"Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

[Nachimir]

It's very odd, but a consequence of the terms they're trying to use. They've also occasionally tried to claim parallels with racial tolerance and religious freedom.

 

Choice is at the heart of this; most of the identity politics they're aping are based around non-chosen characteristics like race, gender and sexuality. As a result, identity politics based on "nerd" or "gamer" look ridiculous from the outside, but they probably make perfect sense to someone mired in it and focussing on the idea that the world is victimising them. It's an identity drawn from a persecution complex while everyone else just getting on with making and playing games. That last point is quite telling: it's as defensive as it is challenging, and this morning I've seen a few people easily name such positive portrayals.

[Griddlelol]

I personally can't think of positive portrayals, but that's because I've always considered "nerd" and insult. While this probably sounds reductive, but I think these people who consider video games to be so important really need some ambitions.

I think the persecution complex is accurate.

[Denial]

Abed from Community and Ben Wyatt from Parks and Rec are the ones that sprung immediately to mind, but without knowing what is meant by "nerd" it's hard to tell... I interpret "nerd" as meaning someone with an interest in a thing or things far in excess of a quote-unquote normal level - so, one can be a military history nerd, or a car nerd, or whatever. Like "gamer", it's a term that covers a hugely larger catchment area than the group that is seeking to use it as an identity here.

[Twig]

I personally can't think of positive portrayals, but that's because I've always considered "nerd" and insult.

PART OF THE PROBLEM PART OF THE PROBLEM

 

I affectionately call all my friends and myself nerds. It's good. Everyone's a nerd about something.

[Nachimir]

Abed from Community and Ben Wyatt from Parks and Rec are the ones that sprung immediately to mind, but without knowing what is meant by "nerd" it's hard to tell... I interpret "nerd" as meaning someone with an interest in a thing or things far in excess of a quote-unquote normal level - so, one can be a military history nerd, or a car nerd, or whatever.

 

Yep. I don't think I've ever used it as an insult, though I once understood it as one. I've used and heard it as a term of affection for someone who's deeply into a given thing since, I don't know, 2008. I have no doubt some gaters have been horribly bullied on this kind of basis, but on a wider cultural field clinging to the most pejorative use of nerd is a weirdly tenacious and blinkered persecution complex. Alpha-dickheads like Roosh and that lawyer siding with them whilst barely masking their contempt points to a sad ending for a lot of it.

[CollegeBaby]

I think this encapsulates my feelings towards "nerd" and they way it is used.

 

 

 

I agree persecution complex is a very apt description of the GG reaction to the diversification of gamer culture. When women want to be treated like humans, others complain that they want to enslave or destroy men. When homosexuals want to get married, others complain that they will destroy marriage and turn our kids gay. When minorities want to abolish racial segregation, others complained it will dilute the prestige of white men. When scientists and environmentalists complained government is not doing enough to mitigate climate change, others complained that it will turn the country into a Communist dystopia.

 

When critics suggest games are kind of sexist, others complain journalists want to destroy all games and kill all gamers.

 

Sometimes I can't believe I'm the same species as some of these troglodytes.

[Bjorn]

I didn't think this shit could get any weirder, but Roosh starting a gaming site proved me wrong. A quick look and search doesn't show KiA talking about it (I may have missed something, not going to discount that). Imagine that, gg not talking about a raging misogynist creating a site just for them.

[Merus]

I don't know if positive portrayals of nerds are really relevant given that nerds run the Internet and pop culture these days. Nerds have power.

[Twig]

I don't know if positive portrayals of nerds are really relevant given that nerds run the Internet and pop culture these days. Nerds have power.

I think that's the point, though. These people still think it's the other way around.

[Henroid]

I'd link just the image but the text of the tweet itself helps sell it:

https://twitter.com/danthat/status/532570729544683520

[Henroid]

Here's the positive portrayal of nerds: Steve Jobs. Or Felicia Day. Chris Hardwick. Junior Mints. In other words, folks that do shit with themselves, having careers, impacting the world, not basing themselves ENTIRELY on their nerdy enthusiasms, etc. It's funny to me that people on the net call people 'fake nerds' or 'fake gamers' because those individuals aren't talking about just video games 100% of the time; maybe they box, or bar hop, are music enthusiasts, etc. This whole "gamer" identity bullshit is exactly that, and fuck people for willfully limiting themselves and their potential.

[Twig]

I'm a gamer.

[feelthedarkness]

Spinning Gamer off into a Gender seems like a mistake when they could go all in on it being a technologically derived race. This would allow them the great dream of playing their own race card.

 

Also, A++ to the guy who said "never read the comets" on that twitter post. 

[SuperBiasedMan]

 

Women are not specifically burdened by the institution of marriage/family.

 

 

I know there's a lot of incorrect presumption in that but the quote I pulled was the most fart worthy to me.

