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[Bobby Roberts]

Has geek culture really won, or has it been co-opted and exploited by the masses?"

Maybe it was co-opted, and maybe it was exploited. But also maybe it was never as exclusive as people volunteering to be counted among its number liked to think it was. Maybe the bar for being counted as a geek was never really that high, considering when you boil it down, being a geek is largely engaging in the act of buying things and considering yourself a fuller, more well-rounded, more interesting person for having purchased it.

Maybe "Geek Culture" was a bit of a social phase people needed to move through as the internet's usage rose so as to relax people engaging within it that they weren't actually as weird as they thought they were.

And now we're coming out the other side of that and realizing the only parts of "Geek Culture" that still resonate on that exclusive, special level, are the parts that reward its members for being sexist, mean-spirited, closed-minded assholes who were fine with their pastimes being validated by mainstream media, but are not fine with the attendant changes that HAVE to come along with that once the breadth and depth of the audience growth is acknowledged.

 

[Aurean_Mentat]

Honestly, I've always attributed this towards one simple factor.

A fair number of the people engaging with 'geek culture' now are the same sort of people who I used to watch with envy (if they weren't pushing me around/out or trying to ignore/sideline me altogether). They had tons of friends, parties, and a very active life that I couldn't help but envy, just sitting alone in my metaphorical and often literal corner. But I had comics, video games, board games... all sorts of unique things that didn't quite stack up to the other people's, but were unique, special, and mine.

Now they're coming into my small corner of the world, and I'm just reminded of how I felt then watching them with tons of parties, significant others, friends, and what not that I didn't have, and I can't help but wonder when they're going to kick me out of my corner. Just be being there, they already rob it of the feeling of being special, or unique, which is a thing I found very rarely anywhere in life.

This also probably explains why so many people get mad at 'fake gamer girls/nerds'.

I never wanted 'Geek Culture' to win. 'Geek Culture' was my special thing that is now being strip mined by television/movie studios, marketing companies, and whoever else is able to do it as fast as they can. All I wanted was my corner to be left alone, so at least I could feel like less of a loser (which I still do, just without the feelings of being special or unique and feeling robbed of my corner).

I try to be as nice as I can, and people like what they're going to like. But as to how I feel about it, there you go.

And its important to never forget that some people (plus or minus many more) are just assholes (see the people that attacked this critic or pretty much anyone online)

EDIT:

Maybe it was co-opted, and maybe it was exploited. But also maybe it was never as exclusive as people volunteering to be counted among its number liked to think it was. Maybe the bar for being counted as a geek was never really that high, considering when you boil it down, being a geek is largely engaging in the act of buying things and considering yourself a fuller, more well-rounded, more interesting person for having purchased it.

Maybe "Geek Culture" was a bit of a social phase people needed to move through as the internet's usage rose so as to relax people engaging within it that they weren't actually as weird as they thought they were.

And now we're coming out the other side of that and realizing the only parts of "Geek Culture" that still resonate on that exclusive, special level, are the parts that reward its members for being sexist, mean-spirited, closed-minded assholes who were fine with their pastimes being validated by mainstream media, but are not fine with the attendant changes that HAVE to come along with that once the breadth and depth of the audience growth is acknowledged.

Also this.

 

[Volimar]

^ I don't want to devalue your opinion, but that's just silly to me. I never enjoyed this idea that you have to have suffered as an outcast to truly be a part of geek culture and that popular people could never be as "true" in their geekery as we are. This is one of those things that people use against women, especially attractive women, that because they were never stuffed in a locker they can't be a part of our culture. I know that's not what you are saying, but I can't help but take the opportunity to appropriate your line of thought for my argument. No matter how much of an outcast you were, how much you were bullied, how completely unpopular you were to embrace those geeky things back when they were fringe hobbies, you simply don't own those pastimes. You aren't more real or true of a geek than anyone else. So yes it seems silly to me that because you were excluded back when that you feel that it's only right to try to exclude others now that geek culture has become popular.

yikes...no wonder GAF hates on that guy. thinly veiled racism right there.

