Natural Selection Can Suck It.

[tk1989]

Nerds would survive because we can see our own health bar

Ah yes, but what about modern FPS's which don't use health bars?

We'll just sit behind a wall and regenerate for a few seconds.

Also don't forget that when we search our pockets for collected inventory, time stops. So we have the space-time continuum backing us up.

Also we can access the console. sv_cheats 1

You are all forgetting our greatest attribute!

Quickload

 

[tk1989]

Why does everyone keep saying this? There health bars in Halo 3, Team Fortress 2 (technically a cross), and just about any game I play.

Yeah, there is a health bar in TF2... but not in Halo3. You get a shield, but that regenerates in the same way as health does in other games. Once your shield is down you have no real way of gauging how much health you have, unlike in Halo1 where it showed both your shield and health bars.

 

[Treblaine]

You know, it's funny...
Assuming there was a nuclear/zombie/raptor apocalypse, you'd assume Mother Nature would intend for the fittest, most healthy humans to survive, right?

Mother nature doesn't intend SHIT. She is not some supernatural being or any sort of "being" with any intentions because she is nothing but a metaphor.

One thing you have to understand about evolution and life is it happens simply because it happens, what exactly happens and precisely why it happens and also what WILL happen are complex and non-trivial questions that cannot be adequately summarised as there are so many factors must be considered.

Big consideration in a zombie scenario, it will hit many many times faster than the life cycle of a human. That means you just won't have any time for the "proliferation" stage as survivors won't have time to have kids and raise them to adulthood with the skills they used to survive. All that will simply happen is all the people.

One thing that *Might* happen is after a certain period of a zombie outbreak is you can probably guarantee the few humans that are still alive/un-zombified are going to be immune to the zombie virus.

Say the chances of you having genes that makes you immune is 0.01% - pretty low odds - but say an entire continent of 1 billion people are infected, all those without immunity die or become zombies, but the only ones who survive are those who were infected. 0.01% of 1 billion is 100 people.

I don't care how good you are at fighting and surviving the zombies, infection is virtually unavoidable, a massive pandemic viral outbreak will infect everyone only those who can fight AND have at least some resistance to the virus will survive. Take Left 4 Dead, only 4 people in a relatively large town yet to spite getting attacked are immune to the infection. At town of 40'000 people 0.01% of that is only 4 people.

What we are talking here is nothing but dumb luck, randomly assorted genes that just so happen means the virus can't get a hold on your DNA. So in preparing for the zombie apocalypse you either need to be INCREDIBLY lucky, or train EVERYONE in zombie survival in hope that the one person immune to infection also has the skills to survive.

The good news is if you have immunity then chances are your family members will be immune too. So you get to live out the apocalypse with your parents... sucks, I know.

Oh, and pro tip for the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. If you find a girl or guy (opposite gender) who is immune, better consult some dating tips as if you want to have a child who will survive in this world your best chance is to woe him/her to have a baby together... to get their precious zombie-resistance genes! Of course you can't be made immune but at least your lineage will likely survive and who knows they may combine with genes for your fighting prowess (how else did your survive the zombie apocalypse) to make the best adaptation.

That's life everyone, when the shit goes down, it's time to make babies.

 

[Seanchaidh]

You know, it's funny...
Assuming there was a nuclear/zombie/raptor apocalypse, you'd assume Mother Nature would intend for the fittest, most healthy humans to survive, right?
But that's not what's going to happen. We, the unfit, unskilled video-game nerds are going to live through it, while all the olympic athletes and manly muscle-men get eaten/vaporized/infected. That's all because we are the ones who plan for this sort of situation, whereas the healthy athletic people are busy doing other things, like exercising and populating the planet.
So, "Survival of the Fittest" isn't exactly going to work this time round. You know you've screwed up your planet when the wrong group of people survive the end of it.

All that would mean is that we're the best adapted to the new environment. Changes in the environment motivate selection just as well as mutations and competition can.

 

[Amnestic]

olympic athletes and manly muscle-men get eaten/vaporized/infected.

*snip*

As an old, black, female gamer who often acts like a dick, I seem to be the embodiment of all that repels zombies.

You know, I've always found it amusing that people in threads like this actually think they will survive the initial outbreak/fallout/whatever. We'll all probably be some of the first people to turn into zombies/die.

I for one welcome our new radioactive zombie velociraptor overlords.

 

[Kaisikudo]

Are we suggesting here that playing video games can prepare a person for the horrors of the Apocalypse?

Don't get me wrong, I'm young, fit, healthy and certainly more intelligent than average ... But I'm still screwed in an "End Of The World" scenario because I'm not ruthless enough to do what's necessary to survive. I couldn't just abandon others who needed help, so I could save my own backside. If my family all turned into zombies, I'm not emotionally strong enough to kill them before they ate me. I love them too much. I would probably just shove them back (unless they were my 6`6 Dad), before running away and crying for several hours.

If I was the kind of person who had no emotional attachments to anyone or anything...
If I was ignorant and selfish enough to ignore the desperate cries of other survivors...
If I had a frame of mind that allowed me to kill things quickly and effectively, in the most brutal and violent ways...
If I had no real need or longing for communication with other people...
I don't really think I'd be very proud of who I was.

The Apocalypse SUCKS, man. It's not fun, it's not a game. No friends, no electricity, always scrounging for food. It would absolutely drive anyone insane. You would have to either already be clinically insane, incredibly lucky, have Super-Sunshiny levels of optimism or just be a complete asshole in order to survive it.

