Breakfast Topic: Are you a closet nerd or a flag-waving nerd?

by Josh Rose Sep 1st 2010 at 8:00AM

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com.

We all know about the idea of the overweight, basement-dwelling virgin, the idea that gamers and comic book nerds all look like the comic book guy from The Simpsons. Many of us know that is not the case. You even see people in trade chat calling each other "nerds" and "virgins," although the inevitable response of calling someone else a nerd in WoW is laughable. In my guild alone, we have a lawyer, an author and a chef, along with many happily married people with children. Some are openly proud of their nerdiness; some try to argue they aren't nerds over Vent.

My girlfriend hides her geek from a lot of her friends. She watches anime, is a gamer and even dresses up for our local comic book convention, but many of her friends and work associates have no idea about this side of her. Me, on the other hand -- I let the geek flag fly. I wear my gamer T-shirts. I talk openly about WoW and other games with my friends. I still complain about the fact Firefly never got a second season.

It seems that being a nerd has become less of a stigma than previously, but some people still fear letting others know they are gamers. Many of us are proud of our gaming and science fiction fandom, and some of us are closet nerds. Which are you? Does playing WoW and other video games make you a nerd? Is that a bad thing? Are you proud to be a nerd, or do you rebel against the label? Is your WoW habit something you hide?

Have you ever wanted to write for WoW.com? Your chance may be right around the corner. Watch for our next call for submissions, and be sure to sign up for Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. The next byline you see here may be yours!

Tags: facebookfeed, game-discussion, gamer, gamer-discussion, gamers, geek, geeky, nerd, world-of-warcraft-discussion, world-of-warcraft-topics, wow-discussion, wow-hot-topics, wow-issues, wow-topics

Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts

Reader Comments (Page 5 of 12)

therationalpi Sep 1st 2010 8:34AM

Depends on who you work for.

I was at my going away lunch for one job, comparing City of Heroes to World of Warcraft with one of my friends. Imagine my surprise when my professor turns around and joins in on the conversation! I had known the man for two years, and probably should have guessed at his hobbies. You might imagine you are all alone in the world, but if you are in a tech-heavy field like Electrical Engineering or Physics, you'd better believe there are some geeks around you.

thegatherer Sep 1st 2010 8:38AM

Yeah, but when your professor is a hardcore, ex-military, "You should be spending every spare moment of your life working, and if you have spare time let me know so we can fix that" sort of fellow, you don't talk about any of your hobbies. At all.

I have also heard that if a prospective employer finds out that you game, they may pass you over due to the stigma that gamers have (i.e. they play rather than work). But I may have heard incorrectly.

Twowolves Sep 1st 2010 10:34AM

I give credit to my gaming when my VP compliments my ability to think outside the box when developing or improving services and procedures. I forward articles to him claiming managers benefit from gaming by having to deal with unusual and unexpected situations.

Joemama Sep 1st 2010 8:23AM

The problem is that the word "nerd" is viewed incorrectly by so many people. My name isn't Gilbert and I don't wear a pocket-protector and pledge the Alpha Betas. I love WoW and talk about it with many of my friends. I also play sports, workout, have my own pad, and a good job.

But, if anyone cares to call me a nerd, that's just fine with me. I'll be running my company while they get in barfights.

They call us dork, a spazz or a geek. Stand up and be proud, don't be meek

Moorit Sep 1st 2010 11:55AM

I had a 60ish woman try to tell me she was a nerd the other day because she *does* wear a pocket protector... but she couldn't use a cell phone or a computer. I was like no, that may have been a nerd when you were in high school, but real nerds have moved with the times.

Samutz Sep 1st 2010 8:23AM

I am an open nerd, although I prefer "geek". I wear gaming and tech t-shirts on a regular basis and my website and twitter tag line/motto is "Gamer, Web Developer, Skinny White Computer Geek".

My boss (tech department) wanted to buy us all jerseys because we are a "technology team". I declined with the reason that wearing a sports jersey goes against my geek ethics.

Tirrimas Sep 1st 2010 10:14AM

"My boss (tech department) wanted to buy us all jerseys because we are a "technology team". I declined with the reason that wearing a sports jersey goes against my geek ethics."

Oh GOD. That's just...dumb. Who would take the IT department seriously if they were schlepping around in jerseys??

Grats to you for standing up for your ethics!

Ralod Sep 1st 2010 8:23AM

I let that flag fly proud and tall:)

To be honest, I have a lot of, well damn I guess in the closet, nerd friends. When they try to cover it up it irks me at times. The whole real id thing to me, was a lot of that. It was a lot of people (not all) afraid their nerdiness would be "outed".

Notumforce Sep 1st 2010 8:24AM

Proud nerd :)

Kanubis Sep 1st 2010 8:25AM

I was far more 'closet' about it when I lived in the UK. About three years ago I moved to Denmark, and (because I do have a non-nerdy side) started going to the pub to watch football. I met a few other fans of my team, the proper beer-swilling lads I'd expect, and was gobsmacked when they started casually discussing their WoW characters at half-time. These guys were more or less strangers to each other by the way. This just wouldn't have happened in the UK in that situation.

Eventually another Brit nervously joined the conversation, but I could tell he felt a bit uncomfortable.

A few years later and it seems in general that there really is less stigma about being nerdy over here than there was back home.

Sorcha Sep 1st 2010 5:14PM

This. In school some of the boys gamed but they kept quiet about it. I mean, I think if I'd grown up Norwegian or Danish or even American I'd have been playing tabletop D&D, but that was so beyond the realms of acceptable behaviour here that I didn't even know that stuff existed until my boyfriend showed me WoW and I started talking with more established gamers.

Console gaming seems to be gaining popularity here and becoming more mainstream, but MMOs still put you firmly in the nerd camp.

Since I picked up WoW I have discovered the repressed nerd in me and I am nerdy and proud. How much? So much that I want this badly. http://p-3a.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2ce3jm

WoW Insider Show

Subscribe via iTunes for our latest show.

Hot Topics

Upcoming Events

Event	Date
Call to Arms: Deepwind Gorge	6/14 - 6/17
Call to Arms: Arathi Basin	6/18 - 6/24
Midsummer Fire Festival	6/21 - 7/5
Call to Arms: Strand of the Ancients	6/25 - 6/27
Call to Arms: Eye of the Storm	6/28 - 7/1
Call to Arms: Isle of Conquest	7/2 - 7/4
Call to Arms: Alterac Valley	7/5 - 7/8
Darkmoon Faire	7/7 - 7/13
Call to Arms: The Battle for Gilneas	7/9 - 7/11
Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch	7/12 - 7/15
Call to Arms: Twin Peaks	7/16 - 7/18
Call to Arms: Silvershard Mines	7/23 - 7/25
Call to Arms: Temple of Kotmogu	7/30 - 8/1
BlizzCon	11/8 - 11/9