussion in a pub once with an Everton fan about Liverpool fans and it was basically the same reasoning, said Everton fan was in his 30s. Anyway gaming, like Everton and Liverpool FC, have never had any special meaning beyond that which communities of individuals have invested in them and belonging to a fandom does not impart any special attributes upon that individual.

You'd agree with me, wouldn't you Rawne?

I agree 100% bud.

Belonging to a community like "gamers" (if you want to label it) and supporters of football teams (like me with my painfully obvious love for Liverpool FC) is great to the individuals involved. But that is as far as it goes. They aren't special little exclusive clubs that no one else can enjoy.

It's like me hurling abuse at someone for daring to step foot on The Kop and not being a Liverpool supporter. It wouldn't happen. It's open to anyone to enjoy.

As I said above, some of us have been around since gaming began. We didn't keep it for ourselves, we don't claim to own it.

I like games, i'm a Liverppol supporter and I also have other hobbies. None of them make me special it's just something I enjoy.

 

[Phasmal]

No, I don't buy that.
If it was an issue of `and even guys` it wouldn't be framed this way all the damn time, but it is.

It's not as common amongst males.

OR, people aren't trying to trip up guys and giving them pop quizzes as much because they assume their interest is genuine automatically.

If certain gamers were not interested in preventing girls from identifying as gamers I wouldn't run into geek-checkers all the time and certainly not guys who see it as their duty to geek check girls just in case. But I do.
You may not see it like this, but I do.

But it's not an issue of "not wanting" girls to identify themselves as gamers, it's an issue of not wanting people pretending to be a gamer for irony's sake. The checker thing is stupid as fuck though.

Perhaps.
Sadly, you cant say there are no people who literally don't want women in their hobby, cause I've met a bunch of them who flat out admit it (`I play games to escape female voices/you playing games ruins it for the guys/this is our space and you shouldn't be here/you're only here for attention and I hate you`).

I just give people the benefit of the doubt and if they start to sound like they have no idea what they're talking about then I may quiz them (male or female). Or, you, know, stop talking to them completely.

That may be what you do but as I'm trying to explain, your experience is not universal.
I haven't seen any dudes be pop-quizzed, and none of my geeky guy friends have been, but for some reason all my female geek friends have.
Still, checking people is fucked up, we should be inviting people into our little club, not trying to exclude people, even if they are pretending they know a little more than they actually do.

 

[Bertylicious]

snip

Maybe it has to do with people who fetishise gaming and nerd culture (which is basically just consumerism when you get down to it) as some sort of counter-culture and see girls in the treehouse as a legitimising it all. Which would then make it just a form of consumerism like shopping for the latest trainers or the latest pop album.

I've often wondered if it's a similar fear which drives homophobia in Africa and the Anglican church, only in that instance it'd be more about challenging patriarchal perceptions by saying men can fuck men rather than just women, which thus potentially means men could be regarded as nothing more than fuck toys, as women are in patriarchal structures.

I dunno, I'm just shooting from the hip here. What do you reckon?