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Quite a few of my friends recently qouted that wargaming was quite nerdy, and I was curious, has this ever happened to you before? Also, do you consider our hobby "nerdy" or "geeky"?

The hobby itself isn't - just like any other hobby or sport.

It's the stereotypical nerds or geeks that are often seen participating in this hobby that give it that name!

the hobby is awesome

To me, personally, nerdy has a certain socially awkward connotation. Geeky implies similar interests with nerdy but with an ability to bathe and socialize outside of our primary interests.

Wargaming has a certain appeal to the heavy overlapping sections of nerdy and geeky. There are obscure and detailed rules, it's a table-top game and involves miniatures. But there's also the fluff, some people get behind it, others don't. I imagine it depends a lot more on the people playing than the hobby itself. The Win-At-All-Costs competitive players have a certain competition geekery/nerdery to them, the fluffy-beardy ones another.

Maybe the nerds take it too seriously? I get annoyed sometimes at cheap exploits or thematic changes I disagree with, but I don't feel the nerdrage rising like bile within me at them.

So to sum up, the game is just a game. It's the players that are nerdy or geeky. But being a nerd or a geek isn't necessarily a bad thing. Own it!

I don't know about nerdy or geeky, but I do know I don't blow £50 on a Friday night and wake on Saturday morning with a splitting headache

Flashman wrote:I don't know about nerdy or geeky, but I do know I don't blow £50 on a Friday night and wake on Saturday morning with a splitting headache

But you do when you buy the Chaos Dragon and pass out from super glue intoxication!

I really don't care what it is. I am no longer in high school so whether or not it is Nerdy is irrelevant.

Now it is more of way for me to relax and get creative (painting), and also an outlet to get out of the house and socialize with folks who have similar interests (playing).

Flashman wrote:I don't know about nerdy or geeky, but I do know I don't blow £50 on a Friday night and wake on Saturday morning with a splitting headache

QTF

Also, I would say geeky, because Stephen Colbert said that the main difference between nerds and geeks is that "geeks get it done"

tehbarry wrote:Quite a few of my friends recently qouted that wargaming was quite nerdy, and I was curious, has this ever happened to you before? Also, do you consider our hobby "nerdy" or "geeky"?

Yes.

Geeky if you're Attractive.
Nerdy if you're not.

It ceases being geeky once you add hard liquor and or beer.

I know quite a few ex-military who play tabletop wargames, some of them make an effort to remain buff after their service. This is in direct contrast to DnD gamers. I'd say we are 'nerdy' because chicks will put up with nerds, but not geeks. Having painted miniatures in the basement is ok for most girls, dressing up in foam armor and attacking people while calling timeout for a Taco Bell run, not so ok with most girls.

poda_t wrote:It ceases being geeky once you add hard liquor and or beer.

Yes, at that point it just becomes sad and possibly quite dorky.

Sure,There are "socially awkward" people involved in "the hobby"...but there are also perfectly "normal" folks as well,who date,have social lives,etc...but just happen to like playing with toy soldiers.
Then theirs the people like me...who's friends view there painting/gaming as one of their "less strange" traits.

Oaka wrote:I know quite a few ex-military who play tabletop wargames, some of them make an effort to remain buff after their service. This is in direct contrast to DnD gamers. I'd say we are 'nerdy' because chicks will put up with nerds, but not geeks. Having painted miniatures in the basement is ok for most girls, dressing up in foam armor and attacking people while calling timeout for a Taco Bell run, not so ok with most girls.

I really doubt that all DnD gamers (me included, having played it for a while) dress up in foam costumes. Or was this a reference to roleplay in general?

Oaka wrote:I know quite a few ex-military who play tabletop wargames, some of them make an effort to remain buff after their service. This is in direct contrast to DnD gamers. I'd say we are 'nerdy' because chicks will put up with nerds, but not geeks. Having painted miniatures in the basement is ok for most girls, dressing up in foam armor and attacking people while calling timeout for a Taco Bell run, not so ok with most girls.