He also said GAF was mostly cunts.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Geek culture won't know it "won" until Wil Wheaton decrees as such.

"Hello, I'm Chris Hardwick, thank you for coming to San Diego Comic-Con, I'm the moderator of today's panel: "We Won! Why Geeks are Awesome and You Shouldn't Be a Dick." With me are guests The Mythbusters, Wil Wheaton, Felicia Day, and Kevin Smith. Now, before we start, you're probably like "That shirt you're wearing with the illustration by the Penny Arcade guys is pretty damn slick, where can I get that?" Well, we'll be selling some at the Geek & Sundry merch table after the panel, but if you get in line to ask a question - and by ask a question I mean make a fawning statement about our awesomeness to raucous applause - you'll get a free shirt. But you don't get a shirt if you're a dick."

 

[jon bones]

Honestly, I've always attributed this towards one simple factor.

A fair number of the people engaging with 'geek culture' now are the same sort of people who I used to watch with envy (if they weren't pushing me around/out or trying to ignore/sideline me altogether). They had tons of friends, parties, and a very active life that I couldn't help but envy, just sitting alone in my metaphorical and often literal corner. But I had comics, video games, board games... all sorts of unique things that didn't quite stack up to the other people's, but were unique, special, and mine.

Now they're coming into my small corner of the world, and I'm just reminded of how I felt then watching them with tons of parties, significant others, friends, and what not that I didn't have, and I can't help but wonder when they're going to kick me out of my corner. Just be being there, they already rob it of the feeling of being special, or unique, which is a thing I found very rarely anywhere in life.

This also probably explains why so many people get mad at 'fake gamer girls/nerds'.

I never wanted 'Geek Culture' to win. 'Geek Culture' was my special thing that is now being strip mined by television/movie studios, marketing companies, and whoever else is able to do it as fast as they can. All I wanted was my corner to be left alone, so at least I could feel like less of a loser (which I still do, just without the feelings of being special or unique and feeling robbed of my corner).

I try to be as nice as I can, and people like what they're going to like. But as to how I feel about it, there you go.

And its important to never forget that some people (plus or minus many more) are just assholes (see the people that attacked this critic or pretty much anyone online)

but those geek things aren't yours to protect, they are all of ours and should be shared with as many new young people as possible. that inclusion is something that you missed, why should we be hypocritical and exclude people from them now? because they had friends when they were younger?

and a lot of us played a shit ton of magic the gathering and still managed to get laid. i think the hate towards "fake gamer girls" has a lot to do with sexual frustration.

 

[rtcn63]

I think a lot of this stems from how ostracized these particular geeks were as kids. They lacked the social interactions most people take for granted, and what they did receive was largely negative. Now with geek culture becoming the new normal there's lingering hostility with an attitude of "who the hell do you think you are partaking in my interests after all these years?"

Has anything really changed for them? I never really took into "geek culture", just seeing it as another thing that's become mainstream, and in some cases, sacrificed much of the elements that got me into it, in order to appeal to a broader audience. It's arguably a different beast with the same surname. Which happens, don't particularly mind unless it affects me specifically- i.e. having a favorite content maker excise complexity to target his/her works towards a significantly less discerning fanbase.

 

[RedStep]

The biggest problem comes from those that define their identity by recreation and/or by their own opposition or "persecution". That applies to "hipsters" that hate anything popular, "nerds" who must only pursue nerdly pursuits, "gamers" that start using casual as a slur, and even "social justice" warriors that are always looking for a new target for their ire.

Like the things you like, fight the battles that you think need to be fought. When you start looking for activities that match your chosen "identity" it just gets gross. It's the difference between appreciating "The Gambler" and dressing up like a cowboy and taking on a southern accent in California.

If you like something, the best outcome is that it is accepted by the mainstream and becomes part of popular culture. No reason to start hating because somebody accepts only 70% of "thing you like".

 

[rpmurphy]

This is very true. Go to any geek forum and I bet you will find plenty of talk laments "normals" engaging in their hobbies in increasing numbers. The fear of "normals" influencing their hobbies runs strong.

