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 Manchu wrote:
And a response ...

https://jeffro.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/fisking-the-boston-globe-dd-article/

Bit, er, OTT I'd say.

Why do I suspect that this guy is exactly the stereotype he seems to resent being labeled as?

I mean, I've read articles in major papers about the Federal Agency I work for that seem to have very little understanding of what goes on. Surprise, they don't get experts in a field to write articles.

 Polonius wrote:

 Manchu wrote:
And a response ...

https://jeffro.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/fisking-the-boston-globe-dd-article/

Bit, er, OTT I'd say.

Why do I suspect that this guy is exactly the stereotype he seems to resent being labeled as?

Reading it again, I think you're right. The writing is unmistakably in the neck-beard style, and the other content is rather damning in that respect too.

 Ahtman wrote:
If people have trouble with optional tables and subtracting instead of adding they should avoid GURPS, Palladium Fantasy, and HERO Fantasy. Their eyes might bleed.

And if they played Exalted their brain my implode.

 Ahtman wrote:
the response seems to play to much into the stereotypes of the angry nerd gamer bloviating on their idea of gaming and how the author of the first is WRONG and NOT ONE OF US.

This, definitely this.




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 Chongara wrote:

 Polonius wrote:

 Manchu wrote:
And a response ...

https://jeffro.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/fisking-the-boston-globe-dd-article/

Bit, er, OTT I'd say.

Why do I suspect that this guy is exactly the stereotype he seems to resent being labeled as?

Reading it again, I think you're right. The writing is unmistakably in the neck-beard style, and the other content is rather damning in that respect too.

Strikes me the exact same way.

I perceive it as sour grapes over what might be called in other circumstances "cultural appropriation," and I'm sympathetic to that, but the post is 90% anger and 10% point.

The biggest complaint by geeks and nerds and other social outcasts when I was a teen was that we were social outcasts. Now that the hobbies that often define nerdery and geekdom are being accepted-- and therefor not seen as things which are a strike against the person in question, we are less likely to be social outcasts-- is it really cultural appropriation?

 Melissia wrote:
is it really cultural appropriation?

I think so, as much as anything else. Why not?

My hackles were raised once when I told a co worker that I collected comic books and played Dungeons and Dragons. And she said "Oh, but that's okay- that's cool now!"

I responded something like "Well, I've always thought it was cool, actually. That's why I've been into it. But thanks for the permission."

That was a little snippy and I regretted it, I should have just kept my mouth shut, but it does irritate me that people feel the need to grant permission for stuff like that.

My buddy tells a funnier version -- this tall, handsome guy was talking to a group of people and humble bragged "I guess I'm just a geek." Eyebrow firmly arched, my friend asked "how so?" The guy replied, "I like Star Wars."

LOL since when does liking films liked by hundreds of millions of other people across the globe make one geeky?

Portlandia did a skit on this, too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EMXRAWWiBw

 Manchu wrote:
And a response ...

https://jeffro.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/fisking-the-boston-globe-dd-article/

Bit, er, OTT I'd say.

Man, I thought I was hyperbolic. I couldn't read more than the first half of it, because the persecuted gamer complex got too thick.

I mean, if anything, I picture his writing being spoken aloud, and I only imagine it with the very caricature of what he is trying to protest against. He's wheezing with belabored breath, and trying to squint to overcome the bright lights he's so unused to. Just as the day before, he sports his fedora, neckbeard, and black mass manufactured t-shirt that says something unintentionally ironic like "You laugh at me because I'm different. I laugh at you because you all look the same." The tshirt is stained yellow in the front and back toward the bottom with cheetos dust, which is also conspicuously present in his neckbeard. As he breathlessly begins his tirade, his eyes forget the harshness of the light,and go a little too wide with mania. Yellow and carbonated spittle hits my face as he's going on about gak while I nod, trying not to appear rude, trying so hard to imagine somewhere far away from the imagined caricature that I just made the mistake of imagining..

End scene.


