Merlin and Mr. Wizard: The Nerd Mind versus the Geek Mind

[DrunkonDuty]

Well there's no doubt I fall strongly into the Nerd category, as you've defined the term, Jack7. I first noticed this split about 3-4 years ago when some friends and I did an online 'How Nerdy Are You' test. I scored a bizarrely low 10-ish%. This was due partly to the fact that I wasn't gaming at the time and most of the gaming questions were present tense. (I had to be honest.) But mostly it was due to the enormous number of questions related to computers and programming languages and other boring stuff about which I know nothing.

Most of my gaming buddies fall firmly in the Geek group. This leads to a certain amount of mutual frustration at times.

I would like to second Umbran on finding the choice of the terms Nerd and Geek to be unfortunate. I've always considered them to by synonymous. But, short of coming up with some embarrassing neologism, what can ya do hey?

Gonna have to cogitate a bit about how the GEek and the Nerd catergories interact/overlap with Gamist and Simulationist.

 

[Jack7]

But what happens to your theory when it runs into the D&D players that are neither geeks nor nerds?

You got me Helium.
Can I call them Houdinis?

This leads to a certain amount of mutual frustration at times.

I've noticed that too. Especially on this board from time to time.

I would like to second Umbran on finding the choice of the terms Nerd and Geek to be unfortunate. I've always considered them to by synonymous. But, short of coming up with some embarrassing neologism, what can ya do hey?

Yeah DOD, that's one thing I'm saying. They used to be thought of as practically synonymous, and maybe still are to much of the "outside world," but they really aren't anymore (maybe they never really were), and this is becoming more and more obvious to both sub-groups.

I could use a bunch of analogies, but I'll use a few I'm personally familiar with.
Football players and baseball players are both athletes, but in very different ways. Physicists and biologists are both scientists, but study very different things. US Marshals and County Sheriffs are both lawmen, but have very different jurisdictions. Snipers and Tankers are both soldiers, but have very different functions, ways of looking at their job, and methods of operating.

So a fella can be an athlete, same as another, or a cop, same as another, or a soldier, same as another, but in what way is he different from his comrades?
And how does that make him think and act differently from his comrades?

Merlin and Mr. Wizard are both "Wizards," so to speak, but no one is gonna confuse the two when they see em in action.