Normies force in their unwanted opinions and create low-class cultures like the brogrammer and CoD FPS fanbase that usurp and likewise dismiss the legitimacy of other existing subcultures.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

I've always stated it as such:

This stuff is supposed to SUPPLEMENT your personality, not SUBSTITUTE for it. At least not for long periods of time.

 

[kirblar]

but those geek things aren't yours to protect, they are all of ours and should be shared with as many new young people as possible. that inclusion is something that you missed, why should we be hypocritical and exclude people from them now? because they had friends when they were younger?

and a lot of us played a shit ton of magic the gathering and still managed to get laid. i think the hate towards "fake gamer girls" has a lot to do with sexual frustration.

It's been funny to me to see the MTG branding team push things along the "geek culture" axis when it's always tended to be a game that went wildly cross-sectional - tons and tons of "weekend warriors" who'd play it in the off-season from their sport and such.

This stuff is supposed to SUPPLEMENT your personality, not SUBSTITUTE for it. At least not for long periods of time.

People's obsession with substituting tribal identity in lieu of their own is really obnoxious.

 

[Khalifa Jayy]

At first I was like "Greek culture has won? What?".

You and me both haha.

 

[Sectorseven]

but those geek things aren't yours to protect, they are all of ours and should be shared with as many new young people as possible. that inclusion is something that you missed, why should we be hypocritical and exclude people from them now? because they had friends when they were younger?

I suspect there's a fear the public and corporate machine will squeeze the life out of the culture and when it has finally dried up, leave the "real" geeks with the withered remains.

and a lot of us played a shit ton of magic the gathering and still managed to get laid. i think the hate towards "fake gamer girls" has a lot to do with sexual frustration.

This is only an anecdote, and I'm sure there are geek girls out there, but they certainly weren't making their presence known in my high school. I remember the cafeteria had basically a table worth of geek kids and never once did I see a girl approach them. Their only exposure to geek girls were the type depicted in playboy magazines and such where the pinup girls described their interests as gaming, and no one was believing that.

 

[Cybit]

Because admitting you won means you can let off the gas, and there's no financial incentive to let off the gas now because "Geek Culture" is a legitimate market you can exploit, especially with those willing to voluntarily place themselves inside of it.

Also, if you admit "Geek Culture" won, it just becomes Pop-Culture, or plain old culture, and then it's not unique anymore, and if it's not unique, it becomes harder to consider yourself special for having engaged with it.

Boom. Pretty. Much. This. Very nice post.

 

[Dr.Acula]

I just realised I came at this ass-end.

My complaints about modern comic/sci-fi/geek movies is that they only cherry pick the palatable aspects therein, and anything not picked in the larger zeitgeist up is socially verboten. Like GotG. I bet if you were reading the comics five years ago, some dude in an X-Men t-shirt would tell you to stop being such a geek.

So my whole deal with "geek culture winning" is that I want to be able to say "GotG isn't that great," and not get slammed because of it. Ironically, that is what the article in the OP is complaining about: "geeks" circling the wagon around all "geek films" dogmatically. If anything, I thought being a "geek" gave one more freedom to be critical of the work in a "geek" context.

 

[Deified Data]

I love seeing my interests get mainstream exposure. Means more stuff to feed my merch addiction. Can you watch a show like Game of Thrones without owning an action figure of every prominent character? Not in my experience.

 

[Menome]

and a lot of us played a shit ton of magic the gathering and still managed to get laid.

True story: I lost my virginity after travelling to participate in a VS System card-game tournament in London.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

I suspect there's a fear the public and corporate machine will squeeze the life out of the culture and when it had finally dried up, leave the "real" geeks with the withered remains.

Which is an understandable fear, but the problem with "Geek Culture" is that the public and corporate machine was always at the core of it in the first place. IBM is a giant corporation. So is Apple. So is Nintendo. So is Marvel, and DC, and 20th Century Fox.

