Are YOU Geek Enough?

[Jason 'Termy' Winstanley]

I'm definitely a geek. I own a Doctor Who 10th Doctor Sonic-Screwdriver, and a 11th Doctor Who Sonic-Screwdriver. I'm an Editor of an up-coming Gaming News and Review website, and when I heard Skyrim was announced, I was extremely excited.

Which I'll expand on. I was in bed, with my boyfriend lying next to me, and it was early on in the morning. My housemate knocked on the door, stepped in (which effectively brought me into awake-but-not-aware-mode), and said "You were right". To which I asked, "....Whaa?" "They announced Number five. Elder Scrolls", he said stepping out, at which I was fully awake, and smirking. I grabbed my dressing gown, left my boyfriend lying there, wondering what the hell was going on, and went to watch the trailer.

And I love getting Collector's Edition games when they are released, and love having all my game soundtracks on my laptop and phone. Because I'm geeky enough to want to use them as ringtones.

 

[Outright Villainy]

Wow...good job guys. You all made me feel profoundly...normal.

I'm studying engineering at university...but it's mining engineering. Practical, not really nerdy.

I'm an ex-WoW addict. I had to quit because it was slowly ruining my life socially and mentally.

I love movies, but not as much as others. I love music, but not as much as others.

I'm a profoundly moderate person. So...uh...you guys win?

It's okay man, I feel your pain.

I can't even build my own computer, and I couldn't even get a handle on basic c programming (enough to pass my lab, but by christ I'm not touching that again.)

I am pretty geeky about music though. I love complex time signatures, progressive bands, though I never learnt any theory outside of the minor pentatonic scale.

I was basically like "Fuck it, I'll learn it all myself."

 

[everfreeDragon]

Well this morning as a joke I compared one of my teachers punctuality to Valve, no one laughed as they had never heard of Valve time.

Me, my girlfriend and a guy in Canada are working on our own Tabletop RPG from scratch.

Spoiler: I got this Longcoat after watching Firefly for the first time.

My first cosplay was a Regulator from Fallout 3 in celebration of New Vegas being released near that date.

Once I have the parts and tools I plan to build a working Hidden Blade.

Spoiler: For this last point I shall let my monocle do the talking

Edit: One last point, in my part time ICT course I was not only ahead of the class but the teacher was learning from me.

 

[ho Huios tes Moiras]

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
version 3.12
GAT d--@ s+:+ a- C++ U---@ P L+ E? W+@ N o?
K- w O- M-@ V? PS+ PE Y PGP- t 5+ X R tv b+
DI++++ D G e>++ h-- !r y++*
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

...what?

Is that Malbolge? I can't make heads or tails of it.

Nope, that's Geek Code, which you can assemble and translate at http://www.geekcode.com/geek.html (Or you can get a quick decode at http://www.ebb.org/ungeek/. It's also a great way to make sure your code is up to snuff!)

I haven't done mine since before I went to university, so let's see what mine looks like now...

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version 3.12
GC/AT d- s-:++ a- C+++>++++ U*@ P+
L+++ E- W+++ N++ o K@ w+++ !O !M V
PS+ PE Y@ PGP++ t++(-) 5@ X@ R+++
tv(+) b++++ DI+ D++ G++ e++*>+++++*$
h r y+*
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

There needs to be a segment for language, methinks. Anyway, it may not be a picture per se, but think of this [http://whollycrapproductions.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/n-ary-x-bar-conjunction-trees/] as a snapshot of the kind of crap I think about.

 

[Veldel]

I play tons of game
I have star wars books
I built my own lightsaber
I dont like WoW but I do play FFXI online and have played 20 other MMO's
I love to play Chess and Risk
I am in the processs of building my own PC
I play games from the SNES still and I own a old Pong System
I hate the sun <_<
I read comics
I have cosplayed before

 

[Queen Michael]

Wherever I go, I carry with me a d20 die and a manga book.

