November 19, 2007

• "Geek"

  
  

  WARNING: The post below is a long one and may require a large time commitment. Proceed at your own risk.

  I think the term "geek" has outlived its usefulness. I don't think it's offensive or anything, just outdated. When the term was first coined, I'm sure it only applied to those Tolkien-reading, D&D-playing UNIVAC operators. Now that number in the "geek" subculture has swelled, the term has become too broad. It's similar to the word "soldier". It is handy when making a broad generalization about someone ("Ted, he's a soldier"), but it doesn't really offer much description ("Ted, he's a member of the tactical assault team in the one-thousand twenty-third infantry battalion"). With the ever growing amount of geek paraphernalia, one individual whom "normal people" would consider a geek simply does not have time to dedicate themselves to every geeky pursuit. That is why geeks find their own niche and fully engross themselves in it. Anime geeks become otaku/fujoshi, video game geeks become gamers, Star Trek geeks become Trekkies/Trekkers, etcetera. The word "geek" itself is still useful, so long as you append a subject to it, which gives rise to such terms as movie-geek, indie rock-geek, Star Wars-geek, etcetera.
  The term "gamer" presents an interesting challenge. The growing popularity of video games has resulted in a growing number of non-dedicated gamers. They play video games, but they still have an otherwise normal life. They may even have a tan from that dreadful mass known as the sun (the bane of geeks in every faction). They play only the most popular and "cool" series such as Halo, Grand Theft Auto, and Madden. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that, mind you. I fully endorse the playing of any and all games (well, maybe not Driv3r). I just wouldn't consider these fellows as members of the "geek" subculture. I'll still let them call themselves gamers, but they are not the obsessive kind of gamer. I refer to the more obsessed gamers, such as myself, as hard-core gamers. Even this designation, however, has its splits. You have your RPG-gamers, simulation-gamers, classic-gamers, and more. These are the gamers that dedicate most all of their time inundated in their electronic passion. I suppose we should add some more descriptors to separate these groups, such as hard-core RPG-gamers with Square-Enix preferences. I doubt that'll catch on.
  I also don't like the term "geek" because the popular crowd who uses it as a negative term seems to have diluted it with overuse. It seems to have become an acceptable put-down among themselves when doing something that rides far on the fringe of what a true geek would consider geeky. For such minute things as liking sushi or knowing what a lightsaber is, popularity-sheep would jokingly call themselves geeks. They also have a penchant for using the terms "geek" and "nerd" interchangeably. There is a difference, but I'll save that rant for another time.
  What do I consider myself? Hmm… how about a…
  Hard-core simulation-gamer and shoujo-anime otaku with side-dealings as an internet junky and Star Wars-geek.

  • 6:14 am
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