It's hard to make a case for big business and mainstream audiences diluting your subculture when your subculture is based on purchasing items created by the same multimedia conglomerates serving the rest of society.

Again - choosing to identify as a Geek because you read comics published by a giant publishing company, or play videogames made by a multibillion gaming industry means the threshold to being a geek is pretty low for how strongly some assholes are trying to protect it.

 

[entremet]

The term Geek Culture makes me go "ugh"

Defining yourself based on media you consume just rubs me the wrong way.

 

[Ri'Orius]

If you like something, the best outcome is that it is accepted by the mainstream and becomes part of popular culture.

Why? Why should I want the thing I like to be the thing everyone else likes, too?

There are specific benefits, sure. Big-budget movies and whatnot. There are also specific drawbacks: additional scrutiny, changes to what I like to make it more compatible with the newbies.

Even without those, why can't I like feeling like I'm different from the mainstream? Why can't I enjoy feeling niche?

Some people like being one of the popular kids. Some people like being an outcast. If someone who enjoys being popular has that taken from them, they'll be upset. Why shouldn't the reverse be true?

 

[DarkFlow]

Oh this is the review I made fun of in the rotten watch thread. Has anyone read it? It's 200 words long, and boils down to don't watch it because it's too fun.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

The term Geek Culture makes me go "ugh"

Me too. I almost put it in quotes.

 

[Faiz]

Edit: beaten like a dozen eggs.

 

[kirblar]

I suspect there's a fear the public and corporate machine will squeeze the life out of the culture and when it has finally dried up, leave the "real" geeks with the withered remains.

This is only an anecdote, and I'm sure there are geek girls out there, but they certainly weren't making their presence known in my high school. I remember the cafeteria had basically a table worth of geek kids and never once did I see a girl approach them. Their only exposure to geek girls were the type depicted in playboy magazines and such where the pinup girls described their interests as gaming, and no one was believing that.

The girls aren't interacting in the same way. For MTG- you see tons of Cosplay from girls, not much from guys, but in the competitive circuit, it's a complete sausugefest. It's "You don't like things the same way I like them and are therefore inferior" at work. (much like "casual" v "hardcore".)

 

[Aurean_Mentat]

but those geek things aren't yours to protect, they are all of ours and should be shared with as many new young people as possible. that inclusion is something that you missed, why should we be hypocritical and exclude people from them now? because they had friends when they were younger?

and a lot of us played a shit ton of magic the gathering and still managed to get laid. i think the hate towards "fake gamer girls" has a lot to do with sexual frustration.

First off, I make a point to never exclude anyone because I know very well how that feels like. I have made a particular point in the last few years to just be as nice as I can, because I think it takes a ton more effort to be a jerk. But if asked for my private feeling on 'geek culture is winning', my previous post pretty much explained what my feelings on it are.

The only parts left that still feel 'exclusive' or 'special' are the parts that are quite frankly too hate filled for me to inhabit.

I think the hate towards 'fake gamer girls' is partly sexual frustration, and also partly just the knowledge that they can still visit/take part of 'geek culture' (the special thing I had) and then go back to their very active social lives and parties. Whereas all some people presumably have is 'geek culture', so they get enraged when they see someone coming in who is 'fake'. That doesn't make it right, or give them any justification for doing it, but at least I can kind of see why they might.

As a side note, I don't go to conventions in any way related to 'geek culture' anymore, because all they seem to do is further bring home the point of how I don't belong there either. I'm still happy for the people that go and fun, just I don't anymore.

EDIT:

I suspect there's a fear the public and corporate machine will squeeze the life out of the culture and when it has finally dried up, leave the "real" geeks with the withered remains.

This one sentence nails it so much it for me one sentence.

This is only an anecdote, and I'm sure there are geek girls out there, but they certainly weren't making their presence known in my high school. I remember the cafeteria had basically a table worth of geek kids and never once did I see a girl approach them. Their only exposure to geek girls were the type depicted in playboy magazines and such where the pinup girls described their interests as gaming, and no one was believing that.

Also this.

