g33k 1

Geekdom is a culture that now has taken the world. No matter where you go in the civilized world, you will find a geek. Geeks in basements on their computers. Geeks in bedrooms playing Dungeons and Dragons. Geeks shooting each other in a forest with model guns. Not to be confused with nerds, the easiest way for me to define geek, as I have found, is found at Wikipedia.com:

A geek is a person who is fascinated, perhaps obsessively, by obscure or very specific areas of knowledge and imagination.

Okay, but what does that mean to the layman, eg, you? A geek is someone who has an unusual interest in something. Is it really unusual? And what draws such masses to become interested in something so myriad? In this series I'm starting on Gametrash.com, I'm going to introduce to you the basics of geekdom, and show you the difference between geeks. As well, I hope to open a Wiki to allow readers to add and edit definitions of different types of geeks and general terminology. Eventually, I can hope to have a huge compiled list of different obsessions!

But let's start off with geeks in general. It's important to remember that geekdom is a relative term, and thus we cannot define geeks unless we understand what the mainstream is. Of course, changing in every country and class, who knows what the mainstream is?

So, let's play around with the term for a little bit. Let me look personally at the mainstream in the United States. Turning on my TV, I can see muscled men, beautiful(?) tanned women, people doing such exciting things as partying, snowboarding, surfing, dancing, and generally having a good time. All of the guys have short, spiked hair, all the girls have long bleached hair. According to my television which blares the information at lightning speed, school sucks, there's always a girl for you, you can live the rich life and do very little to earn money, and you can get laid with the snap of your fingers.



Not a single one of those definitions could be applied to the American geek. Take, for example, your unwashed gamer- hell, let's take me. Long greasy hair, no fashion style whatsoever, I don't surf, snowboard, dance, or party, I don't have a girlfriend, and 50% of my life is on something that's plugged into a power outlet. Would they feature me on TV? Absolutely positively not.

In fact, geeks are made fun of, and have been for quite a long time. Take, for example, Warner Brother's TV show "Beauty and the Geek", hosting now megapopular Ashton Kutcher. In the show, purpotedly physically attractive women are paired with people who are, according to the show's producers, geeks. These include people like Brad the MENSA member, Eric the computer programmer, and Bill the Vice President of the Dukes of Hazzard fan club. These fine young examples of purpoted geekdom were teamed with women such as Mindi the Sorority Girl, Caitlin the "Aspiring Fashion Expert", and a "Life Size Barbie Doll". Regardless of how you cook it, these women were beautiful to the American standard, and these guys were, well, geeks.

In other countries, geekdom is as prevalent, and tends to follow the same patterns. In some countries, Japan for one, geekdom seems to actually expand upon itself. In Japan, geekdom has carved itself quite a deep niche, even having a section of Tokyo (Akihabra) seemingly created for the sheer enjoyment of geeks. The term Otaku, while somewhat revered in America as Anime geekdom, is termed of most geeks in Japan, regardless of interest. Just like American geeks, they can range from gaming geeks to Anime geeks, though they follow some cultural patterns, which I will probably go over in a later article.

Geeks have their own culture, and tend to support each other much like an extended family. A good example of this is the much insulted "Furry" genre. Geeks who are known as "Furries" generally have an interest in animals (More specifically, wanting to be them or being interested in anthromorphic characters like cat-people or dog-people). The Furry community gets made fun of relentlessly, probably because their interests ride the fine line between hobby and fetish. However, anyone who pays attention to the Furry community will quickly realize how they have turned into a tightly knit community of geeks with the same interest. Like it or not, they generally protect each other from onslaughts of insults or attacks, and do quite well at staying alive because of it. Now, Furry Conventions are widely known for their laid back attitude of frequent hugs and other affection without worry.

Page 1    Page 2