Bring on the Night

So what is up with these computer game playing losers? Why would the spent so many hours in front of their altar, and is it true that can be spotted from far away?

All valid questions, and guess what; I can answer them all for a reason.

Yes – it’s true, I’m a nerd. Big surprise?

Back in the beginning of the computer era being a ‘nerd’ was really bad. It was something you only called people when they did not hear it. You would stand in crowds watching the worst cases walk by hugging the wall. Slowly the whispers would start: “Whoooaa look at that guy’s glasses, he is such a nerd”.

In the old days being called nerd was equal to skinny or extreme fat guys with so white (almost transparent) skin that people could see their organs when they stripped down. “Nerds” certainly never saw the sun, since they mostly roamed in their parent’s basement stuck in front of the computer. If they had any other skin colour it would be extreme red from the monitor’s radiation or the random spots covering their teenage faces (which incidentally also had to do with their nutrition of choice). They only ate pizza/chips and drank Cola or coffee. In short a nerd was one of social life’s losers and needed mocking.

Now the term have changed meaning (well, at least here in Denmark). Now knowing a ‘nerd’ now resembles a chance of computer aid, possible access to porn and in some cases a possible new mentor in the exciting new world of gaming communities.

Back in the old days, I never liked the term ‘nerd’ that much. Now, however, I pride myself to be one. Well, in most situations I guess.

At work I am known for being the nerd in my department. I’m not the kind of nerd that can program stuff or hard code whole homepages in a simple text editor, but I have a pretty good feeling of how to use and maintain office programs and computers in general. This also means that I am the first to be asked about a colleague’s computer/software problem. These do occur from time to time (and actually quite often). I am also the first to be mocked if I can’t solve the problem, and people conclude that I did not give a nerdish enough answer to justify why not. Fair enough. All-in-all a pretty good deal and no bad thing to be called a ‘nerd’ anymore.

I don’t know if you had the same experience about the term developing to a more positive meaning, but in these times you can’t always pinpoint one when you see him. They come in all shapes and sizes. Lately I have even witnessed one smelling like he actually bathed! Jokes aside, I know many people that no one would ever call nerdish or geeks. They are undercover. The nerdish side can be tricked out though. It just takes the right question. Spook us out I say. Just try to say the following in a flock, that you suspect having a nerd: “My PC acts weird. All my icons in Windows XP are extremely big. Anyone know why?”. The real geeks always give you an answer or a smartass reply (which is exactly what you were looking for, right?).

See, you can divide us into 2 categories: Helpful fellas that really like to help, and smartasses that just want to come off as demi gods.

The worst part of being a nerd is if you are the helpful type (which I consider myself).

It is so easy to gain an enormous workload besides your own problems if you can’t say no. If you help people out, somehow our reputation seems to run ahead of us giving us a load of consultation work to friends, relatives, and acquaintances. I quite often get a polite query from a nerdless family.

Nerds; all families should have one.

Sometimes I am happy to help, but often I have to turn them down. I have to draw a line in the sand. If you really want, you can use all your spare time repairing over-the-hill computers. People are usually very grateful, which is very rewarding. But most of the time, the effort is not worth if. It is simply too much work.

This is how my career of nerddom started:

Back in my youth, I was fortunate enough to have a curious father. Even before most people knew about computers, my dad came home with a PET computer. Monitor and chassis was build into one, and the real top models had a tape recorder to load or save your programs. Very ugly, but it got me interested.

  
Later my father changed model to the different types of home computers the next years (Marathon, ZX Spectrum, VIC20, and Commodore64). Finally I got my own computer when my father upgraded to PC. My very own Commodore64. Afterwards I bought a used Amiga 500 and eventually an Amiga 4000. As most Amiga enthusiasts I had to give in, and convert to PC and windows. I still stick to Windows, since it eventually has become bearable to use.

Of course playing games was my biggest interest, and I can’t seem to let this habit go. I am 34 years old, and still play games. Sigh.

My number one game is Counter-Strike, which also is the most wide spread and played computer game the last years. I don’t play as much as I have done, but still enjoy an occasional hour now and then. Some people may think it’s sad and lonely, but it is quite the opposite. Counter-Strike (CS) is a social game if you decide to join a gaming clan, which I did. We don’t game alone, but meet up 5 guys and use headsets to talk while we play. We play together against 5 other nutcases. Very funny and gets the blood flowing. Gaming CS requires teamwork, brains and skill.

 
This “sport” has it all and you never sweat!? Great eh? There is no downside to computer games (other than: epileptic seizures, high blood pressures, lack of social life, no tan and people thinking you are weird when you try to explain why it is so fascinating to spend your evenings killing people online).

Actually I have meet many great people in my time playing CS, and still do. I even joined a CS community with leagues, forums and news called “SLAP Ligaen” (SLAP League). We have about 3 net parties each year, where all the nerds meet up and link computers together and have a blast with CS.

Needless to say that I have cut down on these activities since I married, but I still have my occasional game once and a while. Just to stay nerdish enough.