 

[inm8num2]

"Hello, I'm Chris Hardwick, thank you for coming to San Diego Comic-Con, I'm the moderator of today's panel: "We Won! Why Geeks are Awesome and You Shouldn't Be a Dick." With me are guests The Mythbusters, Wil Wheaton, Felicia Day, and Kevin Smith. Now, before we start, you're probably like "That shirt you're wearing with the illustration by the Penny Arcade guys is pretty damn slick, where can I get that?" Well, we'll be selling some at the Geek & Sundry merch table after the panel, but if you get in line to ask a question - and by ask a question I mean make a fawning statement about our awesomeness to raucous applause - you'll get a free shirt. But you don't get a shirt if you're a dick."

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

There are fans and then there are "fans"

 

[rtcn63]

The animosity towards "fakes" is because they're perceived as "fake"- having only a surface or passing interest in a subject, but overtly portraying themselves as hardcore fanatics. I don't particularly blame sexual frustration or jealousy from social superiority as the rest of you, more that the behavior just irks the actual fanatics because of how close they keep these subjects to heart. Because of this, I just consider the current "whatever" cultures as just another aspect of modern pop culture. All you can really hope for is that they act as a gateway for some people into the deeper, more complex (or at least enlightening) facets of such and such.

I'm an avid Doctor Who fan, joining ranks during the first few seasons of the 2005 reboot. I became so vested into the canon, that I began watching the older series, reading the books from 10+ years ago. Whenever I encounter supposedly passionate Who fans, I'll often recommend them to at least glance the older serials and peruse those books that surprisingly much of the newer audience doesn't seem to be aware of or care exists. Most give a look of confusion or just outright blow me off. I've even had people comment that that level of participation was "too nerdy/geeky" for them, with a negative, judgmental tone to their voices. And at best, they'd just never entertained the thought.

Which is a shame, because they're possibly among the best Doctor Who as to offer. I don't want less people to like what I like, I want more, and not just to a superficial degree. That's where my disdain comes from.

 

[Volimar]

There are fans and then there are "fans"

Who decides who is which?

 

[foxtrot3d]

The same reason white people and Christians can't admit they've won.

 

[Duster]

The profits of superhero movies mean that these production companies do not have to make choices between projects with female leads and movies with male heroes at the fore. Giving someone else what they want or need to see does not mean you will be forced to surrender what you love.

Am I missing something, who has been moaning about female leads? Has there been backlash over the existence of a Wondar Woman movie?

I always thought geek culture was more welcoming of female leads than a lot of Hollywood, although admittedly at least partially in a fan-servicey kind of way. Sci-fi and horror in particular are usually ahead of the curve on various progressive issues due to the distance their genre provides from real-world events.
Iconic charachters from Ripley and Sarah Connor to Xena and Buffy come from geek media and currently shows like Game of Thrones and Orphan Black have some of the highest numbers of good female charachters.

In fact I was under the impression many geeks want a Black Widow movie.
Isn't it usually the studios that have decided nobody wants a female led projects?

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

I just realised I came at this ass-end.

My complaints about modern comic/sci-fi/geek movies is that they only cherry pick the palatable aspects therein, and anything not picked in the larger zeitgeist up is socially verboten. Like GotG. I bet if you were reading the comics five years ago, some dude in an X-Men t-shirt would tell you to stop being such a geek.

So my whole deal with "geek culture winning" is that I want to be able to say "GotG isn't that great," and not get slammed because of it. Ironically, that is what the article in the OP is complaining about: "geeks" circling the wagon around all "geek films" dogmatically. If anything, I thought being a "geek" gave one more freedom to be critical of the work in a "geek" context.

At least movies were mainstream before comic book movies.

Try being a game reviewer and dare to rank a classic franchise below a 90. I think half of GAF's popularity sprung out of gamer meltdowns over reviews.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

Who decides who is which?

You can figure it out by seeing how deranged their comments are about the medium and IPs that they like.

 

[jon bones]

I've always stated it as such:

This stuff is supposed to SUPPLEMENT your personality, not SUBSTITUTE for it. At least not for long periods of time.