[Denial]

I don't know if positive portrayals of nerds are really relevant given that nerds run the Internet and pop culture these days. Nerds have power.

 

Kinda sorts - but that's part of the problem. The kind of nerd who runs the Internet is usually Stanford or MIT educated, often comes from solid money, and can code, or manage coders. I'm trying to remember the article I read recently that pointed out that you have to stretch the definition of "geek" a long way when you talk about the geek aristocracy to make them remotely resemble the people in middle America watching Star Trek movies and playing Call of Duty.

 

This is one of (many!) problems with the "Gamers as Third Gender" infographic - it forgets that it's talking about gamers halfway through, and starts talking about nerds instead, when not all nerds are gamers and not all gamers are nerds. And it has a view of nerds that actually seems to be based more on The Big Bang Theory than actual experience. There are lots of people into geek culture, and into gaming, who aren't academically excellent, and for that matter there are lots of gamers who are not particularly into nerd culture.

[Problem Machine]

You might want to make a new topic about this. These are interesting questions but kind of hard to get into the specifics of, and this is really more a thread to discuss GG's BS.

My short thoughts on this is that this is probably unfortunately what a lot of entry level stuff will look like, and there's probably not a lot you can do about it. These sound like legit concerns, but probably not worth making waves over if you're still new on the job? Then again, if your sense is that they're open to this kind of feedback then feel free to give it a shot. If you're looking for data to support your hypothesis, maybe you could search through the Gamasutra archives to see if anyone's written about it?

[Blambo]

Regarding nerd portrayal:

+ detailed and immersed interest in niche culture

- absolutist, incapable, existentially tied to interest and forces personal metrics of quality onto the world, myopic world view, obsessed with custom masculinity to cope with being rejected by society's, sees niche interest as means to status/self-worth afforded by outsider status and this interest

So I guess Lisa vs Comic Book Guy.

[Twig]

I don't even think it has to be a niche culture. It just has to be one you're passionate about. Gaming isn't niche anymore, as we can all agree, but I'd still qualify anyone super duper into games (like myself) as a gamer nerd butthead.

[Mangela Lansbury]

If you want to see positive nerd portrayal, just find any piece of media featuring an Indian who isn't a doctor or a gas station clerk, or about half of the roles allotted to Asians. Maybe those aren't taken into account because they're just stereotypical portrayals of model minorities, but they're still there.

Or just look at popular perceptions of the people who play certain roles (Marvel movies, Doctor Who, Star Trek/Wars) after they say in interviews how much they liked this nerdy thing growing up -- particularly how they either become more beloved or how the perception of them doesn't change at all.

[Blambo]

I feel like then my definition is entirely made up of negative stereotypes and the only thing I like about them can be described without the epithet: "disciplined, interested person".

[Twig]

Your negative "definition" is all connotation, though. Plenty of words can be good or bad based on how people use them. This is why I generally use them in a positive way.

 

You fucking nerd.

[Blambo]

Ah sure. But this word is more often used for that specific image of a human being so I've glued it onto my definition.

[Henroid]

This discussion about "gamer" is actually what Leigh Alexander's article was meant to be about. I agree with her that the label is dumb and outdated. I really would rather encourage people to think of themselves as being more than just this one thing. I've tried talking to GGers about it; most don't get what I'm saying, a couple did but didn't agree, and only one said I had a point.

 

This extends beyond just video games though. A lot of subcultures are crap in that people try to identify with just one and go to full extremes, to the point of not wanting to invest time in other pursuits because it will ruin their identity. As far as extreme behavior goes that's akin to the GG shit, the closest example is music, particularly when it comes to metal and punk (whether it be actual punk or modern day 'punk').

[Bjorn]

This discussion about "gamer" is actually what Leigh Alexander's article was meant to be about. I agree with her that the label is dumb and outdated. I really would rather encourage people to think of themselves as being more than just this one thing. I've tried talking to GGers about it; most don't get what I'm saying, a couple did but didn't agree, and only one said I had a point.

 

This extends beyond just video games though. A lot of subcultures are crap in that people try to identify with just one and go to full extremes, to the point of not wanting to invest time in other pursuits because it will ruin their identity. As far as extreme behavior goes that's akin to the GG shit, the closest example is music, particularly when it comes to metal and punk (whether it be actual punk or modern day 'punk').

 

So what you're saying is that some of the gg folk you've spoken to don't understand moderation and diversity.

[Twig]

If I call myself a gamer, it is neither dumb, nor outdated. It is a word I use to describe a part of myself.

 

I feel like a broken record. Guys, just because you don't want to identify with a word doesn't mean other people aren't allowed to. It's not "dumb" if I consider gaming important to me. It's not "dumb" to use a word to easily identify that importance. It's only dumb if I don't acknowledge or allow for things outside of that part of my identity to exist for both myself and others.