This is why I hate "Fake Geek/Gamer Girls"

[runic knight]

snip

Based on this and GunsmithKitten's post I suspect people have misread that line. This is my fault; I will try to clarify.

When I said "They're as mythical as the fake gamer girl who pretends to like Warcraft in order to get into a male gamer's pants" I wasn't saying that misogynistic neckbeards don't exist. I was trying to draw a comparions between one offensive stereotype (misogynistic neckbeard raging at the presence of ovaries at a comic book convention) and another popular one (manipulative female trying to seduce innocent nerds through dishonest cosplay)

I was pointing out that they're as fair a represenation of the male gaming population (or, if you prefer, the subset of that population that gets upset at cultural appropriation) as the manipulative cosplayer is of the female gaming population. You can find examples of both, but they don't accurately represent the demographic in question.

Putting forward examples of misogynistic neckbeards doesn't really address the point. I totally agree with you in stating that elitism and its inbred hillbilly cousins sexism and racism permeate every aspect of modern culture to some degree. I also agree that all those neckbeards you list are, indeed, bearded in the neck region, and I wouldn't want to associate with them (I have met people like that myself.)

The point was that focussing the discussion on those extreme, nonindicative examples both a) overlooks the more relevant question of how a subculture should react to the trappings of their culture being appropriated by the mainstream and b) risks categorising one side of the argument into an offensive and inaccurate stereotype.

More importantly, it's lazy, because everyone can hate a misogynistic neckbeard like the examples you listed, but it's much harder to hate an otherwise reasonable person who is nevertheless upset at the possibility that marketing firms pay public relations people to pretend that they like video games in order to influence his purchasing attitudes with a false sense of camaraderie.

Anyway, I hope that was clearer.

Very well said there.
I think too many people get hung up on the vocal jerks to see that they are more off-shoots of a larger concern by a number of gamers, that being the fakeness and marketing towards, and some issues I touched on earlier in the thread concerning distrust and dissatisfaction with changes in goals and quality of the product they make their hobby out of (games).
And it is a bit disingenuous to call out the stereotyping of the fake gamer girl as representative of a larger portion of those new to the hobby, while in the same breath pointing at the misogynistic douches as fair representations of gamers unhappy about current growth in their hobby. It kills the discussion and resorts in a fox news level of debate: that being, not one at all, but instead preaching opinion disguised as "debate"

 

[Rastien]

There's enough hate and cliqué-ism going on in the world. Why don't people try being more inclusive for a change?

Geeks of all people should understand what it's like to be hated/excluded. Turning the tables doesn't make it better, it only perpetuates the cycle. You need to be better then the people who mistreated you in the past, which means you need to be nicer to them, then they were to you.

This sums up my feelings exactly, don't turn into the douche-nuggets that you hate so much

 

[Archer666]

This is pretty much all I'm seeing when I see people talking about FAKE GAMER/GEEK GIRLS. I have no idea how girls being interested in video games/"Nerd" stuff makes them evil either. Just relax and let others enjoy your hobby.

 

[PH3NOmenon]

While the video touches on a valid point, to me it fails to recognise the most important part of why "fake nerds" are so annoying.

You see someone wearing a shirt or talking about how much they like to read or some such like, purely by happen-stance, and you think you've found a kindred spirit. Finally, a woman who's very much into fantasy novels, I can ask her what she thinks the missing parts from LotR would've looked like on screen! Finally, a guy at a party who'll gladly talk about how regenerating health takes away from the tension in FPS's. Finally, here's someone who can explain the appeal of jRPGs to me, because I never really understood but they just loudly exclaimed that they're really into them.

But those expectations don't get fulfilled. You ask "Oh cool, you like pokemon? How do you feel about the whole "gen one" argument?" And all you get is a blank stare and a profound feeling of having made a fool out of yourself.


If the commodification of the culture would lead to an actual acceptance or a mainstreaming of the culture, then I'd call that a fair trade. I'd be a happy man if I can talk about Edmund McMillen's work during lunch breaks at work, rather than about what sports team X did to sports team Y or what Reality star Z did to reality star A. But that doesn't happen, sadly.