(Possible ideas for the Characters in Left 4 Dead Three?)

Surival Of The Fittest? Maybe. But I think it's more about being able to cope with changes in your enviroment and lifestyle. To be honest, I think I'd be better off dead than living in a Wasteland anyways.

 

[Cheesus333]

Nerds would survive because we can see our own health bar

Ah yes, but what about modern FPS's which don't use health bars?

We'll just sit behind a wall and regenerate for a few seconds.

I lol'd. A lot.

Why are zombies and velociraptors so impossible anyway?

 

[Kuchinawa212]

Hmm, a good point. Except I am not very well equipped to handel a zombie bashing my door down then a professional athlete is

 

[DeadlyYellow]

I can't help but wonder how many of these 'nerd survivors' will kill themselves when they realize they can't play anymore videogames.

 

[Asturiel]

I would say nerd's will not survive the first couple waves for one simple reason, practice scenarios do NOT equal actual training. Shooting an imaginary gun is not the same as shooting a REAL gun. Let's face it too in order for the human race to repopulate you need to find OTHER social outcasts who are doing a simmilar thing to you, hiding and shooting anything that moves (food or zombie, win win). You have to convince you arnt also a superzombie trying to kill them as well(sanity is a delicate thing in those sorts of situations).

I would say that the nerds do have a slightly better chance of surviving the first set of waves due to the paranoia, but the people who will ultimatly survive are the strong and fit in body who are paranoid as well.

 

[Srkkl]

Survival of the fittest doesn't always pertain to the strongest, more the people who have adapted to survive.

 

[aarontg]

I suppose its true to a very far extent, just watch zombie land.

 

[TMAN10112]

.....Don't you think that there might be another group of people alot more prepared then nerds? Like Survivalists, maybe?

The so-called "nerds" which you speak of, would be no better at surviving an apocalypse then your average FPS player would be at surviving a firefight.

 

[silentsentinel]

You know, it's funny...
Assuming there was a nuclear/zombie/raptor apocalypse, you'd assume Mother Nature would intend for the fittest, most healthy humans to survive, right?
But that's not what's going to happen. We, the unfit, unskilled video-game nerds are going to live through it, while all the olympic athletes and manly muscle-men get eaten/vaporized/infected. That's all because we are the ones who plan for this sort of situation, whereas the healthy athletic people are busy doing other things, like exercising and populating the planet.
So, "Survival of the Fittest" isn't exactly going to work this time round. You know you've screwed up your planet when the wrong group of people survive the end of it.

Really? Do you really think that you'll have the ability to keep calm under fire? Be able to outrun a zombie(of the 28 Days Later variety) after your ammo is exhausted? Be able to travel long distances and forage for food effectively?

Lots of nerds think they plan for a zombie apocalypse, but planning and doing are not the same thing. Just because you can blow a zombie's head off in a game does not mean you'll have perfect aim in real life. Just because game characters don't feel fatigue doesn't mean that you won't.

 

[FleaJr]

Pretty sure Survival of the Fittest is not to do with who conforms to whatever physical or mental criterium you put on it, but more to do with who can adapt to the new environment the fastest and most efficiently.

Also I call into question the validity of the claim that nerds have a plan. They have an internet plan. Theory and practise are two very different things. Maybe one or two people who have these so-called plans on the Escapist pull them off without a hitch and don't die in the initial wave of nuclear/zombies/velociraptors.

Couldn't have put it better myself

 

[zauxz]

You are an optimistc idiot.

Nerds, idiots and the weak would die first.

Then normal people.


The smart, the cunning and the strong would POSSIBLY survive.

 

[MrDarkling]

Gathering by most of the posts here your theory sam_g seems to be incorrect.

 

[ValentinesAshes]

For a nuclear holocaust, I've got to agree with those who've said that it'll pretty much be random who survives and who doesn't. Natural selection is the basis of evolution and I fail to see how the "fittest" humans can be any more successful in forcing a million years of evolution into a couple of seconds than anyone else. The survivors would be more or less random. Unless you support a government conspiracy akin to the Enclave in Fallout 3, where the best and brightest are selected for survival and the general population are sacrificed or experimented on. As much as I love the camp robots and two-tone computer terminals of Fallout 3, next to no technology would survive in reality and those survivors with computer skills would find themselves with no further use for them. I envision more of a barbaric post-apocalypse where our evolution would be forced back on itself and brute strength and savagery would be more advantageous.

Zombie apocalypse would be more or less random at the start - even those that claim to have a plan would find their assumption that they'll find a shotgun (and ammo) just lying around, an unwrecked car filled with gas, other uninfected survivors, food or even that they'll see the signs in time to survive the initial onslaught has proven to be the fatal flaw in their plan. Of course, if the government quarantines the area or simply nukes it then your plan might as well be to shoot yourself in the head.

As for the Rupture - I doubt any amount of planning would do any good in light of the almighty God of the Bible. You shouldn't worry about this anyway; even if God does exist, I'm sure mankind will destroy the world long before he can.

 

[magnus gallant]

im pretty sure survival of the fittest refers to species as a whole, not one single person, you can be the strongest animal in the world, but if youre sterile, then your species will die out whenever you do

also, im pretty sure nerds will die out, myself included, i mean, zombie apocalypse, how many of you could run say 400 meters to get away frmo 300 zombies moving at an average pace


not i


and probably not you