 

[loc978]

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
version 3.12
GAT d--@ s+:+ a- C++ U---@ P L+ E? W+@ N o?
K- w O- M-@ V? PS+ PE Y PGP- t 5+ X R tv b+
DI++++ D G e>++ h-- !r y++*
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

...what?

Is that Malbolge? I can't make heads or tails of it.

It's an identifier... designed to let one geek know what an other geek is like, in code.
I'll let its creator explain it.

The Geek Code is basicly a (small) part of Internet history. When I did the first incarnation of the code back in '93, it was as a lark. Eventually, it evolved into the form you see online now and has remained virtually unchanged since that time.

I've always meant to, and still hope to, someday get back to the code and release a new version for the new century that was more modern and hip and all that. Several things happened. First, the internet of 1996 was still a wild untamed virgin paradise of geeks and eggheads unpopulated by script kiddies, and the denizens of AOL. When things changed, I seriously lost my way. I mean, all the "geek" that was the Internet was gone and replaced by Xfiles buzzwords and politicians passing laws about a technology they refused to comprehend. Think about it, this was the infancy of even the world wide web, when having a "DotCom" address wasn't hip (and wasn't a billion-dollar snowjob by the ICANN).

Still, I always said to myself "Self, some day you'll get over it and write the new code."

AND SOME DAY I WILL!

However, until that time does arrive, The Geek Code stands as it does now, still in the pure and pristine form it was intended. A testament to the history of the Internet, however small a part it may have played.

here's the proverbial decoder ring:
http://www.geekcode.com/geek.html

 

[MassiveGeek]

I'm studying to be in the artist branch of the game industry, preferably I want to work with concept art.

I played WoW for 3 years, and for the last 10 months or so I was a hardcore raider.

I've spent 207 hours on Dragon Age: Origins alone, and actually made a drawing of my character:

Spoiler: Contains some blood, so all the wussies know.

I've spent a total of 195 hours on ME&ME2.

When I went to London during a vacation with the family, I didn't buy clothes or souvenirs - I bought a Pokémon game(Heart Gold to be precise).

I've probably spent at the very least 300 hours on Fallout 3, probably even more.
I own about 31 games in total, but have played a lot more.

I'm addicted to coca-cola, and once spent a math lesson calculating how to aquire the most coke for the cheapest price.

I own around 80 manga books and have all seasons of Gunslinger Girl and Kino no Tabi/Kino's Journey.

We own practically all movies by Miyazaki and all the good Disney movies.

I have Jackie Earle as Freddy Krueger as my background pic on my phone and computer(<3).

In every conversation I've had today, I've made at least one reference to a game.

I've watched/listened Let's Plays by agentJR on youtube for SH1-4 at least three times each, usually while drawing.

I play Magic the Gathering(and have two apps on my phone related to them) and own a Yu-Gi-Oh! deck.

I credit my skills in the English language not to school, but to my gaming and movie/cartoon obsession(primarily WoW and the Simpsons).

I roleplay, both IRL and on the internet/msn on a regular basis.

... Hmm. I can't think of any more for now. For randomness, if I don't get to be a concept artist, I'll freelance and be part time truckdriver(oh yeah).

 

[Artina89]

I am studying for a Biochemistry and Biological chemistry degree, and I always find myself amused when someone makes a joke that is science related. Hmmm.... I am known to spend days on a videogame if the fancy takes me and I don't have any work to do, the last game I sacrificed a portion of my life (and possibly my soul) was Persona 4. I couldn't stop until I had maxed out all the social links I wanted to and done all 50 quests, not to mention I once spent about 4 hours just fusing Personas. My brother wants me to do Persona 3 FES. I also really love ice hockey and I have to look at the scores and the averages of the players. In the summer replace ice hockey with baseball. I don't know if there is anything particularly geeky but I don't mind.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

A "true" sci-fi geek would complain that both Star Trek and Star Wars are barely even science fiction (Star Trek is at the very, very "soft" end of the spectrum, and Star Wars is more like fantasy set in space) and then go back to the Nerd-Cave to read instead, because there's relatively little sci-fi stuff in TV/movie form that isn't so soft it's squishy. As much fun as both of those are (and I've spent many, many hours with both and enjoy them), they're not nearly as geeky (and usually not nearly as good, in my opinion) as some of the books and short stories out there. I'm probably a bit biased by growing up with access to a pretty significant collection of books from the Golden Age, though (a lot of which I was lucky enough to be given by my uncle, who was into them when he was growing up).

