Viewing Thread:
"Geekiness"

Ok, I'm writing this completely off the top of my head, so bear with me, hopefully it'll all make sense in the end.

Right, now that warning is out of the way I can get on with it:

Geekiness is related to computer games BIG TIME. but in this post I'm not going to comment on how comouter games are seen by people out side of the industry. I'm going to concentrate on geekiness from inside the gaming "club".

Most people on here, who read this, will have at least some interest in games, so hopefully, together, we can figure out an answer to this simple question:

Why is it considered "geeky" to sit and play MS Train Sim all night, yet it's not considered "geeky" to sit and play Counter Strike all night? They are both games, they both allow you to do things you can't (easily) do in real life.

Is it because shooting people is considered MANLY and HARD and COOL?

I would have thought that as gamers are already considered "geeks" by most of the press and other outsiders, that this kind of prejudice wouldn't be happening within our "gaming group".

I'm just as guilty of it as anyone else. I've taken the mick out of Train Sim in a number posts, as have others. But why do we do it? A HUGE number of people have train sets and stuff set up in their lofts and garages, probably more so than flight sim enthusiasts. Yet flight sim people aren't ridiculed like Train Sim people. It;s not just Train Sim, The Sims also comes under this "geeky" label.

However "geeky" it is considered, Train Sim will sell well, *yet no one will admit to buying a copy!!*. It's the same with The Sims, that game and its expansion packs are always in the top ten. Why?

Could it be that these games have the biggest online communities? Where people who like the same thing (Trains, The Sims etc) get together without fear of reprisal?

I just typed The Sims into google, this came up:
Results 1 - 10 of about 1,330,000

1,330,000 pages!?!? Thats A LOT of fans, add ons and web sites out there.

It would seem the meek are content to sit and rule their virtual world, rather than take part in the real one. And who can blame them?

Mr.Snuggly wrote:
> Mr.Snuggly wrote:
> Everyone in here is a geek except me.

I
> like the fact no-one said anything about this post.


Didn't see it.
*doh*

Ok, one last time for the cheap seats:

Trains are inherently boring.
If you want to drive one, you can. Just grow massive sideburns, smoke roll-ups and don't tuck your shirt in.
Train driving game:

Forwards/Backwards..er...that's it really.

Champ Manager:
Buy players, transfer, set squads, manage the team, make the decisions that affect your team (I hate this game just as much but I can see it takes some effort).

Train Game:
Fowards/Backwards

Flight Sims:
Learn to controls, read the radar, learn weapons systems, navigate with map charts, fly stupidly fast and low at buildings.

Train Game:
Forwards/Backwards

The Sims:
Make two men fall in love and adopt a kid, starve them, electrocute them, get them fired for taking a crap and missing the car to work

Train Game:
Forward/Backwards


Is it clearer now?
Seeing a pattern here?

Mr.Snuggly wrote:
> Everyone in here is a geek except me.

I like the fact no-one said anything about this post.

Goatboy wrote:
> You've bought Train Game haven't you YH?


Lol! No, I haven't.

I'm curious as to why sitting in front of a large spread sheet (Championship Manager) is considered ACCEPTABLE and COOL, yet driving a train (when most kids have probably played with a train set at some point in their life) isn't.

I'm tempted to get it though.....

:-)

You've bought Train Game haven't you YH?

I am the Tarrant wrote:
This is why it is
> "geeky" to play games that
> reflect everyday
> life!!!!!!!!!!


Like The Sims. Wake your sim up in the morning, make him go to the toilet etc etc.

How sad is that! It's exactly the same as everyone does in real life. Yet The Sims isn't regarded as sad, but games like Train Sim are.

I personally find the Champ Manager games boring and sad as hell. You sit there, trawling (sp?) through pages and pages of numbers, christ, it's just like a big Excel spreadsheet for gods sake!

Yet it's not considered sad to say something like: "It's taken me 18 months to get Acrington Stanley into Europe."

Why not?

But cooldogs, thats my poiny. People think it's sad, but it will still sell loads and loads.

I personally find The Sims and Flight Sim boring as hell.

Why would I want to fly over the eiffel tower if I can't blow it up?

Loads of people have train sets and stuff when they ar children, not many have plane sets.

Why is Train Sim sad and Flight Sim isn't?

I SAID!!!:
> Watching/ riding on trains: Easy to do in the "real" world
> and highly tedious!

Shooting baddies to death or flying jets
> aroung: Frowned upon and hard to do in the "real"
> world!


This is why it is "geeky" to play games that
> reflect everyday life!!!!!!!!!!


I'm real clever me!

I do, I am appauled that Microsoft Train Sim has been compared to The Sims. The Sims is nothing like Train Sim. I have, love and adore the sims, it is funny, entralling and fun! I also have and love Flight Sim 2000 Pro. They are great, educational games. The Sims gets you in touch with life, and helps you to see, in a funny way, what consequences can come from different things that happen in life, (ie the gerbil bug). Flight sim is good, because of the freedom that it gives you. you can go anywhere you want. and it's fun. The problem with Train sim is that it is set. you can't fly through manhattan, doging all the skyscrapers, then fly accross the atlantic and circle around the Eifel tower. all you can do is go up and down the same six lines in different trains.

Train Simulator is bad. I would not dare go into a shop and buy it I would be too embarressed becauseit is sad. sorry for the let down but it is uninteresting and lacks anything to give it a reason to be bought.

seeyas

Everyone in here is a geek except me.