That was a fun read. Thatâs really all I have to say about it.
I thought it was more than just a fun read.
If you take video games out entirely, itâs a story about growing up, about an adolescent trying to decide who they want to be. Thatâs human experience, and author expressed it as well enough for me (at least) to see the threads in my own life were the same, just slightly different colours.
But she also talked about something I didnât experience, the heavy hand of gender expectations. I concealed my love of game from ânormsâ because there was a stigma about it, but there were always a wide spectrum of people (by which I mean âfellow possessors of a Y chromosomeâ) to discuss them with.
So I thought it was memoir writing at its best. It connected the authorâs personal experience to both a universal human experience and a wider cultural issue.
Incidentally, her first game of choice is the only Final Fantasy (-ish) game I have ever finished. On an emulator, but still. As such, I do obviously have to applaud her taste in games. 
(Not because I dislike the series, either - IX is to this day on my todo list.)
A great story and I agree with DevinC it doesnât have much to do with video games. Lots of people feel they donât fit in. In fact Iâd argue in the average high school / college less than 70% of the people feel like theyâre part of the âinâ crowd or doing what everyone else expects.
On the other hand, I donât really know about this âgirls arenât expected to pay videogamesâ thing. My sister has been playing videogames since at least NES days. She 44 now. Still plays. I donât think itâs ever once occurred to her that she shouldnât nor do I think sheâs ever had someone discourage her from playing. To her theyâre just another fun activity like movies, tv, books, sports, whatever.
Itâs funny to me how different people with their different experiences can perceive the world so differently
Engaging, insightful, and nice illustrations. Though it brings up some issues that always baffled me:
Why are some people so down about girl gamers? In 1990s high school I only knew one girl who seemed into video games, but that was one of the things that made her cool in my eyes.
I can see there being a problem with not fitting in with peer interests, but why the rejection from similarly inclined geeks? The only excuse that comes to mind is socially awkward people having trouble admitting their commonalities or admiration for other socially awkward people.
The whole âfake geek girlâ thing confounds me too. Can geek poseurs even exist? How can that be a thing? If anything fascinates you enough that you want to emulate it, even part of the time, doesnât that kinda make you a geek?
So maybe you have more mainstream interests as well: Great, nice to hear youâre balancing different aspects of your life.
Or maybe you arenât the foremost exponent of (insert geek culture here): No problem, weâre all learning.
Or maybe you dress or act a certain way to get positive attention: Donât most people do this throughout their lives in various contexts? How is awareness and manipulation of your own social impact a bad thing?
Just thinking about this makes me want to throw up my hands in exasperation.
Yeah, youâve pretty much summed up the whole ridiculous âfake geek girlâ fiasco. Some geeks got butthurt because some girls were supposedly âappropriatingâ geek culture, when they werenât really geeks. That is, they werenât being geeks the way that those geeks wanted them to be. And then other, more clearminded geeks spoke up to say âUh, hey dummy, youâre not the one who gets to decide how people enjoy the things they want to enjoyâ.
Edit: John Scalzi was right in the thick of that who controvesy⌠His post on it is here (entitled âWho Gets To Be a Geek? Anyone Who Wants To Beâ)
Upon further reflection, this is exactly my take away. It was really just a âawkward 14 year old hides her true self to fit in, realizes through high school and college that she actually doesnât have to hide her true self, gains self confidence, ends up happier as a resultâ story (that many of us go through), but this time just happened to feature video games and gender expectations. Good on her for having the self-awareness to understand it, and the honesty to share it with the world, warts and all.
Sure, it made her cool in YOUR eyes, but it probably didnât make her cool in the general high school populationâs eyes, which is what this girl in particular seemed to be striving for in her teenage years. And really, itâs what many of us strive for in our teenage years. I gave up a lot of interests that I loved, but which were considered âuncoolâ, in order to fit in when I was in high school. Comics are one of said interests, and Iâm only really getting back into them now, 20 years later.
I kind of understand where the anger about âfakeâ geek girls comes from. Itâs sort of like the ânerdâ costumes they sell for halloween - itâs putting on the dressings of a stereotype for amusement or other gain. Itâs not far removed from blackface.
But the issue really is determining who is a âgenuine geekâ, and thatâs what people who are angry donât understand - anyone can be a geek if they want to. Some people think theyâre born geeks and have always been and always will be geeks, and anybody whoâs only getting interested in geeky stuff later in life doesnât count (particularly if the newcomers didnât suffer when they were young).
What really brought the issue to the fore is âgeek chicâ; the co-opting of certain clothing and accessories once the sole domain of âtrue geeksâ and nerds into mainstream/hipster fashion. Teen girls made that stuff cool all of a sudden, and people like in the comic who have only ever played angry birds called themselves geeks. Like many teenagers, they just went along with what was cool whether they were actually interested or not.
Of course thatâs only one aspect of it, another thing is stereotypically âhotâ women gaining visibility as hosts on the G4 TV channel, youtube shows made by game magazines, etc. Itâd be easy to imagine those places simply hiring models and actors, and I guess thatâs what people assumed⌠though it turns out that most, if not all, of those people are like the author of the comic - they are actually into that stuff, but theyâre also girly or whatever and donât dress like a geek stereotype.
In any case, what it comes down to is what was once social suicide for non-geeks, stuff like gaming and whatever, is becoming mainstream. Like in the comic, nobody in high school now would think twice about anyone of any type if they said theyâre into videogames.
That said, thereâs certainly different levels of geekiness. Itâs like the word âhipsterâ, which is used so generically itâs lost meaning. Itâs becoming harder and harder to label people - a good thing - and soon I think the word âgeekâ will lose a lot of the meaning and connotations that it has now.
And all the assholes who make nerdy and geeky stuff hard for females to approach can go fuck themselves (not like anyone else will, anyway) - theyâll disappear over time too.
Do it, it´s real good.
It most certainly is far removed from blackface. Comparing the plight of the sterotypical ânerdâ (white, smart, socially awkward) to institutional racism is ham-fisted and insensitive.
I agree that itâs insensitive, but the structure (âdress up as a group you feel superior to for fun & profitâ) and dynamics (it lets you appropriate the parts you like without it ârubbing offâ on you) are ⌠really kind of similar, though on very different scales.
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