The Wrong Type of Geek

I was born to a father who collected the original Star Wars figurines as a young teen. My mother's favorite book at age 13 was Gone With the Wind. I never had a chance at being anything but a nerd. But because their passions were on such different ends of the Geek Spectrum, my interests are a bit more eclectic.

Books were my first love. I taught myself to read by memorizing those super awesome Disney books on tape ("Turn the page when you hear this sound....") and never stopped. When my parents first started having to punish me for acting up, the only thing that worked was taking my books away. I know that sounds like a terrible parenting move, but what would you do when sending your child to their room is met with, "OK!" as they skip off to reread Kristy's Great Idea for the 28643rd time? It didn't hurt my love of books, and I grew up to be a good person so I think they did something right.

As I grew older, I would sit with my dad while he watched TV. My formative years were spent admiring Captains Jean-Luc Picard and Kathryn Janeway and crushing on Daniel Jackson from SG-1. (hot AND a nerd? Uhhh...Yes please!) I vividly remember being in third grade and telling another kid in my class that the Star Wars movies were numbered 4, 5, and 6 so we would eventually get at least three more. He told me I was a liar and a dork.

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These things have been with me since, but as I've grown, I've expanded my nerd love into other themes. In sixth grade, after avoiding it for so long because it looked dumb, I picked up a little book that had a picture of a boy flying a magic broom on the cover to read for points in reading class. And that was the day my life changed.

Too cliche yet? That's fair. But how powerful were these books to my generation that this is a cliche? Harry Potter allowed me to ease into the world of fantasy. It allowed me to feel a little more comfortable being myself because, suddenly, this "typical nerd" book was the most popular thing. After years of feeling just out of place (or as I heard Bill Engvall describe it once, "15 degrees off cool") I finally wasn't the odd girl out. As an 11 year old girl with constant and crushing self-esteem issues, there was no greater feeling.

It lasted for a whole two months before the very typically attention-deficit sixth grade class moved on to some other MIND BLOWING book or movie or TV show and once again, the geeks were left behind, clinging to the place they can see in their mind. The place they were whole and happy, where magic is real and dreams come true. I can remember so many times throughout my youth when I thought I was less than someone else or felt like I had to hide something I really loved because it wasn't cool enough. In this world, this magical, fantasy, fictional world I wanted to cling to, that didn't matter. Your people were still there no matter what. And this was the first time in my life that I started to find MY people. The ones who memorized the movies when they came out and wrote fanfiction because there were never enough stories from this world. The ones who read after lights out and watched sci-fi shows and totally thought my Star Wars fun fact was interesting and not fake or dorky at all.

Once I found MY people, the world exploded. I developed a love for fantasy novels and Young Adult books. I loved learning new games and solving puzzles. I played more and more video games and board games and RPGs. I memorized lines to other movies (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, anyone?) and crushed on even more hot nerd icons (Orlando Bloom). The possibilities opened up in the most magnificent way and I'm still exploring all there is to offer in the nerd world.

Through my expedition into geekdom, I've seen so much wonderful support and love. I've been in groups and met many people who love to share common interests with others and introduce them to new things. Doctor Who, Supernatural, Game of Thrones, and so many more of my favorite things were just recommendations from other geeks. I didn't watch them from the beginning or read the books first, but I love them just the same. And this is where we get into what I think is the Wrong Type of Geek.

To put it simply, the wrong type of geek is the one who judges others for geeking differently.

I'd bet that anyone in the nerd world has faced some sort of judgement from another nerd. It could be that they don't know enough about a topic, they know too much, or they picked the wrong topic to like, but for some reason, another nerd made the decision that that person wasn't geeking the right way. I didn't read the Game of Thrones books, but I still feel for these characters and root for them the same way the book readers do. I didn't start watching Doctor Who or Supernatural until 2012 or 2013 but you better believe that I want to ride in the Impala AND the TARDIS.

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Who gets to decide that their way of being a nerd is best? Unfortunately, too many people out there think they do. I've heard just as much hate in this sacred world of mine as I have love. Harry Potter fans and Game of Thrones fans agree that if you haven't read the books you aren't a "real" fan. Call of Duty nerds judge others for playing Fortnite. Marvel's overrated. DC's heroes are too overpowered. There's so many "wrong" ways to be a geek, I wonder, is there a right way?

Let's all agree here and now, all ways are the right ways. Read the books, don't read the books. Watch the episodes weekly as they air or wait for the series to end and binge it. Play Call of Duty and Fortnite and Minecraft and Kingdom Hearts and MarioKart. Read fantasy books, sci-fi, fiction, literature, young adult, classics, comic books, manga, non-fiction, cereal boxes, whatever! Let people enjoy what they enjoy. The ONLY wrong type of nerd is the one who spreads hate to others.

Later Geeks!

Allison

Allison is the wife of In2Geek Podcast co-host Chase. She handles all the social media accounts for the podcast and decided to try her hand at a blog as well. She spends most of her time chasing around her very stubborn 3 year old daughter and binge watching whatever show she's on at the time.

Make sure to subscribe to the In2Geek Podcast as well as the blog and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Special thanks to Amy Carey and Stephanie Wills for helping me with my first ever blog post!