Touche, although I've read my share of golden age stuff too. I do tend more towards the pulp side of the spectrum, though; hard scifi can be good, but I don't like it when the fi is too heavily bogged down by the sci.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I lean a little toward the hard side usually, but sometimes they get a bit carried away and the story gets lost. And some of the pulp stuff is just so much fun that it's hard not to like it.

 

[(whitty name here)]

Yeah anime and touhou pretty much. Plus I'm getting into programming, taking advanced physics, you know, normal stuff...I can't think that last part seriously let alone type it so it must be a lie.

 

[Leemaster777]

I like to think of myself as a "buffet" nerd.

I've stuck my grubby little fingers in just about every aspect of nerdiness... short of Harry Potter and DnD, oddly enough.

I collect Transformers, I've played Magic: the Gathering and Yugioh, I play all kinds of games (including PC), I've got a rather large collection of DVD boxsets (everything from Chappelle's Show to Justice League), I've got almost every Batman movie ever made (I'm missing a few of the animated ones, and Batman Begins), I love JRPGs, I watch anime (current favorites being Death Note and Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt), I read Scott Pilgrim, I love everything superhero-related, I've got posters on my wall for South Park, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Kingdom Hearts, and to top it off, I've got a near-complete collection of Power Ranger morphers:

So yeah, I'm a nerd of the highest power. Bow before me.

 

[TehCookie]

I wore a cosplay dress to prom. No one noticed.

Spoiler

 

[DreadfulSorry]

I wrote an undergrad thesis paper about artistic motifs on Augustan coins specifically celebrating a diplomatic victory in the manner of a militaristic one. I read Juvenal and Tacitus for fun, sometimes in Latin. I've been on four archaeological excavations in Italy, and got more excited about finding a drainage ditch than human remains (which were Medieval so who cares). Sure, I play video games/read comics/watch anime, but I am a True Geek for the Romans.

 

[Not a Username]

Pokemon and Transformers are my crack. For one, I have two separate TF collections in two locations, dating back to at least Armada and with a cutoff date of whenever Hasbro stops making the toys (PLEASE be never). Also, my goddamn profile pic is Darkrai's Gen V sprite, which would be moving if I could get the gif to work, and I've been monetarily invested since at least Gen III.

 

[Drake_Dercon]

I spend almost all my free time reading web comics, playing video games, starting dead-end creative projects, writing rules to tabletop RPGs, posting my opinions on the escapist, paying attention to politics, reading holy texts of varying faiths for my own personal amusement, watching anime, researching science, playing tabletop RPGs, listening to bands that young people stopped being interested in before I was young people and participating in the cancerous phenomenon that is Magic: the gathering.

Proof and universal response to the nerds vs. geeks:

I prefer nerd; I don't know why, I just do. I go by either, though.

Some people call me mentally disturbed, but that's for something different.

 

[ChipSandwich]

I remember this one time I saw a female. It was a strange and intimidating experience.

 

[hem dazon 90]

IM SO PROWD OF BEING A GEEK GUIZE11!!!1


Jesus people get over yourselves. Just because you like nerdy things doesn't make you special in any way.

 

[Fappy]

At my current rate I should have about 25 full normal-sized comic book boxes by the time I am 40. Some evidence:

Spoiler

This is a pretty oldish picture and I'm pretty sure I have two more full boxes and about a stack of 100 comics without a home currently.