I was a bad nerd. I wanted to do all the nerd things – program, play D&D, read fantasy – but I was no good at BASIC, didn’t have any friends, and for some reason I could never get into hardcore fantasy sci-fi novels. Every Christmas we’d go to my grandmother’s house in Martins Ferry, Ohio, a little town outside of Wheeling, West Virginia and every Christmas I’d get a huge selection of toys. One year I got a Dungeons & Dragons basic set.
I read the books from cover to cover and marveled at the charming illustrations and combat system. I didn’t quite understand it (”Saving throw?” “Charisma?”) which probably meant I was a dumb kid. I made dungeons – basically copying the manual – and tried to play the game. Sadly, however, I had no one to play it with.
My grandma didn’t quite understand it and neither did my dad. My sister was too small. My one friend, George, liked the Atari 2600 more. So I played alone. I rolled, I moved my guy, I killed my guy. Repeat.
I think there is a certain breed of nerd that thrives in solitary pursuits, masturbation notwithstanding. In college the Magic players and FPS gamers were a jolly lot, always ordering pizza and trading off the few females that accepted them. I was always a loner, reading Catcher In the Rye and reading poetry. In some ways I’m a pretender to this geek throne, more liberal arts than CS, but I’m glad to say that I tried to reach the heights of one form of geekdom and failed and I took another road to this point, playing D&D alone and plotting my escape from Ohio.
I guess what I’m trying to say is this: we are all geeks in a world that now adores the concept if not the practice of technophilia. It was a hard, odd road to get here – to traverse from using the Atari 800XL to the NES to the Wii was to take all kinds of abuse as a kid. Now everyone loves gadgets, even the kids who would have pantsed us in high school. So here’s to the geeks and the loners and the nerds. Here’s to you guys, the daily readers, proud in your new lives as students, husbands, wives, functioning members of society. A decade ago we’d all be hidden away in a comic book shop, dicing through a D&D module. Now we rule the world.
Cool story. The Catcher in the Rye is an awesome book.
What’s happened though is that the divisions within geekdom have become more apparent.
Back when we were all looked at oddly, Geeks all sort of got grouped together — whether they had any actual social skills or not.
I moonlight as the convention director for a regional anime and gaming con, and I see two kinds of people who join my staff — some are well socialized and charismatic… while others are shut ins who don’t know how to talk to other people. It’s a dramatic schizm, and it’s one I didn’t see working cons ten years ago.
I think what’s happened is that as society has become more accepting, those who were able to integrate did… and those who were unable still remain at the fringes.
Wheeling WV?… You mean the hometown of the Jimboree (or was it jamboree)? Went once, it was surreal in a very good way. Happy Holidays.
totally know how you feel dude….been there, read that
> we are all geeks in a world that now adores
> the concept if not the practice of technophilia
2008 was the “Year of the Nerd” according to the front page of my local weekly:
http://thephoenix.com/Boston/News/74199-Year-of-the-Nerd
(Obama collect Spider-Man comics?? Who knew.)
Jim, Tim, John M., Steve, Dave, and I played D&D a few times. I don’t think we knew you very well then or we would have invited you. Sorry, man.
Phil
Dude…you liked D&D? How did I not know that 18 years ago? The games of chess we used to play on paper in the back of biology class could’ve been greatly enhanced with some Paladin vs. Drow action…
nice story John. Brings back memories. There’s just one point I don’t get.
what do you mean you killed your guy? didn’t the bad dice roll just don’t count because you were not really looking or for whatever legitimate reason?