Also I’d love for sci-fi and Fantasy books to be niche. I hate seeing worthless showrunners crap all over source material and especially hate to see what has happened with major publishers
You know why I seem to simp for Japan in general? Yes, they sort of do treat Otaku as social misfits and whatnot, but not to the extent the way west does. Back long time ago when I went to Japan, the girls there were playing monster hunter games without ridiculing that hobby and treat it like a normal hobby. That was way before the vtuber fad began and twitch thots came about pretending to like games. The way everything west does, it feels like they are just jumping on the bandwagon because it's popular and I cannot stand that fakeness.
Japan's attitude toward basically anything is "as long as it helps the economy it's a good thing". Akihabara is an entire city built around giving otaku whatever they want. As long as you keep your weird shit to yourself, nobody cares.
A long time ago when my Dad was going to high school, he ran for student body office and won by promoting himself to the nonpopular kids. There were way more of them than the popular kids and those who wanted to be them. The entire concept of being a popular kid has been blown back several times since. Spiderman filled a stadium in the 70's. Toys and other stuff for kids was sold throughout the 80's and made a lot of money. Comics became collectors items in the 90's. Then they became the big name in movies in the 00 and 010 period. That is decades of nonpopular kids ruling over the popular kids.
So, the popular kids are now trying to appropriate it as their own. It never works because its not as popular, but they scheme to make it look that way. We aren't seeing popular girls try to steal D&D, we are seeing popular girls attempt to be popular with what they think D&D is. The line of distinction is obvious when you see how they respond to it. The Gatekeeping that famously happened was just Geeks making sure the girl they are talking to is an actual geek and not a wannabe.
We watch them lose, because they think they are popular. They are willing to rip the country in half to get their way.
one thing I noticed about corporate nerd culture is that it is not about the thing. it is all about being a fan of the thing. that is why they will mutilate the thing until it's barely recognizable so that it will appeal to an audience it previously didn't appeal to. That audience will just be happy to also like the thing that's popular to like on the internet, and will lap it up no matter how bad it is.
that's why they get away with going from well-written shows to low quality streaming services, as well as buggy AAA games that have been completely neutered.
Star Wars has one of the most dedicated, enduring fan bases of all time, but the holiday special was still instantly and universally panned. Today if something like that came out we'd have infinity Reddit posts defending how important and groundbreaking it is and how anyone who doesn't like it is a fascist. Because as you said, it is no longer about the work. It's about the brand.
One problem I have with these observations is that they completely miss the part that these women are from entirely new generations. With different media exposures and raising. Women are not collectively some ancient immortal entity. What might have been considered bad in one generation is not guaranteed to be carried on to the next. Hell, it's usually the opposite for the sake of sticking it to parents.
"Nerd" culture is simply manufactured hyper-consumerism. It promotes a never ending desire for the latest tech gadgets while providing grown men permission to live out fantasias through action figures and RPG simulations.
It is a great way to keep potentially dangerous men in a state of detached artificial excitement.
I run a tabletop RPG over webcam. It doesn't cost anything. I don't even buy D&D books because that has sucked for more than a decade.
I am a patient gamer and my hardware is about six years old. I play older games and I get them on sale after all the hype has does down. This means I only play the good games.
I am into rebuilding motorbikes and I like RC racing, but I do those on a very limited budget.
So I ges you can go all hyper-consumer. If you want?
It's the same thing with games. I game similar to DemolitionsPanda. I hardly ever buy games full price when they are newly released. Everyone else will be playing and talking about the new hotness while you are playing something older still. It doesn't feel like you are part of much of a culture when you are frugal, patient, and discerning.
The manufactured trend of "normies" geeking out on established properties is an attempt to expand the market beyond educated consumers into trend chasers who will purchase new books and props until they inevitably become bored and look for the next trend to get excited about.
That’s the embodiment of Greed. You always want something that isn’t yours. From sugars and arsenic clothes in the 18th century, to pottery depicted epic battles in Greece, mankind will always seek new ways to waste time, money, and willpower on the “New Thing.”
One thing this meme misses are the nerds attempting to make the nerdy activity popular.
The specific thing I'm thinking of is Linux which over the past 20+ years became a victim of its own success having been pushed in industry by a bunch "nerds" who are now being pushed out by useless people enforcing "codes of conduct".
Do they really though? Yeah they liked stranger things but, for all the shitty pandering that they did in other franchises, I don't feel like girls are really consuming any of that content more than they did before.
You forgot the mid-2000s and first half of the 2010s (though it is still ongoing):
Celebrity discovers nerd thing. "This thing is cool! How do you do fellow nerds!"
Just shut up Wesley!
But this time the niche thing might end up getting the NFA repealed.
Firearms are a niche thing?
They aren't?
I hope comic books become niche again. Gaming makes so much money I do t see it ever being niche again
Also I’d love for sci-fi and Fantasy books to be niche. I hate seeing worthless showrunners crap all over source material and especially hate to see what has happened with major publishers
Good point
“I made this.”
