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  1. - Top - End - #1
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    Default Why are we "nerds"?

    This sort of question has been in my head for quite some time.

    Why do we play these kinds of games (Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, computer/video games, Magic the Gathering, etc)

    What is it that we enjoy about comic books (or graphic novels)?

    Why are we so drawn into imaginary worlds?

    Why are we "geeks" and "nerds"?

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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Because it's fun, it gives us something we can talk about and enjoy with other people, and because it's something we find interesting.

    All these things are a sort of escapism, which people need in their lives of school, work, food shopping, paying bills...

    Captures the imagination, and gives us something fun to think about, and lets us push away our worries for at least a few minutes.
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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    I don't know. We like it because we like it? Why do people like football, or James Bond movies, or jogging, or anything? When we read books, play roleplaying games or debate whether Batman could beat up Darth Vader (yes, given enough prep time) we do something we enjoy.

    I really don't want to sound rude, it's just the first thing that came to mind.
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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    I don't think it's about D&D, or the comic books, or the games.

    I think it's the stories behind them, and the idea of being a part of them.

    After all, we are the "Apes who tell stories", as Stephen Jay Gould and Terry Pratchett says.


    Also, where else could I kill a dragon, burn down a tabern, redeem a mortal enemy, or follow the story of a party of unlikely heroes who carry a small cannon named "Rosita" around in a cart pulled by two impossibly unlucky horses named Mortadelo and Bondiolo?

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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    I like to do stuff with friends and I like being creative and I like things that are innovative.

    Combine these and it's pretty clear why I'd like tabletop RPGs and video games with a new kind of gameplay element, or things that were creatively made with good stories.
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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Maybe it is the stories that we're in for.

    Or maybe it is to get some sort of experience that is out of the ordinary.
    Being a college kid, some cubicle worker, or pizza delivery person, or whatever, we all have some sort of wish or desire to be somebody else for a moment, like a knight in shining armor, a powerful wizard, or a legendary hero.

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    Si non confectus, non reficiat.

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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Quote Originally Posted by Drakeburn View Post
    Or maybe it is to get some sort of experience that is out of the ordinary.
    Being a college kid, some cubicle worker, or pizza delivery person, or whatever, we all have some sort of wish or desire to be somebody else for a moment, like a knight in shining armor, a powerful wizard, or a legendary hero.
    Given the diverse range of roleplayers I've seen, I would think that is an over-generalisation, but mostly true for the more asocial RPG players out there.

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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Well, for me at least, I love getting into all of these different stories and worlds that have been created. It's just so...amazing...what the human mind can come up with. I'm fascinated by it. I want to dive into as many as I can.

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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    “Everybody has a secret world inside of them. All of the people of the world, I mean everybody. No matter how dull and boring they are on the outside, inside them they've all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds. Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands maybe.”
    ~Neil Gaiman
    This is why. Because as children of the Enlightenment, we want to explore everything. I want to explore all of my fellow humans, and gaming is a social, fun, creative way to do so. I can't play a character that doesn't exist in me, somewhere. What I can do is stretch the boundaries of who I am as far as they can go, and see what lays outside them.
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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Because I'm in the habit, and it's easier than figuring out a new way to spend my free time.
    Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,
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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?



    This feels relevant.
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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Quote Originally Posted by Brother Oni View Post
    Given the diverse range of roleplayers I've seen, I would think that is an over-generalisation, but mostly true for the more asocial RPG players out there.
    I guess it does, now that I've thought about it.

    In a way, creativity is part of what makes someone a nerd or a geek.

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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Potential.

    The potential to imagine that the world is more than just the mundane and ubiquitous. The potential to imagine other worlds entirely. The potential to see what the future could be and what the past could have been. The potential to consider the heights and the depths of humanity.

    I'm sure this is an over-generalization too, but I think a lot of the people that become nerds enjoy what they enjoy because they can imagine these things so vividly.
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    Anarion's right on the money here.
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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    For me, it's an escapism for academics. I mean, I cannot relate to the athletic's set of recreation. I'm intelligent, and like abusing it (not saying "jocks" are unintelligent). It's because it's appealing escapism for us otakus/nerds/whatever.

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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Quote Originally Posted by Drakeburn View Post
    Why are we so drawn into imaginary worlds?

    Why are we "geeks" and "nerds"?
    Because we are smarter than the people who see only what is in front of their eyes? Because we possess vision, not mere sight, and can look past mere facts to see truth, even when it is fictional? Because we are not satisfied with the meaningless accident of the world that happens to exist, and wish to play a role in a new reality being crafted to perfection, away from this gross matter in a realm of pure Mind?