 

[Palmerama]

Hi, I've been playing video games since the Atari. We never had a "culture" (at least not one that was specific to gaming and not linked to nerd culture in general) until the late 90s at the earliest. We don't have a long and storied history to be defiled. But even then, if you're unhappy about that "culture" being "sold en masse", then supposedly fake gamer girls (who haven't been proven to exist in statistically significant numbers) aren't the people you need to be mad at. You need to be mad at Doritos and Mountain Dew. You need to be mad at every company that makes "gamer" versions of their products. You need to be mad at companies like Alienware, and anyone else who makes high end PCs with superfluous LEDs for decorative purposes, or anyone who produces PC mods that accomplish anything beyond making the PC faster. You need to be mad at X-Box and Playstation and Nintendo. You need to be mad at everyone who has published or promoted a spunk-gargle-wee-wee game. You need to be mad at everyone who ever sold a toy, model, or knick-knack inspired by a game. All of those people are "selling" gamer "culture".

To accuse someone of being a fake nerd is to say they aren't nerd enough. To say that does not make the person who said it a true nerd or a true gamer- it makes them a hipster. Instead of being a pretentious hipster proclaiming their love of x band before it was "cool", the gaming hipster proclaims their love of gaming before it was "cool", and sneers down their nose at anyone who isn't with "it" as much as they are. Hipsters suck. Don't be a hipster. Hipsters who are misogynists suck worse. Don't be a misogynistic hipster.

This! Even during the Megadrive & Super Nintendo days there wasn't a culture as loads of kids had these consoles! Though they were also still advertised as toys aswell! I agree it wasn't until the Playstation came onto the scene where a 'culture' started to develop! This may have had something to do with the massive influx of people new to videogames and the PS1 as their first console!

 

[Loonyyy]

You want to know with my problem with this is? The people who complain about "fake nerd girls" are the same people who were complaining about real "nerd girls" ten years ago. All men, all insecure, thinking their hobby is safe an impenetrable... I mean, Jesus Christ, what? The hobby is being "commodified"? A hobby... built around rampant consumerism... is being commodified. Oh. I'm so sorry.

This.

This is a commercial thing, OP, and I don't understand how someone could be so ignorant and wrong. Your "culture" is the buying of specific products, and the enjoyment of specific products. Don't think that makes you special. You're a fucking consumer like everyone else, and someone else starting consuming your particular brand of entertainment an arbitrary time after it's cool to do so does not make them fake. You're no different from the NASCAR fans, the football fans, or the guy with a room full of china dolls. Don't make being the consumer your defining aspect.

Fuck, if you actually are stupid enough to believe in the fake geek/gamer nonsense, think for a fucking second: How many geeky properties are you an expert on? How far back does your knowledge go?

Because frankly, you'll have a shitload of blindspots. Can you name every ATARI/Nintendo game? Do you know everything about Marvel and DC comics long history and continuity? What sort of knowledge of the physical sciences, computer sciences, and mathematics do you have? All it takes is one person who has a slightly different knowledge set, and you'll look, by your definition "Fake" to them. There is no standard for what is true geek.

And, buying spiky belts in Hot Topic is an example? People were buying studded and spiked belts to wear them, or buying studs and spikes and putting them in belts, before they appeared in Hot Topic, but they were buying those things somewhere else. It's clothing, it's commercial, it's nothing to do with a subculture or fakery. Punk Rock on iTunes? Geffen, Epitaph and Fat Wreck Chords all sell artists on their label on iTunes. Oh look, the independant punk labels use iTunes, because it means they can sell their records to the people who want them? Who'dathunkit? And you know what, I think NOFX and Bad Religion might just be a little bit more of an authority on the subject. Artificial scarcity doesn't make a culture authentic. That something is niche, is to do with what has been made, not pretending that it's rare. By that logic, the Cremaster Cycle would be an authentic insight.