Gradually, I began to hate them.
Somewhere between 80s and now our sight improved
LASIK did not, in fact, give us laser eyes, but we had to try.
You know why I seem to simp for Japan in general? Yes, they sort of do treat Otaku as social misfits and whatnot, but not to the extent the way west does. Back long time ago when I went to Japan, the girls there were playing monster hunter games without ridiculing that hobby and treat it like a normal hobby. That was way before the vtuber fad began and twitch thots came about pretending to like games. The way everything west does, it feels like they are just jumping on the bandwagon because it's popular and I cannot stand that fakeness.
Japan's attitude toward basically anything is "as long as it helps the economy it's a good thing". Akihabara is an entire city built around giving otaku whatever they want. As long as you keep your weird shit to yourself, nobody cares.
A long time ago when my Dad was going to high school, he ran for student body office and won by promoting himself to the nonpopular kids. There were way more of them than the popular kids and those who wanted to be them. The entire concept of being a popular kid has been blown back several times since. Spiderman filled a stadium in the 70's. Toys and other stuff for kids was sold throughout the 80's and made a lot of money. Comics became collectors items in the 90's. Then they became the big name in movies in the 00 and 010 period. That is decades of nonpopular kids ruling over the popular kids.
So, the popular kids are now trying to appropriate it as their own. It never works because its not as popular, but they scheme to make it look that way. We aren't seeing popular girls try to steal D&D, we are seeing popular girls attempt to be popular with what they think D&D is. The line of distinction is obvious when you see how they respond to it. The Gatekeeping that famously happened was just Geeks making sure the girl they are talking to is an actual geek and not a wannabe.
We watch them lose, because they think they are popular. They are willing to rip the country in half to get their way.
one thing I noticed about corporate nerd culture is that it is not about the thing. it is all about being a fan of the thing. that is why they will mutilate the thing until it's barely recognizable so that it will appeal to an audience it previously didn't appeal to. That audience will just be happy to also like the thing that's popular to like on the internet, and will lap it up no matter how bad it is.
that's why they get away with going from well-written shows to low quality streaming services, as well as buggy AAA games that have been completely neutered.
Star Wars has one of the most dedicated, enduring fan bases of all time, but the holiday special was still instantly and universally panned. Today if something like that came out we'd have infinity Reddit posts defending how important and groundbreaking it is and how anyone who doesn't like it is a fascist. Because as you said, it is no longer about the work. It's about the brand.
One problem I have with these observations is that they completely miss the part that these women are from entirely new generations. With different media exposures and raising. Women are not collectively some ancient immortal entity. What might have been considered bad in one generation is not guaranteed to be carried on to the next. Hell, it's usually the opposite for the sake of sticking it to parents.
"Nerd" culture is simply manufactured hyper-consumerism. It promotes a never ending desire for the latest tech gadgets while providing grown men permission to live out fantasias through action figures and RPG simulations.
It is a great way to keep potentially dangerous men in a state of detached artificial excitement.
/feelsbadman
Well, perhaps the way you do it?
I run a tabletop RPG over webcam. It doesn't cost anything. I don't even buy D&D books because that has sucked for more than a decade.
I am a patient gamer and my hardware is about six years old. I play older games and I get them on sale after all the hype has does down. This means I only play the good games.
I am into rebuilding motorbikes and I like RC racing, but I do those on a very limited budget.
So I ges you can go all hyper-consumer. If you want?
That isn't nerdy though, it is just stupid.
Operative word in his post being "culture." If you aren't buying every garbage WotC release, it's arguable you aren't participating in "nerd culture."
It's the same thing with games. I game similar to DemolitionsPanda. I hardly ever buy games full price when they are newly released. Everyone else will be playing and talking about the new hotness while you are playing something older still. It doesn't feel like you are part of much of a culture when you are frugal, patient, and discerning.
City of Heroes is free to play now. Check out the Thunderspy server.
Yes. That is part of my point.
The manufactured trend of "normies" geeking out on established properties is an attempt to expand the market beyond educated consumers into trend chasers who will purchase new books and props until they inevitably become bored and look for the next trend to get excited about.
That’s the embodiment of Greed. You always want something that isn’t yours. From sugars and arsenic clothes in the 18th century, to pottery depicted epic battles in Greece, mankind will always seek new ways to waste time, money, and willpower on the “New Thing.”
One thing this meme misses are the nerds attempting to make the nerdy activity popular.
The specific thing I'm thinking of is Linux which over the past 20+ years became a victim of its own success having been pushed in industry by a bunch "nerds" who are now being pushed out by useless people enforcing "codes of conduct".
Do they really though? Yeah they liked stranger things but, for all the shitty pandering that they did in other franchises, I don't feel like girls are really consuming any of that content more than they did before.