Did the nerds win?

[Kromanjon]

Did nerds win? It all depends on what you constitute as a win.

Some things that were considered nerdy have indeed become more mainstream, or more accurate, they made it more commercially mainstream.

If you asked HS version of me, win condition would be that my abundant knowledge about various sf/fantasy/gaming/anime topics gets me laid with hot girl. As in - nerd stuff is sexy and attractive to girls.

My old ass current version doesn't really care if nerds win. While most of my friends do like nerd stuff, their love for it isn't their defining characteristic. It's just another hobby. Some go fishing, some go hunting, some play amateur futsal, some play tcg/ccg/ttrpg/board games.

Yeah a lot of this question is very much up for interpretation. What is a "nerd"? What constitutes a "win"? What does "did" even mean? If something becomes mainstream is it still nerdy?

When I asked the question it was kind of reactionary to me reading that people should stop complaining about certain things because "the nerds had already won". I felt that I disagreed. For me the nerds winning would be when people like teenage me wouldn´t be bullied in schools anymore for being "different". This is something I do care about, wishing future generations of nerds wont have to deal with more social anxiety than anyone else.

 

[trappedslider]

When I asked the question it was kind of reactionary to me reading that people should stop complaining about certain things because "the nerds had already won". I felt that I disagreed. For me the nerds winning would be when people like teenage me wouldn´t be bullied in schools anymore for being "different". This is something I do care about, wishing future generations of nerds wont have to deal with more social anxiety than anyone else.

In that case, nerds will never win. Bullies will always be bullies no matter what they choose to bully others about. Hell even on here nerds bully each other via trolling for liking different editions of D&D.

 

[Kromanjon]

In that case, nerds will never win. Bullies will always be bullies no matter what they choose to bully others about. Hell even on here nerds bully each other via trolling for liking different editions of D&D.

Very true, and my loathing of bullies is only eclipsed by those who where bullied and then chose to be bullies themselves when the opportunity was given.

 

[trappedslider]

Very true, and my loathing of bullies is only eclipsed by those who where bullied and then chose to be bullies themselves when the opportunity was given.

Between the two or more answers in regards to what you consider winning, one is a yes. Wider acceptance of nerdy stuff meanwhile the other about bullies will never be won because well humans gonna be humans.

 

[Ryujin]

Between the two or more answers in regards to what you consider winning, one is a yes. Wider acceptance of nerdy stuff meanwhile the other about bullies will never be won because well humans gonna be humans.

For me, the best therapy was seeing the jocks who bullied me grow up to be retail workers and used car salesmen.

 

[trappedslider]

For me, the best therapy was seeing the jocks who bullied me grow up to be retail workers and used car salesmen.

I was going to suggest actually talking to someone about any lingering trauma from being bullied...but that works too

 

[Mannahnin]

Did nerds win? It all depends on what you constitute as a win.

Some things that were considered nerdy have indeed become more mainstream, or more accurate, they made it more commercially mainstream.

If you asked HS version of me, win condition would be that my abundant knowledge about various sf/fantasy/gaming/anime topics gets me laid with hot girl. As in - nerd stuff is sexy and attractive to girls.

My old ass current version doesn't really care if nerds win. While most of my friends do like nerd stuff, their love for it isn't their defining characteristic. It's just another hobby. Some go fishing, some go hunting, some play amateur futsal, some play tcg/ccg/ttrpg/board games.

One of the benefits of cultural shifts in my lifetime has certainly been that it is more socially acceptable for people of all genders to be passionate about nerd stuff.

Greater prevalence of multiple genders in hobby spaces does create more social opportunities and chances to date and marry fellow nerds. And the larger a number of people in a space, the larger number of attractive people will tend to be there, as a percentage of that crowd. I know a lot more couples who game together and do nerd stuff together today than I did thirty years ago.

And we've seen a dramatic increase in numbers of women tabletop gamers in my lifetime. From 0.5% as surveyed by SPI's Strategy & Tactics magazine in '73-'74 to 39% of D&D players per WotC's 2023 survey, right?

 

[trappedslider]

Inside the Biggest Live Game of ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Ever Played

Dimension 20 sold out Madison Square Garden — but that's only one part of the tabletop game's wild resurgence

www.yahoo.com

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Inside the Biggest Live Game of ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Ever Played

Dimension 20 sold out Madison Square Garden — but that's only one part of the tabletop game's wild resurgence

www.yahoo.com

Reading about events like that, makes me wonder whether I would've been even able to conceptualize this future existing as a young kid. When people were still getting bullied for playing D&D, the idea that people would sell out Madison Square Garden for a an actual play would seem an incomprehensible future.