    Or, alternatively, because Life dealt us a bad hand and we're sore losers, so we now disparage the only game in town as not being a very good one.

    I believe that "nerd" is nigh-synonymous with "introvert", a distinction that applies to only roughly 10% of the population. Extroverts are gregarious and dependant on others, so they form majorities and seek to exclude anything that threatens the cohesion of the group, which introverts do by their very existence. Yet the introvert is still a social creature, just one who prefers a group of 5 close friends to a group of 50 random dullards. Thusly, while all the extroverts are clustered together talking about shoes or football or whatever, the introverts split off into thousands of tiny niche groups around the edges, to exult in their shared interests and to sate their need for a cameraderie which the 90% will never give them.
    Last edited by willpell; 2012-11-29 at 11:09 PM.

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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Quote Originally Posted by willpell View Post
    Because we are smarter than the people who see only what is in front of their eyes? Because we possess vision, not mere sight, and can look past mere facts to see truth, even when it is fictional? Because we are not satisfied with the meaningless accident of the world that happens to exist, and wish to play a role in a new reality being crafted to perfection, away from this gross matter in a realm of pure Mind?

    Or, alternatively, because Life dealt us a bad hand and we're sore losers, so we now disparage the only game in town as not being a very good one.
    Thank you for rerouting this thread's one-way express trip to Planet Unctuous Codswallop.

    I can't even say I feel like I got a bad hand; when it comes right down to it I got one of the best possible ones there is. While there are disadvantages to being an introvert, it's hardly synonymous with being persecuted and downtrodden, and anymore liking dragons and elves isn't generally viewed as terrible either.

    Let's face it, being a gaming nerd is easy. It's all made up, and made-up stuff is easy compared to most of the non-made up stuff. Anymore we've got multiple major industries that cater nonstop to making loads of content for us, so we're spared having to make our own stuff up in the first place. Thanks to the internet we don't have to leave our wizard-statuette filled homes to seek each other out or deal with people who don't care about the distinction between black and green dragons in all but the most minor of capacities. We can, in short, spend inordinate amounts of time thinking about elves, all the while congratulating ourselves on being oh so smart. To this the echo-chamber that is nerd culture shouts back raucous agreement.
    Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,
    When they shot him down on the highway,
    Down like a dog on the highway,
    And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.


    Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman, 1906.

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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    I think that the appeal of nerd activities is, deep down, quite similar to the appeal of sports. It comes down to the universal desire to participate in epic stories, to be heroes in pursuit of a goal. The fantasy worlds that we embrace are a place where we can enact such heroic stories, as the sports arena is for others. We're not so different.

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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    That's not so black and white. I don't do any of those things and I still consider myself a "nerd". I don't think it had a strict definition and if it did it wouldn't be nearly as strict as what you listed. I'll ask myself a similar question but aimed at my nerddom.

    Quote Originally Posted by Drakeburn View Post
    Why do we obsess over music and evaluate the hell out of it to the point where we're an unbearable social burden whenever music is brought up?
    Because music is awesome! It's the vague fandom that just keeps giving. New music every day, new ways to flex those critical muscles, new terms to debate the validity of, new ways to call each other elitists. It's a treasure!

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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    I beleive that everyone has something they excel at. Some are naturally fast, some are smart, some are strong, etc. Some people excel at many things.

    For example, if your main quality is you have an excellent head for numbers, you will likely become a math major.

    What makes us enjoy thing like D&D?

    Probably because our main quality is imagination. We have very strong imaginations, more so than the average person. We can really get into what we are doing, where as other people would look in on a DnD game and be very confused as to what is going on.

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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Quote Originally Posted by Drakeburn View Post
    Why do we play these kinds of games (Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, computer/video games, Magic the Gathering, etc)

    What is it that we enjoy about comic books (or graphic novels)?

    Why are we so drawn into imaginary worlds?

    Why are we "geeks" and "nerds"?
    To a large extent, the "nerd" label is an artifice that encompasses a lot of vaguely related activities, and has more to do with the culture around them that is identified with. Consider your examples - many of those games are extremely prevalent, with video games being a particularly obvious case. When the industry producing a type of media is larger than film's, the argument that those consuming it are meaningfully niche is dubious in the extreme. Take the comic books, which only some particularly like in the first place. Even the imaginary worlds part is suspect, given that a particular interest in certain aspects of our very non-imaginary world is also taken as a sign of nerdiness.