YES.

It's been funny to me to see the MTG branding team push things along the "geek culture" axis when it's always tended to be a game that went wildly cross-sectional - tons and tons of "weekend warriors" who'd play it in the off-season from their sport and such.

People's obsession with substituting tribal identity in lieu of their own is really obnoxious.

true, MTG was as "mainstream" a ccg as possible. bromage infiltrator all day son.

I suspect there's a fear the public and corporate machine will squeeze the life out of the culture and when it has finally dried up, leave the "real" geeks with the withered remains

i can totally see this as a valid complaint but... you just have to embrace it. when cars tuning went fast and furious, when hardcore went metalcore, when asoiaf went got... things you like get popular, no need to hate. just pat yourself on the back for being a trendsetter.

True story: I lost my virginity after travelling to participate in a VS System card-game tournament in London.

my man

Normies force in their unwanted opinions and create low-class cultures like the brogrammer and CoD FPS fanbase that usurp and likewise dismiss the legitimacy of other existing subcultures.

i'm hoping this is just a joke i don't get

 

[jstripes]

A lot of geeks subconsciously realize they've won.

But at the same time, they're used to being the weird outcast, and embrace that otherness.

That's my theory on where Bronies came from.

"Oh, people are accepting us? Time to double-down and find a new way to be considered weird!"

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

. . .

What the hell.

I'm sorry, but what the hell.

What does that have to do with "geek-culture"?!

"SEXUAL ATTRACTIVENESS" IS INDEPENDENT OF GEEK CULTURE.

I don't even know why "getting laid" matters, in terms of "geekiness."

..... If you love a hobby, you love it for the hobby, not because it can get you laid! (I hope).




Why would a female approaching a bunch of males have to do with .... any of it? Why would that matter?



I seriously, seriously don't understand what that has to do with the geek culture. Why bring this up? What are you trying to say?

*edit- I don't mean this in a criticizing way, but I am honestly failing to understand how these two things are related? Can someone please explain this to me? I'm not trolling, I honestly don't understand.

What if girls didn't approach the "geek" table cause they were smelly?

I'm still confused as to how we're defining geek since geek is now mainstream, isn't it?

I suspect there's a fear the public and corporate machine will squeeze the life out of the culture and when it has finally dried up, leave the "real" geeks with the withered remains.



This is only an anecdote, and I'm sure there are geek girls out there, but they certainly weren't making their presence known in my high school. I remember the cafeteria had basically a table worth of geek kids and never once did I see a girl approach them. Their only exposure to geek girls were the type depicted in playboy magazines and such where the pinup girls described their interests as gaming, and no one was believing that.

Well, that really seems like their own damn fault if all they did was sit at a designated "geek" table and look at Playboys.

 

[Pau]

Their only exposure to geek girls were the type depicted in playboy magazines and such where the pinup girls described their interests as gaming, and no one was believing that.

If that was the extent of their "interaction" with women, then yeah, I'm not surprised they didn't believe that any girls with geeky interests existed.

Spoiler

Hint: They would have reacted the same to any girl who admitted to having similar interests, and we knew that so we stayed the fuck away.

 

[teruterubozu]

True story: I lost my virginity after travelling to participate in a VS System card-game tournament in London.

You won!

 

[Volimar]

You can figure it out by seeing how deranged their comments are about the medium and IPs that they like.

That's silly, and completely subjective. Don't be so divisive. I prefer inclusion.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

That's silly, and completely subjective. Don't be so divisive. I prefer inclusion.

I agree, it is totally subjective.

But when I see self-professed geeks attack people for their opinions or attack people cause of their costumes or just act really self-entitled and whiny, or call people who are fans of things "NOT REAL FANS" for x reason, I feel like I wanna be divided from them.

 

[sn00zer]

Whatever happened to emo culture?

Evolved into hipsters..... seriously

 

[Ultima_5]

Subcultures hardly ever enjoy being popularized. Especially when one of the founding reasons for those subcultures is being an outcast and finding solace in something that takes you away from reality.

