What/who brought you into "nerdism?"

[IndomitableSam]

My parents, I guess? I grew up with Nintendo, watched Star Trek TNG daily with my mom... I grew up in the 80's and got most of the stuff/saw the movies then. So, yes, my parents. I seriously remember watching Star Trek basically nightly when it went into Syndication and all its sequels (aside from Deep Space Nine, we never got into that).

Never got into comics, though... couldn't afford them growing up. I always regret that. So we just obsessed over the X-Men cartoon instead. ... And Gargoyles. Best show ever (aside from Pirates of Dark Water).

 

[Bato]

It depends on what you mean by nerdism.

Well, my Grandmother had a SNES and N64 and got me into games.
My Aunt taught me C++, HTML, PHP, and a bit of Java when I was really young. Can't remember a lick of it these days, but she taught me how to understand 'putahs.
So that's how my interwebs lurking began, being comfortable with computers and vidya games from those two.

Though much later about a couple years ago a friend of mine has gotten into Biochemistry at his Grad School.
Another Friend of mine getting into a srs History degree.
And SMBC/Zach Weiner getting very much into sciences.
These guys introduced me to Edumacation and began very nerdy Autodidactism.
I had my own College thing going on, but it fell through because I decided "I am going to make VIDYA GAMES!" Which was really stupid of me to be honest.

These days I plan to get some Scholarships together somehow and get into Bioinformatics.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I suppose it was my best friend from Uni who had reintroduce me back to Marvel comicbook to the point I was reading up on character bios and story arc which had ignite my interest toward it (beforehand I read and knew some characters but not enough for me to dwell deeper into it).

Also Pokemon Red pretty much lead me to the fandom to the point of obsession (seriously I had tons of Pokemon merchandise as a kid).

 

[King of Asgaard]

My brother is ten years older than me, so he knew how to indoctrinate me.
As a result, he and I are virtually inseparable and indistinguishable, aside from our physical appearance.

 

[Ytomyth]

I've been interested in a lot of 'nerdy' stuff (space, reading, dinosaurs, etc. etc.) by myself as long as I can remember. But when I was about 8 years old, I went for a sleep-over to an uncle and a 16/17-year-old nephew of mine let me play some games.......it began fo' real.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

I wouldn't consider myself a "nerd" but how I can say how I got into some of those things. Internet people told me to. Anticlimax, eh? They still haven't sold me on Batman, anime, new Doctor Who or stories in video games, though so they're not THAT convincing.

My captcha is "Knock on wood". Is that an omen?

Wait hold on, what do you mean by "haven't sold you" on? As in, you don't like them yet? Aren't "into" them? Cos with the exception of new Doctor Who, that's a pretty broad spectrum of things to be sold on, dude!

"Batman"? The character itself or series? Cos both have had countless incarnations, ranging from utterly serious noir-style to cartoony and goofy. Chances are if you hate The Dark Knight you'll love The Animated Series. I don't know, man, that's kind of... a lot of stuff you expect people to "sell" you on.

Anime is, as I'll assume you've been told, a medium, not a genre. You aren't meant to be sold on all anime ever made ever. If you can't be sold on a particular anime, it's probably because it doesn't suit your tastes. But there are more anime series than you can poke a stick at and they fit every single genre of filmmaking there is, and they differ in animation and drawing style and they differ in stylistic influence and so yeah.

And storytelling in videogames... well I don't even know how you can be "sold" on that. There's a story. There's a videogame. At the same time. The story might be worth playing to be told. Or might be told as you're playing. Some people like that. If you haven't been "sold" on it, pretty certain it's a difference of opinion and what you look for out of gaming.

So yeah, in conclusion, you're being stupid expected to be "sold" ever on these things. You simply don't like them or want to like them or... something. And that's totally cool. Don't expect someone will come up with an amazing argument that will make you LOVE all anime ever! Or that you'll be completely hooked and immersed with videogame stories forever out of one testimony! Cos yeah, your subjective and personal opinion doesn't actually work that way. You likes what you likes, dude, don't let people convince you things you don't think are awesome actually are. Unless it's, like, something I like, in which case BURN THE HEATHEN ARRR WHY DOES YOUR OPINION DIFFER FROM MINE RAWR

 

[Angie7F]

Growing up in a Japanese household sure exposed me to a lot of anime and manga.
But i guess i chose to stick to the genre while most other people from japan my age will grow out of it.