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 Manchu wrote:
My buddy tells a funnier version -- this tall, handsome guy was talking to a group of people and humble bragged "I guess I'm just a geek." Eyebrow firmly arched, my friend asked "how so?" The guy replied, "I like Star Wars."

LOL since when does liking films liked by hundreds of millions of other people across the globe make one geeky?

Portlandia did a skit on this, too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EMXRAWWiBw

Yeah, the amount of female geeks on dating sites really confused me about the term. Apparently it means enjoying one of the following: Star Wars, Big Bang Theory, Harry Potter (the books or the movies), Lord of the Rings (the movies)

I recently had a guy virtually reenact whole episodes of 1980s Transformers (complete with cringe inducing impressions/voice acting) while I nodded along in interior agony, wondering how I could politely escape. The dude is a nice guy, good hygiene, keeps relatively fit ... but yeah, he's an honest to God geek. It's not so much a matter of his utter lack of concern about whether I wanted to hear a 40 minute monolgue about a TV show I had only just remarked "is unwatchable as an adult" (although that was a supremely geeky thing to do) so much as it is his ability to spend those 40 minutes in a kind of trance like state of deep communion with a show equivalent to a series of 25-minute-long toy commercials.

 BattleGamer wrote:


- Have been having a great time using dungeon tiles with the miniatures. Sure wish we had those 25 years ago.

We did:

http://the-lost-and-the-damned.664610.n2.nabble.com/Scans-of-GW-Floor-Plans-vintage-plans-for-FRP-games-D-amp-D-WHQ-AHQ-etc-td5366133.html

Heh heh heh. One of my long time gamer friends has an Autobot tattoo on his shoulder. I think when he finished his PhD he got the Decepticon one as well?

He often puts in these "references" to the series into his RPG characters, and then acts completely shocked when we don't catch them

 Da Boss wrote:
My hackles were raised once when I told a co worker that I collected comic books and played Dungeons and Dragons. And she said "Oh, but that's okay- that's cool now!"

I responded something like "Well, I've always thought it was cool, actually. That's why I've been into it. But thanks for the permission."

That was a little snippy and I regretted it, I should have just kept my mouth shut, but it does irritate me that people feel the need to grant permission for stuff like that.

Attitudes have changed, but in retrospect what she should have said was that it is no longer uncool to be a nerd. Which is true. Nerdism has lost much of its stigma, mainly because of the nerds who grow up and become visibly successful and the mainstreaming of computer gaming.
D&D is by extension more acceptable than it was, and no you didn't need permission before, but you did get funny looks.

 Manchu wrote:
I recently had a guy virtually reenact whole episodes of 1980s Transformers (complete with cringe inducing impressions/voice acting) while I nodded along in interior agony, wondering how I could politely escape. The dude is a nice guy, good hygiene, keeps relatively fit ... but yeah, he's an honest to God geek. It's not so much a matter of his utter lack of concern about whether I wanted to hear a 40 minute monolgue about a TV show I had only just remarked "is unwatchable as an adult" (although that was a supremely geeky thing to do) so much as it is his ability to spend those 40 minutes in a kind of trance like state of deep communion with a show equivalent to a series of 25-minute-long toy commercials.

I've been called variously, swot, geek, nerd, all my life...Turns out theres a strong possibility I have Asperger's Syndrome. Thats like Nerd Squared.

At least I don't do sound effects...

 Orlanth wrote:

Attitudes have changed, but in retrospect what she should have said was that it is no longer uncool to be a nerd.

Within limits I guess. Video games, fantasy novels and the like I'd say have safely bled into the mainstream.So has interest in science, computers and just general STEMy stuff.

D&D less so. I can't say I'd openly bring up the fact I play RPGs with anyone I was hoping to socialize with regularly. These days my nerd paraphernalia (dice, miniatures, etc..) stays tucked away in the closet until I'm headed out for gaming.

It's the kind of thing people readily accept as a quirk if you know them a few months or so. However there are a enough stereotypes left (and enough individuals who them perfectly), it isn't something I'd want mixed into 1st, 2nd or even 3rd impressions someone is getting of me.