Some Punks didn't like Punk getting popular so they started calling people sell outs.

There are some Gamers here that get huffy when people who play Candy Crush say they're gamers because they're not Hardcore enough to be gamers if that's all they do.

There are probably a bunch of comic nerds who wanted Iron Man to be awesome, but didn't want every one around wearing an Iron Man shirt without ever having read a comic.

this is essentially it

 

[Frustrated_Grunt]

Geek culture being more popular = more friends to talk to about geek stuff with.

I wouldn't have been able to casually strike up a conversation about Dan Slott a decade ago, that's for sure. And with so many people for that matter.

 

[Kai Dracon]

Geeks and nerds have this kind of cultural inheritance of being the "lost boys" and their contemporary culture still seems to spread that idea among themselves. There's a lot of ingrained resentment for wrongs both real and imagined. The sheer degree of fedora-tipping misogyny online among male geeks is staggering - but brings to mind the idea that people who sit on the internet spewing bile are doing so to project their own self-hatred onto a target.

I've always stated it as such:

This stuff is supposed to SUPPLEMENT your personality, not SUBSTITUTE for it. At least not for long periods of time.

The trick has always been that it's never about "how much" you're into something. Instead "is it the only thing you're into". Someone can be devoted to a subject entirely and still retain a sense of perspective with a rounded personality. The term for this might be "an enthusiast".

Then there is someone who is only into something because it acts as a replacement for everything else in their life. It doesn't have to involve a "geeky" subject. Mainstream culture is inured to stuff like living through sports or escapist drinking. There's no fundamental difference between someone who obsesses over comic books because they have nothing else to do, and an armchair quarterback sitting on the sofa every night with a beer, imagining their life is that of a sports hero.

 

[Aurean_Mentat]

I also think that the rage, stupidity, and general assholery of a lot of the more hardcore 'geeks' or 'fans' is because, when you boil it down, being a 'geek' or 'fan' is all that they either are, or feel that they are.

I'm slowly rebuilding my life and trying to add in other things, so it doesn't bother me as much when other people come to like 'geek' stuff or are a 'fan' of something. Admittedly, when certain people come to like it (the people who could be perceived as 'fake'), it does bother me more, but still not enough to do anything about it. Because at the end of the day, it shouldn't really matter.

Being a fan of anything shouldn't define who you are to any degree, no matter what the thing is. It should be more along the lines of 'this is a thing that I like'. The closer you identify with the item, being a fan of it, or being a 'geek' in general, the more that things that shouldn't really bother anyone come to bother you more and more.

These things are meant to supplement and enrich your personality and you as a person, not become an actual part of it.

I love this image so much. The four people in there seem to be genuinely happy to be there and doing what they're doing. Ultimately, nobody should judge if anyone is genuine or not, but someone was asking about why the 'playboy pinup' comment should matter, and I figure this explains it.

The people in the above image come off as genuine. When you see a playboy pinup model mention she likes video games, its very easy to view the fact that she does come off as genuinely sexy, and then view the accompanying fact that she mentioned she likes video games as a selling point (and thus not genuine, as its meant to sell the fact that she's sexy too even harder).

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

. . .

What the hell.

I'm sorry, but what the hell.

What does that have to do with "geek-culture"?!

"SEXUAL ATTRACTIVENESS" IS INDEPENDENT OF GEEK CULTURE.

I don't even know why "getting laid" matters, in terms of "geekiness."

..... If you love a hobby, you love it for the hobby, not because it can get you laid! (I hope).




Why would a female approaching a bunch of males have to do with .... any of it? Why would that matter?



I seriously, seriously don't understand what that has to do with the geek culture. Why bring this up? What are you trying to say?

*edit- I don't mean this in a criticizing way, but I am honestly failing to understand how these two things are related? Can someone please explain this to me? I'm not trolling, I honestly don't understand.

