SocialGeek

Although being a Geek may be popular in theory, it doesn’t mean the general public understands us any better. Let’s face it, there is a crash course you take when you start any hobby, gaming and comics are no different. If you are lucky like I was I had some great guild members to help me out and not kick me at the first hesitation. If not, then you got yelled at, called a newb and promptly blocked.  After which you run to some wiki somewhere and punch in the term to make sure you knew it for the next time.

            If you are new to being a geek then breaking this language barrier can seem daunting at first, then you turn to your friend the internet. Holy wasp nest Batman is there a lot of websites out there for geeks. Pick a topic and you can have pages full of search results and no idea what it is you are looking at. Wiki’s are of course the best, with their tree design of related topics you can start with one question and wind up halfway down a tree to the latest changes in Wonder Woman’s costume. On the other hand you have the forums that can look like a poorly organized Window’s folder when opened up, but have other people out there with your questions and getting answers. To be honest, you could be reading these sites for years, and even if you grew up playing Nintendo games or Wizards of the Coast some young kid will still come by with a term you have never heard before for something you have done for years.

            To conclude, no geek really knows all the language out there, we are all still adapting and learning as we go. Let’s face it, we don’t sit still. We always want something new, whether it is better motion controllers or just to be able to watch Flash on our iPads, the world is changing fast and our language changes with it. Practice makes perfect. So next time you go to the game store remember this is what you are going to sound like to any casual onlooker: “DnDDnDDnDDnDDnDDnD, Magik, Magik, WooooooW”

Here is an article a friend forwarded to me that puts all the numbers and rolls in D&D to a real world perspective.

http://www.thealexandrian.net/creations/misc/d&d-calibrating.html

Hello, I am writing today because I play D&D. And although I by no means need a support group for it, it is still a problem. After too many vague excuses of why I am never available Friday night for after work activities my coworkers over heard my conversation with a client about some passing gaming references they put two and two together and got a geek.

Although it has certainly made my life easier not having to come up with an excuse for every Friday night it has had the cost of being taken seriously on the subject of socialization. There is also the bonus of being left alone when I am listening to my podcasts, even when laughing out loud in the break room. It is much easier for them to ignore something they don’t understand then to attempt to feign interest in what I do in my spare time.

Unfortunately because of their lack of interest this has created a few misunderstandings as to what exactly I do. I have had to endure many a return expression of smiling and nodding as I think to myself “Yes, try explaining a movie called ‘Seventeen Again’ to someone who would NEVER watch it.” I have no interest in recalling my teen years, if they were anything like yours it is a part of your life you would rather have removed from the memory part of your brain like in Fridge.

Always remember the feeling is mutual. That vacant look you receive when your coworker mistakenly asks you what you did this weekend, and you respond with defeated the wizard and recovered his staff, will be returned when they recall their Tupperware party you got out of because of your Friday night game.

You know you’re a geek when:

You snicker and go “knee!” when someone mentions a shrubbery.

You have made or bought a Star Trek uniform.

You introduce yourself as your char name, race, class, and server realm.

If it isn’t a smart phone it is in the same category as a pager.

You have Java and Elven down as known languages on your resume.

The answer to any question asked to you is “Google it” or “look it up on Wiki”.

Failblog.org is your homepage.

You do NOT use IE.

There are friends and there are RL friends.

Online you and your friends go by char name, even if they are your neighbor.

You fix the electronics at work before anyone even thinks of calling the Help Desk.

Counting in a different base is as easy as 0 1 2 10 11 12.

You spent an entire weekend in an RPG game.

You could spend an entire day thinking of more of these “You know you’re a” statements.

Thank you to John Deeth 

I have been a geek for much of my life. Recently I have really been able to come to accept the fact that although I have a social life with normal people I would rather be home with friends playing D&D or chatting with my guild on WoW. I am what Urban Dictionary has defined a Closet Geek, otherwise known as: “a person who is truly a geek at home and maybe to some geeky friends, but maintains a public persona that is not geeky.”  I prefer to think of myself as a Social Geek rather than someone who needs to “come out of the closet” so to speak. Although, with the sudden popularity of being Geek who could blame one for suddenly feeling the need to come out?

The world today is in love with the Geek. The stereotype is changing from the socially inept, basement dwelling ugly kid to the smart and attractive CEO of a major electronics company.  Being a geek is now a marketing gold farm, selling everything from miniatures to t-shirts and making a ton of money off the long running inside jokes and styles of a previously shunned population. Did I say previously?

This blog is intended to become my medium to maintain that the stereotype has not altered in the rest of the world. The media fawning over the geek, praising our intelligence and creativity is a ploy of some kind, [insert evil plot here]. Finally admitting to your co-workers that you never show up to Friday night out because you are playing Dungeons and Dragons with friends is still a VERY VERY VERY BAD idea.