Instead of trying to exclude people willy nilly for arbitrary and bullshit reasons, why not realise that they're interested in the same niche as you and just shut the hell up? Because, if you like it, it's not unreasonable that someone else does.

 

[Loonyyy]

EDIT: Double post. Delete at earliest convenience.

 

[Mrsoupcup]

I blame big bang theory.

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

I blame big bang theory.

this is a much more meaningful post than I think the poster realises.

The Big Bang Theory is a great example of what people are talking about when they say they're upset at "fake" gamers. BBT is a by-the-numbers college sitcom draped in the superficial trappings of nerd culture, in a fairly shallow attempt at appealing to that demographic without actually sharings its interests or even really understanding what it's talking about. Instead, they just go over stale sitcom plots and occasionally name-drop Green Lantern or Jean-Luc Picard.

BBT is cultural appropriation, and the reason why nerdy people like me find it a terribly offensive show is that most of the time, the joke is on us - BBT ridicules the subculture it pretends to be a part of. Its target audience isn't geeks; it's people who want to make fun of geeks. Almost all of its jokes are based around some permutation of the concept that gamers and nerds are borderline autistic loners with no social skills and an obsessive mind for useless pop trivia or incomprehensible scientific jargon.

We're at this weird stage where gamer culture is sufficiently mainstream that a "geek sitcom" would get made, but not yet at the stage where the media can actually treat gamer culture with anything approaching maturity or respect. So we get these half-assed attempts at cashing in on our interests without actually engaging with them. We get the Big Bang Theory.

If you're like Archer666, and all you hear is "I'm a misogynistic elitist!" when someone says "I don't like fake gamers," look at the Big Bang Theory. That's what those people are talking about. It's hardly elitism to get upset at a shitty sitcom that appropriates the trappings of your subculture for the sole purpose of making fun of you.

It also shouldn't have anything to do with gender, but everyone acts like it does, and frankly that obscures the core issue.

 

[crepesack]

This guy is full of himself. His analogy kinda sucked. And you don't have to be a dysfunctional, emotionally abused person to be a nerd...

 

[Urh]

Overall video games is experiencing a commodification of a culture where what used to have meaning is being sold en masse and this makes people who are actually part of that culture mad. It would be like if I played 10 minutes of basketball and called myself a professional athlete and tried to fit in with other 6'4" basketball players.

The best example is the punk rock which was anti establishment but now you can buy punk rock on iTunes and buy spiky belts in Hot Topic.

I'm of the opinion that video games have always had the trappings of commodity. What is Mario if not a blatant corporate mascot? All that's happened is that what was once a niche brand has busted out into the mainstream (and this was the ultimate goal of the industry from day one). Much of the rage I see over "fake nerds" I regard as nothing more than elitism - something a (once) small group of people have cherished like a Rolex has become a metaphorical Casio Digital Watch, and I reckon that this has screwed with some people's sense of identity. People become so attached to their sub-culture they just can't stand the idea of it becoming part of popular culture.

 

[Quadocky]

Oh my god, this video, its awful. Why did I watch it?

Not only that but he doesn't seem to recognize that almost all nerd culture is based around commodities.

Overall it is more like a misanthropic rant.

Oh wah video games are popular and mainstream, guess its time to obsess over some other expensive distraction that white middle class males generally have access too

 

[crimson sickle2]

If you're just wanting comments about the video since no actually argument is made by sir Toilet, I didn't agree at all. some "fakers" genuinely like the videogame/sci-fi side of culture, because that side has permeated into almost every other side of culture. Is sci-fi and video games becoming popular really a bad thing? We're getting more and more tech to play with and comic book movies are the current flavor at the movie theater. "Pacific Rim" would not have happened before. There may be some who put on airs and act like a stereotypical geek for some incredibly scary mental disorder, but I've never met them and they need a psychiatrist, not internet videos reprimanding them.

The biggest problem I had was how the speaker thought a geek/nerd needed low self-esteem to be classified as one. That may be some projecting. A better way to classify a geek is one devoted to their hobby, branching into multiple kinds of geeks. Yes, sports geeks are a thing, they are just as devoted and creepy to outsiders.