I think the thought process is

"When I was into comics and Nintendo and LOTR and GoT and zombies and vampires in high school girls wouldn't be caught dead speaking to me. Now that all these things are popular, there are female 'fans' popping out of the woodwork. Now it's socially acceptable for a 'cool' person to write that they like The Walking Dead or GoT or Sharknado or Daft Punk on their FB wall. They obviously aren't real fans, they're only bandwagoning on the latest trend. They'll cast all my faves aside as soon as it's convenient for them."

In reality, the acceptance of geek culture has been a boon for me, a self-admitted geek. About a month ago I got into a conversation with an actual girl, at a bar, about the graphic novels of Alan Moore and the fiction of Neil Gaiman. My ex-gf and I bonded over Walking Dead. I've been on several dates this year where I discussed the R+L = J and D = E fan theories. I took a girl on a first date to see The 300 and got laid. I played dozens of hours of Guitar Hero and Rock Band with my female coworkers in grad school. I met a really cool friend last year who went to Halloween dressed as Lara Croft. I have another friend who regularly updates me on her progress in GTA 5.

I embrace this change. I didn't get laid in HS either, but hey, I at least I know now that it's not because I had shit taste.

 

[DoktorEvil]

Read this earlier today, fantastic read and a much needed highlight.

I adore Greg Rucka's response to a fake geek girl t shirt

Greg Rucka hammers home how I feel about the ideas in this Op-ed perfectly.
Seriously, As long as my thing is getting more exposure, the more I can have a shared bonding experience with people. I WISH there was more risk to try the lesser comic books and IPs, instead of the biggest publisher and the biggest names. But with that comes a responsibility to "not be a dick".

Also, what an ugly-ass t-shirt and a lame ass slogan.

Maybe it was co-opted, and maybe it was exploited. But also maybe it was never as exclusive as people volunteering to be counted among its number liked to think it was. Maybe the bar for being counted as a geek was never really that high, considering when you boil it down, being a geek is largely engaging in the act of buying things and considering yourself a fuller, more well-rounded, more interesting person for having purchased it.

Maybe "Geek Culture" was a bit of a social phase people needed to move through as the internet's usage rose so as to relax people engaging within it that they weren't actually as weird as they thought they were.

And now we're coming out the other side of that and realizing the only parts of "Geek Culture" that still resonate on that exclusive, special level, are the parts that reward its members for being sexist, mean-spirited, closed-minded assholes who were fine with their pastimes being validated by mainstream media, but are not fine with the attendant changes that HAVE to come along with that once the breadth and depth of the audience growth is acknowledged.

I keep hearing "geek culture" and I don't understand what's so geeky about it. It's practically mainstream consumerist shit. Hey, you have money or a credit card? "yeah" Buy this shit, you're a geek.

Its the same thing about what constitutes a "gamer". Literally, you can spend the 100 bucks to get a PS2 or Wii or something, a few games, and that's it. You're in the "club". Video Games as a hobby are, in their nature, exclusionary to those who have the discretionary funds to buy them. That's the admission into the club. Everything else has to do with inside jokes and making friends who like the same things you do in that club.

 

[Kai Dracon]

The ultimate irony of geek hate: if geeks believe the stuff they've been into all this time is really that cool, they should be happy when more people experience it, to whatever degree.

Geeks have this problem where they can take the thing they see themselves as wardens of and strangle it to death with a grip around its throat.

 

[Devolution]

The tomboys in school got plenty of shit from their peers. It is probably hard to notice if you are busy licking your own wounds.

 

[Frustrated_Grunt]

The ultimate irony of geek hate: if geeks believe the stuff they've been into all this time is really that cool, they should be happy when more people experience it, to whatever degree.

Geeks have this problem where they can take the thing they see themselves as wardens of and strangle it to death with a grip around its throat.

Truth

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

Tomboys and geeks should have teamed up and fought for control over school, but they were too divided and self-absorbed to unite.

The ultimate irony of geek hate: if geeks believe the stuff they've been into all this time is really that cool, they should be happy when more people experience it, to whatever degree.

Geeks have this problem where they can take the thing they see themselves as wardens of and strangle it to death with a grip around its throat.

Straight cold truth.