Why Christian Geeks & Gamers? What About Nerds?
I’m a Christian, a husband, and a father. But, of much lesser note, I’m also a geek and a gamer. Why “geek” and not “nerd?” Well, I grew up when “nerd” was neither complimentary nor fashionable. Far too many people who claim to be nerds are actually geeks or nerd-wannabes. As one who’s been living among these two groups of people since the 1980’s, I’ve always felt there’s a strong boundary in-between and, although often used interchangeably, the terms should not be. So, let me set the record straight for all those who may think they know what a nerd is and claim to be one when they should really call themselves “geeks.”
Here’s Your Sign…
A nerd is socially inept, fashion blind, and clueless about such matters. They tend to focus on academics and classical areas of education.
A geek can be socially inept outside of their particular realm of geekery. They tend to be fashion aware but often indifferent about same, unless the fashion in question is related to his or her particular obsessions. The geek can have regret about their social ineptitude, but not so much when it comes to a beloved topic, obsession, or interest. They tend to focus on one or more niche interests.
Both are often quite intelligent.
Geeks tend to be clueless about other points of view—either of themselves (proclaiming themselves proudly to be nerds) or their obsessions. If you find someone misclassifying a geek as a nerd because the other geek geeks out over something they’re not into themselves, they’re a geek. If you find a fanboy belligerently arguing over their area of obsession online? Geek. Also, nerds don’t troll, at least not well (too socially inept), but some geeks do. Geeks can be boorish and pretentious. Nerds laugh in a dorky fashion at insider jokes that only other nerds and a few intelligent geeks would get. Nerds tend to be more linear and laser-focused, being what they are not by choice but by nature. Geeks have a world of options at their feet and choose to geek over those things they fixate upon.
I’ve never been a nerd. I certainly wouldn’t call myself a nerd now. When I see some young, attractive, seemingly intelligent people excitedly proclaiming themselves nerds, I shake my head, look at my wife, and we give each other that look. We’ve had that conversation many times before. I don’t think anyone chooses to be a nerd. One either is or is not. Many choose to be geeks by throwing sensibility out the window and spending hundreds of hours creating (or enjoying) or hundreds of dollars buying costumes, action figures, graphic novels, art, etc., etc.
Cosplayers? Geeks. Way too intense about fashion to be nerds.
Why? Okay, we’ve all seen nerds dressed up to attend conventions and movies. If they still look like dorks while doing so, they’re definitely nerds. If they look attractive, cool, impressive, or “awesome” while doing so, they’re geeks.
Pocket protector? Nerd. Definitely a nerd. Never in a million years would a geek be caught dead using one.
T-shirt and jeans? If everything else fits, it’s a geek.
Bill Gates? Nerd. He’s received a lot of help these past couple of decades, but go back and look at how he looked, dressed, and acted in the 90’s and before. Nerd. All the way.
Geeks are NOT Hipsters!
I’ve seen some info-graphics out there designed to clarify this, but none of the ones I’ve seen are very good. One from MastersInIT(dot)org presents a list of films supposedly preferred by each group, and I have to say I like several on both lists. I do not get why they think Anchorman is a geek film. Not sure why Battlestar Galactica made the nerd list either. Some of the information suggests they’ve confused geeks and hipsters. Not the same thing. Not at all. One can be both, but none of the geeks I’ve known were hipsters. Maybe if they live on the coast? Mid-western geeks might be a totally different animal. Also, I wouldn’t use an Apple if my life depended on it. I make all my art on PC. I don’t use Linux because it doesn’t meet enough of my needs. I’m not an early adopter, but I do pursue a broad range of interests which include fantasy and sci-fi. Although I enjoy gadgetry, one may be a geek and not geek out on gadgets. Gadgetry is just another area for geeks to be geeks in.
So, yeah, I’m a geek and not a nerd—definitely not a hipster either. Please don’t use the terms interchangeably. They aren’t the same at all.
What About Gamers?
We learn about ourselves and the world through play, so there isn’t anything essentially wrong with playing games. In some ways it’s as valid as practicing and training for pursuits generally taken more seriously, like sports, martial arts (and not just the hand-to-hand kind), and all sorts of careers. I’ve always been a geek for a variety of things—Star Wars, Star Trek, role-playing games in general, tabletop wargames, board games, video games, Batman, Spider-man, Conan, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and xenomorphs. I’ll address this topic more in my next post, but suffice it to say, gaming is a fundamental aspect of my being. Although I’ve kept it on mute here for many years, I’m bringing it out now because I feel that my duty as a Christian is to be an ambassador for His kingdom here on Earth. He designed me for a purpose. If I deny a fundamental aspect of myself, I’m not doing all I can to present Christ in a positive light to those who might be able to relate to Him better through shared experiences with me. I have some concerns, but I will address those in my next post. Hope to see you then.