Jimquisition: Fake Nerd Girls

[Matthewmagic]

I hate too say it, but I don't think this is a conversation worth having.

The only kind of person I can imagine believing in "Fake nerd girls" would be the kind of elitist snob who takes their opinion as fact. These people can not be persuaded, and should not be entertained. They are the Wesboro baptist church of the nerd community and giving them a voice could only ever serve to detour women from enjoying our medium, as they already do.

I can imagine a girl being mistaken for a "Fake nerd". Maybe she is just now getting into video-games, comic books, what ever. She doesn't know all that much but she is learning. None of up slid down the slime chute with the solution to every dungeon in LOZ:OoT memorized. Let's face it, when we are younger games definitely appeared to be a "boy" thing. (This may be less true, or completely untrue today). While many women enjoyed them, some may be getting into them later. This is true for men as well.

Anytime you hear the phrase "Fake Nerd Girl" applied to a women on the internet, or in that bright and scary real world. Stand up for her, show her that not all of us are raging morons. Discuss the sect of nerdyness she likes with her, and even if her knowledge is less than yours, treat her as you would any guy who didn't know of a game you really like "Oh dude, you MUST play Earth Defense Force."

God forbid we be inclusive, and approachable to new comers.

 

[kaizen2468]

I sort of dislike anyone who is a facade.

 

[Sylocat]

No one is geek checking 15 year old girls....

*snip*

So, I assume you also want to geek-check every male con-goer, right? And exclude every male geek who isn't as knowledgeable on every aspect of geek culture as you insist every woman must be? Or has the possibility never crossed your mind that such people could exist?

I can't speak for Matthew, but no, I wouldn't geek check a guy OR a girl unless they came up and initiated the conversation with ME regarding the topic of gaming/sci-fi/comics/anything deemed nerdy by society.

Besides, I don't consider this geek checking, more like feeling out the level of knowledge and interest so that I can start a decent discussion without boring the other person to death; not to see the "geek street cred".

Good for you.

But that's not what matthew_lane is doing.

 

[13thforswarn]

The thing that annoys me is not so much the "fake geek/gamer girls", but rather the "real" geek/gamer girls who, as Jim said, need to show credentials in order to be accepted. Kinda recently, The Game Station (they're a channel on Youtube) got a new host for their "Remag" gaming news show after the old host left TGS to pursue other goals. I remember the old host having to explain how the new host (who was a girl) was better than him by listing all her credentials. I don't blame them for doing so, but it's kinda ridiculous. Can't people just take their word for it that she's a "real" gamer girl? Why does she need to prove it to the viewers?
Similarly, one of my favorite Youtubers, also a girl, was asked if she Was faking her enthusiasm for gaming. Really? I'd think making gaming related content for two years would kinda put any doubts to rest. People and their stupid witch hunts for shit that doesn't even matter.

 

[Matthewmagic]

The only kind of person I can imagine believing in "Fake nerd girls" would be the kind of elitist snob who takes their opinion as fact.

But heres another case of the fake gamer girl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMYOBSmeUNE The video contains failed porn star alana sonnen who got caught out faking knowing how to game on a pay sight called pwnedbygirls. She was caught out faking playing, with a controller that was clearly not turned on, with her son in the background actually playing for her.

In fact of all the videos about the "fake gamer" on youtube, as a subset of the fake geek, the predominate trend is that they are actually made by women. Videos like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORKW7oSZYZQ

So now you know that fake gamer girls do in fact exist.

EDIT: If anyone knows where to find the above video, where two girls at a fighting game contest completely get owned & so start talking shit about sexism in gaming & how the female characters aren't just there to be drooled over by guys, please drop me a line. I really want to get that video URL again, because it really does perfectly showcase the attention seeking behaviour of fake gamer girls

So I watched your video, then went to the website. I can't find a way too say this without being patronizing but it is a porn site. "OMFG, that guy isn't a real pizza delivery guy. That girl on the jack hammer in her bra isn't a real construction worker." I mean you have to be kidding me, none of these women are doing anything more then a job, and you shouldn't take it personally when they don't do the activity they are selling. This isn't really a thing and you know it.

Okay I have not seen that video the video you are referencing. I'm willing to bet that these girls are more likely noobs then fake nerds. Maybe they played a video game on a whim, or maybe their nerd-em lays in some other realm.

Do I have to defend the position that fake nerd girls found on porn sites do not count? If someone is trying too sell you a fantasy, that is all that it is, a fantasy. This does not represent any real person.

Your second video, strikes me as a bit more too the point. People using sex appeal to sell content is nothing new. video games do it all the time. What makes them any less of a gamer? If they are just whoring for views they are doing the same thing 90% of youtube is doing. If they genuinely like games, they are gamer. If they are faking it, how does that make them any different from almost anything else on the internet.

If this is your arguement, then I must propose that we need to stop worrying about fake gamer girls, and start concerning ourselves with the fake zombie population, sparkling vampires, and psycho slashers.

 

[Agente L]

I wonder why it's somewhat acceptable (or simply acknowledge and not bothered) to call off posers in other sub cultures, but apparently not in gaming. It's only because the "girl" part?

