[Believe it or not, ontopic] Mike Myers on "Inside the Actors Studio"

[Vaxalon]

Dr. Midnight:

Con gamers? Probably.

High school gamers? Could be.

Gamers in general? I don't think so, not anymore. It has been my experience that over the last ten or fifteen years (years that, admittedly, MM has been out of the loop, gamingwise) the gamer community has mostly grown up and mostly learned some tact, personal hygiene, and even gotten married and had kids.

I doubt a stereotypical gamer geek could make it at the Actor's Studio, to tell you the truth.

 

[Tsyr]

While we're all sitting here making fun of Mikey, let's take a look at the group he's calling nerds. Can you look at your average gamer and say "No, you're wrong, I'm sure this is a very nice fellow who doesn't stink, won't quote Monty Python in every sentence, and has actually kissed a real live girl"? I think we've got reason to be offended, but I think he's got even better reason for saying what he did. Even if he was joking.

Uh. Amongst the people I know who game? Yes, I would say that in a heartbeat. Under oath.

 

[Desdichado]

That's right, Vin Diesel and Lexa Doig are your new stereotypes for gamers.

 

[Friadoc]

While we're all sitting here making fun of Mikey, let's take a look at the group he's calling nerds. Can you look at your average gamer and say "No, you're wrong, I'm sure this is a very nice fellow who doesn't stink, won't quote Monty Python in every sentence, and has actually kissed a real live girl"? I think we've got reason to be offended, but I think he's got even better reason for saying what he did. Even if he was joking.

Oh the stereotype can fit,

..but not always so - my gaming groups are weird examples.

My thursday group consists of yuppies, ravers, and paintballers with only one in the group who fits the 'gamer geek' stereotype, save for the fact that he (as well as two others) is married.

My saturday group consists of programmers, one of which is a local figure in the Libertarian party, a pretty-boy lawyer, a married couple (both ex-ravers) who are pretty much the 'attractive gamers' (the husband is a degreed chemist), and we're all pretty much the 'fun in the outdoors' types, as with the previous group.

Myself, I'm a 'no-longer-active-because-I-fudged-up-myshoulders- Marine, who has worked as a bouncer and now I'm just an IT geek at HP.

Then again, we are all from the Pacific Northwest - I think we grow, as well as arm, our geeks differently up here.

Addendum: Although I should point out, back in college we had this one player whom we had to, ahem, physically toss into a shower because the kid just didn't bath regularly - I kid you not, he grew up a bit outside of my hometown, Klamath Falls, without running water. College was his first exposure to living with running water, although he had it when at regular schooling, just not at home.
Plus a lot of those guys fit the 'never kissed a girl, trek is life, and why should I move out of my mother's basement' types.

So is life, no?

 

[Balsamic Dragon]

Can you look at your average gamer and say "No, you're wrong, I'm sure this is a very nice fellow who doesn't stink, won't quote Monty Python in every sentence, and has actually kissed a real live girl"?

For the people that I game with? Well, two out of three isn't bad. Actually, I've kissed a real live girl, but you know, not in that way. ("wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know whatimean?")

Balsamic Dragon

 

[Wolfspider]

In over twenty years of gaming, I've never played with anyone who fit the so-called "gamer stereotype."

 

[Heap Thaumaturgist]

I agree with Doc.

-I- make fun of D&D players on a semi-regular basis. And I have to sigh internally every time one of my friends brings up my hobby. Usually after they realize I game and I haven't gotten around to turning them to the dark side myself.

Being able to take the game with a grain of humor is actually helpful in overcoming the "That's for geeks, man." reaction ... because lets be honest people ... it is. Big time. Half the time my visits to the comic book store feel a little like I'm visiting a porno store or something: "Oi. I hope nobody that doesn't understand sees me in here."

It's the nature of human interaction to give identity through difference ... "I'm not like that, that solidifies what I AM." Saying the fat guy with the headband, patchy beard, and pink kid's backpack is NOT like you is solidifying your identity. Some of these people are way outside the limits of normalcy, and at 25 they're not going to have an epiphany. ... I don't want to be average, but I do sort of enjoy my position within normal limits and the ability to walk up to women and start a functioning conversation.

So if you can laugh at those people, and yourself, and accept that the stigma is there ... and that it is there for a reason ... you can get it out of the way right away. If you laugh at something, you defuse it on your own terms. At its crudest, it is the defense mechanism of the fat funny kid in middle school. (Being that kid, I've had alot of time to refine my technique.)

So go ahead and laugh at the gamer geeks a little bit. Laugh at yourself for being one. Come on, admit it ... you've probably got a few of those traits, right? If you're on here, you have to, even if it's just the tendency to sit around for hours a day talking about stuff that doesn't exist. Once you've got that out of the way you're free to repaint the hobby ... place yourself in a position of respect and relative normalcy and then begin to integrate the idea of the hobby with you on YOUR terms. I'm sure Mike can sit down at the game table and say: "Pshhh, Gamers ... what kind of freaks are they ... pass the d20."

--HT

 

[Vaxalon]

I'm not.

I'm sure Mike can sit down at the game table and say: "Pshhh, Gamers ... what kind of freaks are they ... pass the d20."

I'm not. He made it clear that he doesn't play anymore.

 

[Wolfen Priest]

I have to chime in that none of the people I game with fit into the mold of 'typical gamer.' Granted, they are not as hard-core a gamer as I am (or any of us who frequent this board), but I can honestly say that I definitely don't fit into the nerd mold either.

My gamer friends and I hang out with non-gamers, go out to bars on weekends, have plenty of female friends, have no difficulty conversing with females (known or unknown), and furthermore, we don't have any problem talking about D&D right out in public in front of other people who don't game.

Most people barely even know what it is, and of those who do, I think they just look at it as something they don't completely understand, or perhaps they've tried it, but don't enjoy it that much. I think more and more these days, however, people see a huge barrier to becoming a gamer; that barrier is not fear of becoming a nerd but rather the price barrier and the learning curve.

*[primary point]:*
When my non-gaming friends & acquaintances walk in on one of our games, they obviously get the impression that the game is too complicated for them to easily learn. But they don't think we're nerds for playing it.
*[/primary point]*

Mike Myers is without question THE biggest nerd/geek in Hollywood right now. I think he feels embarrassed about his roots as a nerd/geek. Heck, maybe he *did* game with nerds; he wouldn't be the first one! But just like anyone who is (maybe?) afraid of being considered a nerd, he lashes out at the interminable *them* so that he can distance himself, if only in his own mind. I don't feel I need to do that.

Now adays, I really think the trend (that gamers are geeks) is changing. I think most new gamers are cool people. Heck, you have to be!

 

[Dr Midnight]

Mike Myers is without question THE biggest nerd/geek in Hollywood right now.

I don't mean to question something that is without question, but how d'ya figger? I know he's vaguely nerdy and geeky, but Katzenberg, The Wachowskis, Kevin Smith, Bill Macy, David Spade, Woody Allen...