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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Capt. D" data-source="post: 3295338" data-attributes="member: 48591">I've played in a few public places such as libraries, during study hall(back in high school), and at the park (1 time). I have no problems with the geek stigma, I am back in college finishing my degree and have done several reports that concerned gaming and comic books. (The positive effects of Roleplaying games for my public speaking class, and Fawcett vs National in my legal environment of business class.) Over all most people don't care if you are a "geek" and honestly the term really doesn't mean much, except as a way for gamers, comic book fans, etc... to justify their hobbies and feel special. But it's really unnecessary, unlike goths and other "alternative/subcultural" groups geeks really don't stand out (although there are exceptions). The extent of our geekiness really doesn't show unless we are in a group or in a geek safe environment, such as a game shop. The rest of the time we look just like any other mundane. Even if we wear our trademark geek clothes (black t-shirt with geek logo/phrase) people won't pay that much attention, and shirts of that type are very common/popular. Within the geek community there are so many subgroups that pretty much everywhere you turn there is some kind of geek. Popular culture lumps all geeks in the same group whether they be Star Trek fans, Star Wars fans, gamers, or comic book geeks so in a way being a geek is seen as fairly normal. While there may still be jokes made about geeks, they are generally made by geeks, see a Kevin Smith film, because we have no problem laughing at ourselves.  We see tons of geek references in everything from top grossing movies, popular TV shows, and video games (probably the most popular and mainstream of the geek hobbies.) Even sports fans are geeks, they have the obsessive habits of geeks (collecting memorabilia, & defending their favorite teams), the only difference is that their geekiness is seen as normal ,predominately male, behavior. Nearly everyone in the world knows who Darth Vader is, they probably have a favorite Star Trek captain, they've heard of Dungeons and Dragons, and they've probably seen Spiderman once or twice. They may not know in depth details like a true fan, but if you walk down the street with a shirt saying "May the Force be with you" almost everyone will get it. So I think the geek label is just our way of trying to prove we are different and not mundane since the hobbies we love are becoming so recognizable to the masses. As a whole geeks tend to be fairly intelligent, creative & passionate people, and having a label that differentiates you from everyone else helps to feed the need to feel special, but there is nothing wrong with that.So geek, game and be merry....</blockquote>

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