 

[Randlesman]

I don't know any nerd girls, 'real' or 'fake'. Feel free to weep for me

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

snip

You can either have have well dressed female video game characters or skimpily dressed cosplayers.

They are only dressing in costumes that already exist after all. ;-)


I think this whole argument is pointless. They aren't doing anything to harm people even if they are big fat fakers. Let them be.

Wow, look at this cosplayer designing his cosplay around pulling the ladies. What a smug bastard. Clearly our entire geek culture is going to cave in because of his existence. Shun the non believer SHUUUUUUUN-NA /sarcasm.

So they are cosplaying for attention...simple solution don't personally give them attention. There you can sleep at night now.

 

[Chives on top of me]

Wow 22 pages of this nonsense.




Clearly some people in this thread do not have a lot of life experience. Marketers/advertisers "lie", they are trying to sell. A product, a service, an idea, a lifestyle...If they can get you to think about what they are selling or discuss it that is a win for them. There is nothing new or unique to the "gaming culture" about this.

As for regular people...both men and women "pretend an interest" in the others activities for attention this is not new either. Although there does seem to be a need to point out that not all women who are not HARDCORE gamers are seeking attention from any random "geeks".

Geek checks...wow if this is a thing then those of you who subject others to this are elitist little shits who desperately need a life.

 

[Matthewmagic]

1. Except it is a thing: Its a thing full of fakes. You made the statement that there was no such thing as a fake gamer girl, yet in your own words, the website i directed you too is full of people being fake, pretending to be gamers. So by definition there is such a thing as fake gamer girls.


2. I wish i lived in a universe where i could play in televised tournaments on a whim.


3. Except for two major points
1. The given site was not a porn site, it was a site where you could supposedly game with female gamers, but weren't really
2. It sdoesn't matter if it was a porn site, the only qualifier here is if the said women are passing themselves off as geeks while not being geeks. I mean how is this any different then the girl who goes to a con wearing a bikini & pretending to be a character she knows nothing about?

Theo nly qualifier for being a fake gamer girl, or geek is if you are pretending to be either a gamer or a geek, while being female & not being either a gamer or a geek... Or in some cases even a girl.



4.See also previous statements about slutty cosplayers who call themselves geeks. I'm sorry mate, but you've just been forked: Mortons Fork that is. By your own words, either slutty cosplay girls who show up specifically to be a sexual commodity are not geeks at all, in which case we are right to geek check them, or they should not be geek checked because we should take them at face value, as we should the fake gamer girls on the previously mentioned site.

5. The undeniable fact is however that fakes exist & they exist in plenty at the moment, because male geeks over the age of about 23 have a readily disposable income. Frankly, its very similiar to the idea of a subset of women going to college to pick up a MRS degree.


The second video wasn't trying to show that anybody was fake, it was showing that the predominate trend in people calling out that kind of "look at my boobs, because i'm a girl playing COD in my panties" style players, are other women. Yet the pretense is always that its mean old men picking on poor little girls, who just want to belong.

6. no actually it doesn't. Geek is not a synonym for "aware of [insert name of subject]." I'm wearing pants, that doesn't make me a fashion industry geek though, does it.

1. It is a porn site you tool. If you can't tell the difference between people trying too trick you and people trying to get you too pay them money (by consomption of one thing or another) then you are either twelve, or grew up in Omish Country.

2. Yeah the more you tell me about this the less I believe you. First off since when are fighting games televised. Secondly since when do television executives not screen their contestants. Third, since when is anything that happens on television not scripted. Even reality TV has been shown to be extensively cut to convey a certain narrative.

3. Yes, it is porn. and yes it does matter. No one there is trying too trick you, you should know better. There should be no issue of "exposing" anyone. they aren't faking it to trick you, they are faking it for the sake of "Performance art." How is it you can't tell the difference between these two things.

4. Buddy I have bad news. This is where you get sexist. I was going to try avoiding using that word but you went there and now I'm calling you on it.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltau5f2fAK1r51bw9o1_500.jpg SO is he a fake gamer because he combined sex appeal and cosplay. How do you know these people even exist have you spoken too someone who doesn't know their characters? Are you sure they where not hired? Or dragged along by their friends becuase they needed a pink power ranger?

I still don't believe this happens, if a girl shows up in cosplay just to be sexy and stand by a booth or something, I get that. That is what we adults call jobs. But there are better places to seek sexual atention than cons, and frankly it is egocentric of you too think that just because a girl is dressed in "slutty" cosplay (hint: most female cosplay is slutty, after all it was designed by men) she wants your attention. She most likely couldn't give two shits about you or the high horse you rode in on.

No one is trying too trick you. You are not such a sexual target for anyone that they care for your attention. The only time they try to ellicit it is when they are trying too sell you something.

5. No at about age 23 you can recognize this shit for what it is.

6. it is against the law to go naked. No one forces you to play games.

I feel you miss the bigger point. Sex symbols will always exist but that doesn't give you the right to rape them. Many females in geek culture are designed to be sex symbols. Frankly it doesn't take the high degree of intelligence most geeks like to pretend it does to be a geek. and maybe if you didn't dismiss attractive women before they dismissed you, you would find you had a lot in common. hey, what do I know.