 

[Quadocky]

This guy is full of himself. His analogy kinda sucked. And you don't have to be a dysfunctional, emotionally abused person to be a nerd...

I think the complete lack of self awareness in the entire 11 minutes is just sad.

 

[Something Amyss]

I mean, Jesus Christ, what? The hobby is being "commodified"? A hobby... built around rampant consumerism... is being commodified. Oh. I'm so sorry.

Stop commercialising our culture! Take it back to what it was! Artificially hard games designed to rob kids with more money than sense of their quarters!

...Oh, wait. XD

You know, until someone like MatthewLane actually gets the balls and takes the time to push for official legislation requiring liscensure before one can claim status as a "gamer", I don't wanna hear from the "hurr durr, if you only played _____ you're not a gamer" crowd anymore. Make it official. That'll end this argument right now.

I second the proposal from the honourable Representative of the Great State of the Escapist.

However, I believe the words "nerd" and "geek" should only be allowed to be used by those of us who were outcasts because they love books, video games, anime, robotics, are in varsity chess, dream to become a statistician one day, or whatever other thing they do that deviates from the norm.

Then you are artificially limiting its use in a way it was never actually used. Of course, you are not required to deal with the usage as-is, but keep in mind that the usage has never really meshed there.

One of the things about language is it often exists well beyond any strict dictionary definition. The so called co-modified language predates geek chic by a fair stretch. you might as well demand we all revert to the carnie usage, synonymous with freaks. We could then disqualify anyone who couldn't bite the head off a chicken or swallow fire.

What I mean is a popular kid calling themselves a geek just because they don thick rimmed glasses, start playing video games on weekends, and use Reddit is like a white man greeting people by saying "What's up? my n***a?" when they sag their pants, wear a snap back sideways, and start listening to hip-hop. I know it's an extreme comparison but I couldn't think of anything else that would get my point across.

Extreme and ridiculous.

They were demanding a new ending be made from scratch and made the "Retake Mass Effect" movement all so they could change SOMEONE ELSES piece of art.

They didn't demand a new ending from "scratch" nor was this about "art."

If you're going to tell people to grow up, at least try addressing the issue with honesty and maturity.

 

[Mana Fiend]

The problem I see with the OP's video (I didn't want it all, I watched the opening few minutes and it seemed like whining BS, but I can grasp the basic message all the same) is that a subculture like geeks can't wear their hearts on their sleeves. Why not embrace the geek/nerd culture, instead of shunning it? I spent 90% of my school life isolated and shunned for being interested in academics and not in sport, for reading comics and playing DnD. It's only when you embrace this and feel happy that you can move on, and to me that video seems to be made by someone who's stuck in the high-school mindset of 'why won't they like me?'

Guess what? We won. Thanks to thinks like Lord of the Rings, Batman and Mass Effect, people are started to see that what they joked about being uncool at school are in fact totally enjoyable. Even Call of Duty etc have opened up things like gaming to a wider audience. Granted, some people won't want to get involved past that initial level, but for those who do I say welcome.

I will always be proud to call myself a geek and a nerd, because for all the bigotry, the sexism and the general douchbaggery that makes the headlines, underneath there are still good people and great ideas I'm proud to associate myself with.

 

[Something Amyss]

I'm of the opinion that video games have always had the trappings of commodity. What is Mario if not a blatant corporate mascot? All that's happened is that what was once a niche brand has busted out into the mainstream (and this was the ultimate goal of the industry from day one).

The other thing about this is, I grew up with Mario. Back in the day, Mario was pretty popular. Anybody with any amount of cash had an NES. We had Mario cereals and TV shows and so on. Mario was slapped on a ton of products. We had TV commercials for not just Mario, but game systems. I can still remember some of the Atari 2600 jingles, advertising its new low price.

So I'm not sure it's really even a case of "busted out" so much as returned to the mainstream. I think people seriously lack perspective sometimes, when telling us how things have changed.