You've got nerd/geek reversed.

"Geeks" include the ranks of cute boys with glasses whose eccentricities, obscure tastes and off-beat fashion sense have a warm charm to them.
"Nerds" include the ranks of unwashed neckbeards, with pot bellies and character pillows.

Obviously, there is a spectrum within each.

Larpers are their own subculture and kind of transcend the Geek/Nerd/Dork structure.

Most of the time people will call someone a nerd because the majority of people would.
As if one aspect like wargaming makes you a nerd instantly.

If reading marvel comics and playing warhammer makes people call me a nerd i have no problem with that.I will call them shallow in return.

As for your question: No it's not nerdy, our hobby is just not appealing to the majority of people.Who cares.Plenty of other stuff to talk about with your friends.

tehbarry wrote:Quite a few of my friends recently qouted that wargaming was quite nerdy, and I was curious, has this ever happened to you before? Also, do you consider our hobby "nerdy" or "geeky"?

There is a point in time when these sorts of social brandings have no implication.

"Our Hobby"? hmm...

Considering I've been involved in the battle for Rourks Drift, The Alamo, the second battle of Bull Run, Antidem, Orks Run, Several thousand brush fights, and some other ones I can't recall?

It's full on fun serious bidness.

Got a contingent of FOW players that have made it a point at least once or twice a month to do historic WW2 battles, most of them ar military, Historical players, or Police, some are into the whole historicals and uniforms and all that stuff, they can give you facts, numbers, ( even some of the duffers who were actually there at the time) counting on the other ones who are teachers and others as students, combined in there the other professionals and oddballs?

You call it what it is... a hobby. Like I said, those names and B.S. brands don't mean !@#$ all after a point in your life. That point comes at differnt times for different people, but it does come.

nerdy

It doesn't help that one of the most mainstream media exposure of 'wargaming' many people think of is the character from "the 40-year old virgin" where the main character paints historical wargaming minis.

Generally activities that seem antisocial get a bad stigma, and lots of people only see the "sitting in a dark corner hunched over a painting table" and they really don't get the whole social aspect of tourneys or conventions.

I find lots of people think the game aspect is kinda cool once they see it in action.

Yes

No more so then building model cars, model railroads or any other modeling. Most people are surprised I play a "geeky" game til I bring them down in the basement and run them through a game. All have come away with a new outlook and a couple are now regular gamers with me.

I don't know about "your hobby", but "my hobby" is "just fine".

Thanks

I was always under the impression that Nerdy was those that partook in hobbies such as ours, inc D&D, anything that involves a table,model building, sci fi, computer games such as Diablo, while Geeky was more of a reference to those that are more technical almost techno nerds who understand all about the latest electronic gadgets, Iphones, internal computer work, automated home theatre systems hooked up to toasters...you know, that kind of stuff, and I believe this hobby of ours is firmly planted in the Nerdy side of things!

I think the hobby IS nerdy/geeky, but I guess from my high-school perspective it would be (Hell, I'll proudly game in front of anyone at my school, though)

"The Hobby" is seen as socially awkward because generally the stereotype is that the hobby

1. Focuses on "Toys"

2. Is very in-depth for, essentially, "Toy Soldiers"

3. Is chock-full of dragons, wizards, tanks, etc. things that are considered "kiddie" or juvenile.

But things like painting, assembling and conversions definitely counteract the idea that the hobby is juvenile, and really, IMHO, it's just another activity.

Yes. Other people can deal with it


And in the words of my gf - "You need to grow up and stop playing with dolls and with little kids"

Incredibly. I love it anyway. Being geeky isn't inherently bad; being a stereotypical mouthbreathing nerd with bad social skills is.

Yes, it is.

Just like trainspotting anoraks or football statistic memorising nerds.

Get over it and stop giving a damn what other people think about it. It's what YOU think about it that matters, since it IS your hobby, afterall.

In a word, yes.