    Every aspect connected to being a nerd, in general, is a fairly ubiquitous one. Moreover, one can easily be considered a nerd without having a particularly strong connection to many of these aspects (to use a personal example: I have almost no interest in the vast majority of comic books, play videogames less than average, and am not in any particular danger of having some sort of questioning of nerd-cred). It's almost entirely a matter of self identification with a broader culture, wherein everyone in it is only really in it due to having also self identified with it. To some extent it has a historical basis, in that significant portions of what is seen as nerdy were at one point genuine niche activities, but even then they were disparate enough that it being a cultural kludge is a stronger hypothesis.

    I'd also note that there is some matter of self imposed exile to a portion of the nerd community. There are beliefs regarding superiority in the sub group, and beliefs regarding persecution that really do not bear out in reality. That nerds are almost monotonically highly intelligent is practically doctrine, propped up by a willingness to disavow the nerdiness of those not seen as bright and to spin certain signs as being more or less indicative of intelligence or the lack thereof than they actually are - see the assumptions that any form of tabletop gaming drastically increases mathematical skills, despite the math being relatively simple in just about every game, barring some of the more complex probability that most don't even engage in. Consider the willingness to identify the reading of any book as a sign of intellect, despite the prevalence of intellectually vacuous nonsense in the genre fiction that is in some cases read to the exclusion of everything else.

    Granted: I say these as someone who is at the periphery of nerd culture in a lot of ways, largely because of the factors outlined above. Even then, I'm only in the periphery due to a handful of hobbies and some degree of curiosity; most of the hobbies hold little appeal and I'd use myself as an example of the presence of people who aren't particularly intelligent who are nonetheless a part of nerd culture to some extent.
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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Quote Originally Posted by warty goblin View Post
    Thank you for rerouting this thread's one-way express trip to Planet Unctuous Codswallop.
    You don't want a little puffery in a forum filled with almost nothing but self-avowed nerds?

    Quote Originally Posted by Knaight View Post
    I'd also note that there is some matter of self imposed exile to a portion of the nerd community. There are beliefs regarding superiority in the sub group, and beliefs regarding persecution that really do not bear out in reality. That nerds are almost monotonically highly intelligent is practically doctrine, propped up by a willingness to disavow the nerdiness of those not seen as bright and to spin certain signs as being more or less indicative of intelligence or the lack thereof than they actually are - see the assumptions that any form of tabletop gaming drastically increases mathematical skills, despite the math being relatively simple in just about every game, barring some of the more complex probability that most don't even engage in. Consider the willingness to identify the reading of any book as a sign of intellect, despite the prevalence of intellectually vacuous nonsense in the genre fiction that is in some cases read to the exclusion of everything else.
    This is probably right, at least in broad strokes.

    The term itself has more than one meaning. People have used it derisively to mean a person that doesn't want to be part of the broader community. And there's some truth to that, since even amongst fans of the same work it can get boring to only talk about the same thing all the time and many people who claim to be "nerds" are socially awkward in various ways.

    On the other hand, the term has become a term of pride, especially in the last decade. And when you use it that way, it usually refers to some combination of passion, dedication, and intelligence, which may be more or less true depending on who's claiming it.

    I will say that I stand by my first post in this thread, unctuous codswallop though it might be. People that are on this forum, specifically, tend to be into RPGs and fantasy. A huge part of that is an interest in world-building and creativity.
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Giant View Post
    Anarion's right on the money here.
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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Quote Originally Posted by willpell View Post
    Because we are smarter than the people who see only what is in front of their eyes? Because we possess vision, not mere sight, and can look past mere facts to see truth, even when it is fictional? Because we are not satisfied with the meaningless accident of the world that happens to exist, and wish to play a role in a new reality being crafted to perfection, away from this gross matter in a realm of pure Mind?
    And now I know the base philosophy for my next Mage: the Awakening character.
    Last edited by Lentrax; 2012-11-30 at 07:22 AM.

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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Quote Originally Posted by Drakeburn View Post
    I guess it does, now that I've thought about it.

    In a way, creativity is part of what makes someone a nerd or a geek.
    Unfortunately even that requirement gets a bit blurry around the edges. Take fantasy football (American and proper), where people who haven't seen dice outside of a Monopoly set or a craps table, are engaged in an activity more in common with a RPG than anything else.
    Premier Manager, a compuer game version of the above, consistently sells well year in and out.

    As others have said, being a nerd or a geek is more a self label and identifying with the culture than anything else - about the only commonality you can say all nerds or geeks have, is an interest in technically or intellectually demanding subjects or hobbies and even that isn't true in some cases.

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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Because the Term "nerd" is specificated to a certain subculture.
    With this I mean that due to a certain cluster of things and activities that amuse us compared to our habits is sorted into this category.