 Manchu wrote:
I recently had a guy virtually reenact whole episodes of 1980s Transformers (complete with cringe inducing impressions/voice acting) while I nodded along in interior agony, wondering how I could politely escape. The dude is a nice guy, good hygiene, keeps relatively fit ... but yeah, he's an honest to God geek. It's not so much a matter of his utter lack of concern about whether I wanted to hear a 40 minute monolgue about a TV show I had only just remarked "is unwatchable as an adult" (although that was a supremely geeky thing to do) so much as it is his ability to spend those 40 minutes in a kind of trance like state of deep communion with a show equivalent to a series of 25-minute-long toy commercials.

Man, I feel for you there.

 daedalus wrote:

 Manchu wrote:
I recently had a guy virtually reenact whole episodes of 1980s Transformers (complete with cringe inducing impressions/voice acting) while I nodded along in interior agony, wondering how I could politely escape. The dude is a nice guy, good hygiene, keeps relatively fit ... but yeah, he's an honest to God geek. It's not so much a matter of his utter lack of concern about whether I wanted to hear a 40 minute monolgue about a TV show I had only just remarked "is unwatchable as an adult" (although that was a supremely geeky thing to do) so much as it is his ability to spend those 40 minutes in a kind of trance like state of deep communion with a show equivalent to a series of 25-minute-long toy commercials.

Man, I feel for you there.

Was it Platuan4th?

I cannot confirm or deny.

 daedalus wrote:

 Manchu wrote:
I recently had a guy virtually reenact whole episodes of 1980s Transformers (complete with cringe inducing impressions/voice acting) while I nodded along in interior agony, wondering how I could politely escape. The dude is a nice guy, good hygiene, keeps relatively fit ... but yeah, he's an honest to God geek. It's not so much a matter of his utter lack of concern about whether I wanted to hear a 40 minute monolgue about a TV show I had only just remarked "is unwatchable as an adult" (although that was a supremely geeky thing to do) so much as it is his ability to spend those 40 minutes in a kind of trance like state of deep communion with a show equivalent to a series of 25-minute-long toy commercials.

Man, I feel for you there.

Actually, I had this same experience with a guy I met at the last tournament I attended. Apparently he's writing an epic dystopian Sci Fi series about Mega Corporations selling bionic implants to all humans, but retaining total rights and control over said implants to the point that they can essentially control people's bodies (like mind control, only the mind is left untouched and the body is controlled directly). So basically...the plot of Deus Ex Human Revolution.

He spent the better part of an hour after 1am telling me about how he's hired an agent, and has copyrighted the entire plot of the series, so its totally OK to blurt it out to anyone because he'll sue you if you violate his copy right; and he expects to sell the TV rights within 5 years and will have a feature film by the end of the decade.

"That sounds cool" I said, and I was only half lying (some of the plot points did sound interesting), and I asked how much hes written so far and offered to give feedback on a couple sample chapters. Turned out, he was still working on the first chapter.

Yeah, it's not what geeks like that gets us. It's how we like it and communicate about liking it to others.

I'm sure we've all been on both sides of these kind of stories.

Except me, I am super cool.

 Manchu wrote:
Yeah, it's not what geeks like that gets us. It's how we like it and communicate about liking it to others.

I'm sure we've all been on both sides of these kind of stories.

Except me, I am super cool.

Please elaborate, tell us more about how super cool you are...

In 140 characters or less.


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 Manchu wrote:
Yeah, it's not what geeks like that gets us. It's how we like it and communicate about liking it to others.

I'm sure we've all been on both sides of these kind of stories.

Except me, I am super cool.

I find that if people enquire about what I enjoy, I tell them that I like to paint miniatures. If it gets their interest, I offer to bring a (well painted) model in to show them, and thats when I earn the respect points.

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
Please elaborate, tell us more about how super cool you are...

I think my DakkaDakka post count speaks for itself.

Does that make me even cooler, Manchu-sama?

Not til you get l33t mod status Melissia-chan.

Now THAT would be a nightmare for pretty much everyone.