What Does A Geek Look Like?
I'm a little baffled here. I really don't want to get into an argument with anyone, but I'm totally confused as to how to proceed.
A little background:
I have a friend, Jamie. Jamie and I go way back. And by 'way', I mean 15 years. For the past 10 years, I've considered him to be my best friend. He's the one person who, no matter how badly I communicate, knows what I'm trying to say. We have a ton of things in common, we have each others' backs, and we crack each other up.
For about 12 years, he and I role-played together, first in the Compuserve RPGAMES forum, then through email, then through a forum that we set up ourselves. Over the years, other RPers have come and gone, but Jamie and I were pretty consistent. About three years ago, life interfered, and we stopped RPing. Neither of us could give it the time and attention it deserved.
Last week, he emailed me to tell me he was getting back into it, and he invited me to join in. I told him, honestly, that with my studies now, and going back to school in the fall, I probably wouldn't have time.
However, if he wanted a part-time character to jump in every now and again (like a bartender, or a security guard), I'd be happy to oblige. He was fine with that. He knows I'm busy. It's a soap-opera-type RP where there are many opportunities for me to just jump in here and there without making a commitment to playing all the time.
He's RPing with four other people - three girls and a guy. They're all social, and shit, and they're asking questions about each other in an OOC thread (Out of Character thread, where the players discuss life and stuff). They all posted their pictures, and a brief description of themselves. I didn't, because I normally don't bother with that. But, they prodded me. So, I did. I posted a small pic, and gave them a very brief description of me - I'm Canadian, I'm going back to school, have been RPing for 15 years, and I'm a total geek.
This morning, two of the girls had commented:
"You don't look the geek you claim to be."
"I don't know if you are as much a geek as you think you are , you look very cute to me."
What the fuck??? These people don't know me. They've never met me, and probably couldn't even pick me out in a crowd of two. They've never talked to me, or emailed me.
I don't know if these two are completely fucking brain dead, or if I'm just being argumentative and cranky. But, seeing someone's small picture online doesn't make anyone an expert on that person's personality.
Jamie told me I should just accept it as a compliment and forget about it, but I can't. What they did is no different from dismissing anyone else's opinion of themselves based solely on appearance.
Case in point:
"You're a blonde, so you can't be that eco-friendly."
'You have brown eyes, how can you say you're an animal lover?"
"You have freckles, so even though you SAY you like to read Voltaire, I think you're full of shit."
"You're tall, so you can't be as smart as you claim."
Those four statements are about as equally fucktarded as the 'You can't be a geek' statement that I got (twice) this morning.
The one statement wasn't that bad. "You don't look the geek you claim to be."
Okay, fine. Maybe I don't. But the words 'you claim to be' still rubbed me the wrong way. Like I'm purposely trying to be someone I'm not. It was the second statement, "I don't know if you are as much a geek as you think you are…" that really irked my fucking ass. It's like she's saying, "Based on a picture I saw of you, even though I don't know you at all, I think you're wrong about self-perception."
So, I posted - "What does a geek look like, pray tell?"
Both of them responded with, "I don't know."
To give Jamie credit, he did confirm that yes, I am a geek. Big time. He also told everyone that it really doesn't fucking matter, because I'm good at RP writing, and that's why I was there.
I'd really, really like to participate in Jamie's RP, and I don't want to ruin it for him or make any enemies. But, I have a severe allergy to stupid people, and I know it's going to act up if this shit keeps on.
Would anyone else take offense to this? Being told that you're not who you think you are just because some random stranger saw a picture of you and decided to tell you otherwise? Normally, it wouldn't bother me, but I'm going to have to interact with these people in the future if I stick around.
And, my biggest question - what the hell does a geek look like??
A little background:
I have a friend, Jamie. Jamie and I go way back. And by 'way', I mean 15 years. For the past 10 years, I've considered him to be my best friend. He's the one person who, no matter how badly I communicate, knows what I'm trying to say. We have a ton of things in common, we have each others' backs, and we crack each other up.
For about 12 years, he and I role-played together, first in the Compuserve RPGAMES forum, then through email, then through a forum that we set up ourselves. Over the years, other RPers have come and gone, but Jamie and I were pretty consistent. About three years ago, life interfered, and we stopped RPing. Neither of us could give it the time and attention it deserved.
Last week, he emailed me to tell me he was getting back into it, and he invited me to join in. I told him, honestly, that with my studies now, and going back to school in the fall, I probably wouldn't have time.
However, if he wanted a part-time character to jump in every now and again (like a bartender, or a security guard), I'd be happy to oblige. He was fine with that. He knows I'm busy. It's a soap-opera-type RP where there are many opportunities for me to just jump in here and there without making a commitment to playing all the time.
He's RPing with four other people - three girls and a guy. They're all social, and shit, and they're asking questions about each other in an OOC thread (Out of Character thread, where the players discuss life and stuff). They all posted their pictures, and a brief description of themselves. I didn't, because I normally don't bother with that. But, they prodded me. So, I did. I posted a small pic, and gave them a very brief description of me - I'm Canadian, I'm going back to school, have been RPing for 15 years, and I'm a total geek.
This morning, two of the girls had commented:
"You don't look the geek you claim to be."
"I don't know if you are as much a geek as you think you are , you look very cute to me."
What the fuck??? These people don't know me. They've never met me, and probably couldn't even pick me out in a crowd of two. They've never talked to me, or emailed me.
I don't know if these two are completely fucking brain dead, or if I'm just being argumentative and cranky. But, seeing someone's small picture online doesn't make anyone an expert on that person's personality.
Jamie told me I should just accept it as a compliment and forget about it, but I can't. What they did is no different from dismissing anyone else's opinion of themselves based solely on appearance.
Case in point:
"You're a blonde, so you can't be that eco-friendly."
'You have brown eyes, how can you say you're an animal lover?"
"You have freckles, so even though you SAY you like to read Voltaire, I think you're full of shit."
"You're tall, so you can't be as smart as you claim."
Those four statements are about as equally fucktarded as the 'You can't be a geek' statement that I got (twice) this morning.
The one statement wasn't that bad. "You don't look the geek you claim to be."
Okay, fine. Maybe I don't. But the words 'you claim to be' still rubbed me the wrong way. Like I'm purposely trying to be someone I'm not. It was the second statement, "I don't know if you are as much a geek as you think you are…" that really irked my fucking ass. It's like she's saying, "Based on a picture I saw of you, even though I don't know you at all, I think you're wrong about self-perception."
So, I posted - "What does a geek look like, pray tell?"
Both of them responded with, "I don't know."
To give Jamie credit, he did confirm that yes, I am a geek. Big time. He also told everyone that it really doesn't fucking matter, because I'm good at RP writing, and that's why I was there.
I'd really, really like to participate in Jamie's RP, and I don't want to ruin it for him or make any enemies. But, I have a severe allergy to stupid people, and I know it's going to act up if this shit keeps on.
Would anyone else take offense to this? Being told that you're not who you think you are just because some random stranger saw a picture of you and decided to tell you otherwise? Normally, it wouldn't bother me, but I'm going to have to interact with these people in the future if I stick around.
And, my biggest question - what the hell does a geek look like??