    An example of Taste defines in which subgenre we move. Example:
    A friend of mine listens to electronic music and Metal. Last one more but a few electronic songs to "chill" or have a nice musical trip. This is a feature I share with him. Although he is a music geek, plays guitar and such stuff he doesn't really play video games and is more a (if he is one at least) casual gamer. He goes out partyiing drinking and such stuff. While my interest is in his eyes "more nerdy". I stay at home and play video games or tabletop rpgs or read a book/watch a movie since partying just is against my habit and most of the times... sucks for me. So we both are part of the subculture of "Metalheads" visiting concerts or festivals (although I most of the times don't like festivals... too unsanitary for me...) and listening to a certain type of metal. The thing is he likes cartoons and is a vivid fan of the TMNT (the old cartoon) and although he doesn't read any comics afaik he read fantasy romans and was a gamer in his school years. So he is still a bit nerdy compared to MrNormal.

    So when people call us/you/anyone a nerd then they refer to a certain part of our habit/hobby because they can't really relate. A Footballplayer seeing you playing dnd can call you a nerd... but he is being a nerd also without realising. As someone else "quoted" it's about the enthusiasm but also going away from "the norm". Reading a book here and there is "acceptable" while reading excessively makes you a "book-nerd".
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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Them: Go to school, work at your career for the rest of your life, fill your life with 'real' things, die.
    Us: "Live in your world, play in ours" --Sony


    Most people don't want to focus on the real world very much. Politics, war, famine, deforestation, global warming, etc etc. And that's just a handful of the big problems. Big and seemingly unfightable problems. Living in this world is really just living, which ironically doesn't seem very lively to some.
    A dragon can be slain. Robots can be smashed, aliens can be nuked from orbit. A Wizard can be defeated. Magneto loses to the Xmen from time to time. They are solveable problems. We like to live in world/s where the problems are solveable or at the very least fightable. Living in this sort of world is exciting, empowering, fun, far more living to do in such a world.

    Then there's the minmaxers. Gives their minds something to do. And naturally leads into that balance of power in arguements such as Darth Vader VS Gandalf or other such crossovers.
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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jallorn View Post


    This feels relevant.
    Great quote but oh god that typography hurts so badly...
    At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman, and these hills, the softness of the sky, the outline of the trees at this very minute lose the illusory meaning with which we clothed them, henceforth more remote than a lost paradise.
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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    I've always just assumed that good roleplayers, nerds, and geeks are simply the smarter members of our species and must rely on more potent forms of entertainment lest we get bored and build doomsday machines to wipe out the ignoramuses that have somehow managed to infect the entire planet... The kind of idiocy that idolizes the Jersey Shore or Paris Hilton...

    No, Nerds and geeks are simply people who must use more mentally stimulating drama, action, satire, and romance to get any novel happiness from a world with a tragic lack of intellect.
    Last edited by Doc_Pippin; 2012-11-30 at 10:50 AM.

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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    mmmh I'm a bit unconfortable with the "expectations" that come with the nerd/geek badge.. more and more people I talk to, who themselves are not identifiable as geeks or nerds, seem to think it is a complete package of things and that if you haven't got the entire package, you're faking it.
    so if you're a geek you don't "just" like computers, you also play videogames, RPGs, you go to conventions, you like science fiction and fantasy, you like heavy metal (), you have 0 social skills, you are supersmart and a bookwurm, you have at least one unusual/artsy/weird hobby, you like Anime.
    or at least, this seems to be the perception of what being a geek is all about I encounter more and more..sometimes within the geek comunity itself too...
    as for myself, I like and appreciate a fraction of the above, dislike some of it and have no opinion on other similar subjects..also, I'm definitely not supersmart.. I still identify as a geek/nerd (whichever of the two is the more acceptable term of today).
    by doing so, more than once I've been asked super-brainy stuff or to help out with computers, or random geekish trivia on the principle that being a geek I must know all there is that keeps geeks across the globe occupied.
    Last edited by dehro; 2012-11-30 at 11:11 AM.
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    Default Re: Why are we "nerds"?

    Also, as a side note, I have more non-nerd friends than nerdy friends, I go to all my college's American Football games, I run cross country and I don't really like Salvatore or his genre very much, I feel like most Anime that I've seen is overdone, and I'd rather hang out with my "normal" friends and get dinner than debate Darth Vader v. Gandalf. I still play D&D and DFRPG, though, and I enjoy it. I don't, however, own any dice or little wizard figures.

    I suppose I don't have enough nerd cred to talk, do I?

    EDIT: Oh. And most of my "normal" friends are smarter than my nerdy friends. On average.
    Last edited by Wyntonian; 2012-11-30 at 11:30 AM.
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