The most positive geek influence on your life

[StereoMike]

I was just responding to a thread in the gaming discussion forum about which console had the most influential effect on your life, and I posted this response, which got another response:

If I were to go by total gaming time it would be the ps2 or the original xbox. Specifically SSX tricky and Halo. Me and my friends poured entire summers into those games.

If I was looking at influence, a game system that impacted how I live my life, I would have to go with the PC. When I was really young (3 or 4) I desperately wanted to play Monkey Island because my dad was playing it. The catch was there was no voice acting and I couldn't read. So I spent a ton of time just trying to sound out the words so I could play the game. That's right: video games were probably the major motivating factor, and prime teaching tool, that got me to read. I was the only kid in kindergarten who was reading.

It is also the main reason I can't take these idiotic anti-videogame lobbyists seriously.

That was me and comic books. According to my parents and my grandma, she (my grandma) got tired of hearing me ask "what does that say?" from the age of 1-3 and saw that I loved anything with the Spider-Man character on it that she got me a few issues of Amazing Spider-Man and a subscription to it and taught me to read using them at the age of 3.

That was one of the anecdotes I always use when I heard teachers telling students that comics are a waste of time and nothing can be gained from them. (Basically video games are going through now what comics did during the 50's with Fredrick Wertham)

Which got me thinking: What's the most positive thing you've gained from geek culture? Was it a reading thing like the two posts here? Was it a social thing you gained from Dungeons and Dragons? Was it a marriage thing (i.e. did you meet your spouse at a convention/online/in WoW)?


Just share you positive geek experiences and how they helped shape who you are today.

I don't know if this is in the right part of the forum. If not, would a mod please move it for me?

 

[tzimize]

The most positive geek influence of my life? Fun. Pure entertainment.

Learning is overrated, fun is where the fun is. I've had fantastic amounts of fun thanks to my geekyness and my computer. So thanks PC, and all you other people who make entertainment for me to enjoy through digital channels.

Thank GOD I dont have to spend so much time around actual people.

That said...gaming was a major motivation/reason for me to learn to read too. I used to sit with my Sega 8-bit manuals learning to read and learning english. The norwegian/swedish text was on one side, the english on the other. Read->compare->learn.

Also...I played some RPGs. A lot of text in those. You learn a lot of english from them. (not counting fantastic translations such as the famous all your base are belong to us...)

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

But the bit that really started it all off?


However...There was also a high point in Horror, Science Fiction and Rebellion. Blake's 7, Sapphire and Steel, The Tomorrow People, The Prisoner, Doctor Who...

 

[Mr.Squishy]

D&D, for being and introducing me to a hilariously awesome social game and a fantasy world and combat system that just works.

Felicia Day, for all her work eveer and proving that nerds are fucking awesome. Discovering her works helped me gain immense joy and self-confidence.

Joss Whedon for many of the same reasons as Felicia.

I'll post more if I remember more.

 

[CrashBang]

For me it would be either my PS1 or the early 90's Spider-Man and X-Men cartoons. They introduced me to comic books and nerd culture in general
Or, obviously, Star Wars. I was only 6 when I saw the original trilogy on VHS and, to this day, they are still my favourite films

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I see conversations with a dialogue wheel like in Mass Effect. I just always make sure to pick the paragon options.

Or, y'know, letting me cool off steam enough that I didn't commit suicide when I was younger.

 

[LostAlone]

I honestly couldn't say that I have gotten that much out of geekness in general aside from entertainment. Don't get me wrong, its been like twelve or so years of really awesome entertainment, but thats been about it.

I guess I'd have to say the 'best' thing I've gotten is a love of scrawling through books putting together the right bits to make what I wanna do, which has proven to be a useful skill in academia.

Other than that... It's just been fun really, not drastically effected the rest of my life.

 

[omegawyrm]

Neon Genesis Evangelion and Fate/Stay Night (the VN) both helped turn me away from my teenage life direction of being whiny, self-centered, and pessimistic, and I love them for it.

And I met my fiance through a friend of hers I was in a Science Fiction literature class at our college with. He invited me to a weekly thing a group of their friends did where they play Japanese Mahjong, which I had gained an interest in and learned to play by watching the TOTALLY AWESOME anime Akagi. I met my fiance for the first time on the first time I went to one of those game nights.

 

[rubinigosa]

Games has learned me to control my anger cause you always lose when you are mad so now when I am a bit older I am a pretty calm person which is also very good when I get into arguments.

 

[Duskwolf]

Strangely, for me it's the reading thing, with games like Monkey Island, Loom, DotT, etc... which lead me to MUD-ing, which lead me to coding, which resulted in programming and running servers, which lead me to networking... And all but the last two points I taught myself using games.

My personal standards in life and what I demand of myself came from all that, I set very high standards of myself, but I still think it has to be fun to do... Which translates into my current gaming, where I run a guild over 4 different games, as a result of one of those games, and those standards, I ended up with one of the best relationships I've had in my life also.

It's also allowed me to be more patient in my worth with the people I have to deal with day in, day out... And taught me there are ways around having to deal with them at all. Ignorance is bliss, and all that.

 

[LorChan]

Sci-fi gave me a sense of community after my father died. I was into gaming for a while, then moved into Doctor Who and never turned back. Before that I was an otaku, and what's worse is that I was the weeaboo variety. After my dad's death I couldn't take it seriously anymore. I was all far too ignorant and naive. The fandom was immature and the content was shallow. I still like some anime/manga series - +Anima remains dear to my heart, as do Noein and Godchild. But video games and sci-fi helped me find a community and a pursuit that mattered to me. Now I really do feel a part of something real, and it's dedicated to something made with love.
When I miss my dad I open my copy of The Shooting Scripts and read Paul Cornell's beautiful episode Father's Day. It makes me cry, sometimes.

General geeky-ness lead to fanfiction, which gave me a love for writing, my passion, and taught me how to write well.

 

[Nemu]

Entertainment.

And a gf who might actually love gaming more than me.

Also, memories of when I was a kid & playing games with my father before dinner. Going to age myself, but we'd play Atari every night and it was amazing fun in my mind's eye. Since my father passed, it's something I often think about, especially when I read/hear about parents who hate games and feel as though they are damaging to kids. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.