How I didn't get the opportunity to grow out of this stuff, probably stems from my introverted personality.

 

[Xaio30]

My older sister was pretty awesome and led me into both SNES games (Chrono Trigger) and various anime (Full Metal Alchemist).

It just escalated from there.

 

[twaddle]

My parents are trekies and my uncle is the one who truly introduced me to video games with sonic and mario back in the nes/genesis days. Anime I came into on my own but i didn't know anything on the background until later on, but I started off with the normal staples of Sailor Moon and Dragon ball, as well as some of the more less known staples such as Ronin Warriors and Tekkaman blade (which in UK and America had been known simply as Technoman) Except for Star Trek, I'm now more knowledgeable for the most part in all the areas I areas listed. Dear God I'm old T-T

 

[Lunar Templar]

natural progression i guess

we had an Atari 2600 for a time, then upgraded to the NES, then SNES, by the time the PS1 came around i was old enough to buy my own games and systems and have been ever since.

comics I'm kinda selective about, i 'like' some of it, but mostly i stick to just the one i read, which i tend to be like most comic book nerds about >.>;;;

anime wise, my intro to that was Tekkaman Blade, Sailor Moon and DBZ. didn't know what it was at the time it was just awesome, years later, Toonami happened, pretty much been watching anime ever since. as to the question of subbed or dubbed, my answer is, 'doesn't matter, long as its good'

 

[Phasmal]

I don't really know.
As far back as I can remember I was playing games. Not always video games, though, but I was one of those kids who loved board games (I will still play Cluedo with my little brother when I visit) and chess as well as video games.
And I was friends with people who were into games when I was small, it's just something I've always gravitated towards.

Still, I like to consider nerdism something I was born with.

 

[Ashhearth]

Yeah my dad has to e the one to take the blame. Lots of sci-fi shows when you're little and playing Decent I and II really corrupts the youth.

As for how I got here. Unforgotten Realms just.... just Unforgotten Realms.

 

[Bloodtrozorx]

My father bought an NES when I was a kid and since he was a trucker I got the most use out of it. Then I owned any console I could afford via saving and stockpiling cash. I think I lost all hope of not being a nerd when Warhammer and Warhammer 40k came to my attention. Nerdism, GO.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

-cut-

Dude, do you need a paper bag to breathe in or something? I haven't had a throwaway gag blow up in my face so much since I made that quip about the Third Reich at my sister's wedding.

Sorry. I'm just not lucid. I'm rambling. I had a point in there somewhere about people liking what they like and convincing people otherwise is a meaningless gesture, but yeah I'm just tired. I'm off to bed. When I get back I'll read what I've typed here and slap myself in the face.

 

[Jonluw]

I guess Warhammer miniatures might've been the first truly 'nerd' thing I got into.

 

[Kitsune Hunter]

Got into it by myself, I was born to be a nerd and I love every minute of it, videogames, anime, fantasy, what more could I want

 

[SFMB]

I started with table-top pen-and-paper RPG's as a ten-year-old. It has been going on now for the third decade.

 

[John Farrell]

I grew up on Power Rangers, but I had a friend who got me into stuff like Star Wars, Wing Commander, Mech Warrior, Harry Potter. He was good at computers and had a ton of books. When I was around 7 I watched classic Star Trek (Have never gotten into anything new).

When I moved and lost contact with him, I got into anime and started gaming more. I'll admit, I was one of those insufferable dolts who thought that any cartoon not from Japan was unworthy of my time. I had a friend in High School who is even worse than I was. He was actually upset when I started getting American comics. Linkara got me into comics.

When I got to college, my roommate introduced me to MTG. I just recently got into Doctor Who and Dan Vs. Anime...has tapered off a bit. Never really got into Star Wars after the hype of episode 1 faded.