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I'm worried about my geek powerlevel
I pride myself on being a nerd, see: I try to make reference jokes whenever opportunities present themselves, for instance. I always feel this sense of shame whenever someone makes a reference I don't get (this feeling was especially prevalent when my friend got his hands on Dragon's Dogma). Not "oh no I must commit seppuku" shame, just a slight feeling in my gut that doesn't last longer than an hour.
I know these are rather minor and silly things to be proud/ashamed of, but I just can't help myself. Suggestions?
Comments
I don't suppose 'just stop giving a shit' counts?
Because that's the only advice I can think of.
Lurk moar, obviously.
I've tried that. Didn't work.
It's not something you can ignore.
Making references to various stuff the audience might not know, all the time, can easily get on people's nerves. I know it does for me, especially when conversation--or at least my attempts to understand the conversation--are dominated by references to things that I don't know. And there's a certain obnoxiousness to those moments when I've seen people make a reference, assume their audience gets it, and implies fault of their audience when the audience doesn't.
but you do that all the timeor does it not count on the internet?
Yeah, but I can't call them out for it because I've done the same thing in the past.
Geekdom is heavily related to hipsterdom in that an obscure branch of knowledge can make up for a lack of knowledge in other places. If you want to boost your power level beyond values normally attainable by mortal men, I suggest taking up the study of something obscure or taking a more "mainstream" topic to it extreme conclusion. For instance, if you became an astronaut, no-one would ever doubt your geek power level again.
My power level is secured via swordsmanship, for instance. Even if I feel less geeky than those around me, I can whip it out as my trump card and explain how it requires a combination of rote training and text study. This kind of power level is exclusive to exceedingly powerful geeks, however; this level of greasiness only comes with the shedding of blood, sweat, and tears. Any geek may succeed at this task, but they must have a will of iron and teeth of stainless steel.
Sometimes, simply having access to certain resources can improve your geek standing as well. Acquiring a copy of the first edition of the Dungeons & Dragons rules is sure to make your glasses double in thickness. Legend has it that anyone who touches a copy signed by Gary Gygax immediately develops a bowl cut. While this is likely speculative myth, there's no doubt that such resources are a direct source of power for our ilk. Should you track down and acquire several such objects, you would be mighty amongst us indeed.
I don't know if this is the best or worst advice.
Aren't astronauts also required to be super buff or something?
I do it on the internet in places like TV Tropes and its offshoots because (1) such behavior is socially expected by the audience, and (2) on the internet, and especially within TV Tropes, it is easy to look up information about anything one doesn't know.
For what it's worth, for my part, I try to (1) tailor references to things the audience may be familiar with, and (2) cite audience-unfamiliar things in ways that are easy to understand (for example, if I'm talking to someone who doesn't know Magic the Gathering, instead of describing Darksteel Reactor as an artifact that produces a counter on its controller's upkeep and has a win condition of ten counters, I can just say it's a card that allows a player to win by stalling).
But you never do that yourself. Also, TV Tropes almost makes it harder to look up information about things you don't know because the articles there tend to be uninformative and confusing or misleading if you aren't already familiar with the subject.
Stop consuming media, start reading TVT or wikipedia summaries/watching Best Moment clips/reviews to be able to talk on many topics without actually having any knowledge besides tidbits. Because it's not vapid, it's postmodern.
And this disqualifies one from being a geek?
I think he's saying he can't become an astronaut because he isn't "super buff or something".
@DYRE: I often don't because (1) it's a chance for me to get to know not just the topic but also the speaker better, for them to tell me what it is they're talking about, (2) it's an excuse to have conversation, and (3)
lazymore efficient than digging up the info myself.Eelektross,
If the stuff people are referencing sounds interesting, I guess you could ask for the source and then check that out. If this is more about being the "biggest geek," Alex's advice could work, but I am not sure if that is really the best goal. I feel like it makes a little bit more sense to learn about or get into something because you legitimately enjoy it, rather than for some bragging rights.
I tend to agree with glennmagusharvey about making references too. While I think making them among friends and family who probably will get them is one thing, an obscure reference that nobody will get does not seem to me to contribute much to a conversation.
Play Dragon's Dogma, that's the answer to everything.
Hey, personally, I got introduced to Command & Conquer through TVT. I have a saved copy of the freeware version of Tiberian Sun and links to where to get the free games on this computer and others nowadays, though I never got far into Tiberian Sun's campaign.
TVT is useful as a gateway for all sorts of things.
Even though I Yellalot was kind of obnoxious, I'm still thankful that he introduced me to CT.
I was introduced by #tropers to both Mai-HiME and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.
Ironically, the person there who introduced me to these things no longer hangs out there (I think). On the other hand, more ironically, he used to (and may still) be part of the Metroid2002 community, and I hung out on M2K2's IRC channel for a while several years ago, which is how I know him.
Despite actively looking into getting introduced to stuff by TVT, I didn't actually get into much.
Well, it got me into Higurashi (althought I knew a bit about it already), I Wanna Be The Guy, some So Bad It's Good things here and there, and of course, Touhou.
On-Topic, I prefer to keep my geek powerlevel hidden in real life (if it's not inconvenient).
Most of my friends have pretty high geek/nerd levels, but they hide them to varying degrees with façades of cultivated normalcy. Which, of course, becomes patently absurd when everyone ends up sitting around discussing the value of bass chops in noise rock and whether or not playing a Pokémon photography game counts as a productive use of time with only the most peripheral sense of irony.
And yet, I'm still on the nerdy end of that crew. Proud? Yes. But how did that happen?
I also prefer to keep my "geek powerlevel" hidden in meatspace, unless I know my audience or feel like slipping in a reference under the table (which is rare).
I used to do silly things when I was a kid, like I'd go swimming in the community pool and I'd make Pokémon noises directed at other children about my age, and this strategy would sometimes pay off in finding me a fellow Pokémon fan to converse with.
I sometimes replace hand with hoof and hair with mane to see if the person I'm talking to is paying attention. Most of the time, they don't notice.
I can rattle off the lineage of the Primes. IDW, G1 or Aligned. Plus my own which consolidates the three.
So I would say my geek powerlevel is highish.
Not that I care too much about that, I don't have anyone to brag to about it.
^^^ There are one or two realms of nerdiness in which I refrain from gushing too much due to low-interest overlap, but really... I can't hide myself very well, and I have no intention of doing so.
^ That's impressive, actually. I can do similar things with certain sets of information, but probably not to that degree.
Hell, I might still be able to tell you the entire Transformers origin myth.
I used to be able to name every U.S. president in order, too. But I don't think I can do that anymore, haven't tried in a long time.
I'm pretty good with large band discographies (Current 93, Swans, some Merzbow), and I can name literally every short story that Thomas Ligotti has published from memory. But it's hard to bond over those sort of things outside of very small communities.
I don't think Tommy Ligotti would approve of you forming connections with other humans over his work, eh?
I'm good with lists and obscure facts. I will tell anyone who'll listen everything I know about the Empire of Trebizond, which was in fact a real place (it's got a Wikipedia article and everything!). I used to do this with the Duchy of Naxos too, but I realized there's not much to say there.