So much depression, cynicism, and outright madness on the Escapist recently, let's talk about something a bit more light-hearted, shall we?
Clarification: Before we begin, understand that I mean the terms "geek" and "nerd" in terms of fanaticism, not academics.
I was at Magfest earlier this year, living it up as I usually do at cons (if you were there, I was Louis [http://images.wikia.com/left4dead/images/f/f0/Louis_1.png] with a sword), when I saw on the schedule two events slated for Saturday at midnight: a Q&A panel hosted by Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson, and another about "Nerdicism: Video Games, Comics, and Anime as a new religion".
I originally was to head to the Egoraptor panel, because... c'mon, Egoraptor! But alas, I was too late as the room was filled to the brim with fans, so much that there was a small handful of fellow con-goers eagerly waiting for a seat to open so they could joyfully hop into it. My dreams crushed, I glanced across the hall to where the Nerdicism panel was coinciding. Now, originally I was put off by the description:
Over the course of the panel we talked about various subjects: influences of Japanese animation in America and vice versa, the man behind Stan Lee and possibly the true creator of the X-Men, the parallels of science fiction and fantasy, Transformers porn (don't ask), and a shocking yet perfectly reasonable correlation between sports fans and nerds/geeks.
But here's the piece of the panel that stood out the most to me: for a brief moment towards the tale end of the panel there was a brief discussion of "the nerd" versus "the geek" (hence the thread title). The panel host then went on to explain how he and his colleagues/friends classified each:
The "nerd" will go to a con dressed as his/her favorite character - for ease, we'll use Cloud Strife [http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/5/5b/Ff7ac-cloud-render.jpg] from the Final Fantasy VII series (yes, series). He/she will have an almost authentic - and, as such, expensive - costume topped off with hair meticulously formed, framed, and colored, will have a lovingly-crafted replica of the Buster Sword (Cloud Buster?), and will essentially be a real-life version of Cloud himself, right down to personality and mannerisms. The "nerd" will purchase FFVII memorabilia from fan-art to games to movies to maybe even a live Buster Sword (and lemme tell ya, you need some forearm strength to even lift those bitches, let alone hold them properly). And when all is said and done, he/she will go home, play FFVII or watch FFVII: Advent Children, or maybe blog about it, or maybe create some fan-works of their own.
The "geek" will go to a con dressed as his/her favorite character - for ease, we'll use Cloud Strife [http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/5/5b/Ff7ac-cloud-render.jpg] from the Final Fantasy VII series (yes, series). He/she will have an almost authentic - and, as such, expensive - costume topped off with hair meticulously formed, framed, and colored, will have a lovingly-crafted replica of the Buster Sword (Cloud Buster?), and will essentially be a real-life version of Cloud himself, right down to personality and mannerisms. The "nerd" will purchase FFVII memorabilia from fan-art to games to movies to maybe even a live Buster Sword (and lemme tell ya, you need some forearm strength to even lift those bitches, let alone hold them properly). And when all is said and done, he/she will go home, and proceed to rape face in, say, CoD, or Street Fighter. Or he/she will watch [American] football or some other major sporting event.
In essence, the "nerd" loves [insert chosen fandom here]. The "geek" simply likes [insert same chosen fandom here]. And with the exception of maybe 2 people (if that), the audience was in agreement, myself included.
Let's extend that same assertion here - how many of you agree or disagree and why? Do you have any examples or stories you would like to share yourselves? Or perhaps you wanna know about the parallels of the "sports jock" (if you will) and the "nerd/geek"?
Clarification: Before we begin, understand that I mean the terms "geek" and "nerd" in terms of fanaticism, not academics.
I was at Magfest earlier this year, living it up as I usually do at cons (if you were there, I was Louis [http://images.wikia.com/left4dead/images/f/f0/Louis_1.png] with a sword), when I saw on the schedule two events slated for Saturday at midnight: a Q&A panel hosted by Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson, and another about "Nerdicism: Video Games, Comics, and Anime as a new religion".
I originally was to head to the Egoraptor panel, because... c'mon, Egoraptor! But alas, I was too late as the room was filled to the brim with fans, so much that there was a small handful of fellow con-goers eagerly waiting for a seat to open so they could joyfully hop into it. My dreams crushed, I glanced across the hall to where the Nerdicism panel was coinciding. Now, originally I was put off by the description:
expecting an amorphous mass of loud, rabid fanboys with a very obvious disrespect for dissenting opinions and common hygiene (yes, they really exist and I've seen them). Between debating going back to the Game Room yet again and standing in line for Egoraptor, I finally said "fuggit" and peaked inside. Despite my expectations, it was mostly quiet, with the dozen or so strong audience in rapt attention of the panel host, the listeners themselves as diverse as the mane that sits atop Rainbow Dash's head (I can't believe I just used that reference). Short and sweet, I was pleasantly surprised.
Over the course of the panel we talked about various subjects: influences of Japanese animation in America and vice versa, the man behind Stan Lee and possibly the true creator of the X-Men, the parallels of science fiction and fantasy, Transformers porn (don't ask), and a shocking yet perfectly reasonable correlation between sports fans and nerds/geeks.
But here's the piece of the panel that stood out the most to me: for a brief moment towards the tale end of the panel there was a brief discussion of "the nerd" versus "the geek" (hence the thread title). The panel host then went on to explain how he and his colleagues/friends classified each:
The "nerd" will go to a con dressed as his/her favorite character - for ease, we'll use Cloud Strife [http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/5/5b/Ff7ac-cloud-render.jpg] from the Final Fantasy VII series (yes, series). He/she will have an almost authentic - and, as such, expensive - costume topped off with hair meticulously formed, framed, and colored, will have a lovingly-crafted replica of the Buster Sword (Cloud Buster?), and will essentially be a real-life version of Cloud himself, right down to personality and mannerisms. The "nerd" will purchase FFVII memorabilia from fan-art to games to movies to maybe even a live Buster Sword (and lemme tell ya, you need some forearm strength to even lift those bitches, let alone hold them properly). And when all is said and done, he/she will go home, play FFVII or watch FFVII: Advent Children, or maybe blog about it, or maybe create some fan-works of their own.
The "geek" will go to a con dressed as his/her favorite character - for ease, we'll use Cloud Strife [http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/5/5b/Ff7ac-cloud-render.jpg] from the Final Fantasy VII series (yes, series). He/she will have an almost authentic - and, as such, expensive - costume topped off with hair meticulously formed, framed, and colored, will have a lovingly-crafted replica of the Buster Sword (Cloud Buster?), and will essentially be a real-life version of Cloud himself, right down to personality and mannerisms. The "nerd" will purchase FFVII memorabilia from fan-art to games to movies to maybe even a live Buster Sword (and lemme tell ya, you need some forearm strength to even lift those bitches, let alone hold them properly). And when all is said and done, he/she will go home, and proceed to rape face in, say, CoD, or Street Fighter. Or he/she will watch [American] football or some other major sporting event.
In essence, the "nerd" loves [insert chosen fandom here]. The "geek" simply likes [insert same chosen fandom here]. And with the exception of maybe 2 people (if that), the audience was in agreement, myself included.
Let's extend that same assertion here - how many of you agree or disagree and why? Do you have any examples or stories you would like to share yourselves? Or perhaps you wanna know about the parallels of the "sports jock" (if you will) and the "nerd/geek"?
