Tag Archives: geeks
For Want of a Guiding Voice
Throughout all of geek history their have been the great debates. Who would win in a fight, Mighty Mouse or Superman? What’s the better time machine, the Delorean or the Tardis? Which is better, Star Wars or Star Trek? [Editor: could Pikachu ever battle Raiden?] I will not really be answering any of these questions, but I will be taking a look at a different side of the third question.
Let me come right out and say it, the new Clone Wars movie was good. Provided you take it for what it is. It is not Episode 2.5, it is not a stand alone movie. It is a straight to DVD quality movie that is intended to act as an introduction to a new Saturday morning cartoon. As such you have to hold it in the same light as Star Wars: Ewoks, and Star Wars: Droids. Now that’s out of the way.
In 1977 George Lucas was able to make a movie that was pretty much exactly what he wanted to make. Their were a few studio injunctions, but by and large it was his movie. It set him up financially to pay out of his own pocket for all future Star Wars movies. This allowed him to take his own vision and largely unmolested put in on screen. For better or worse Star Wars has been his child, with no other real daddies. Even in the “expanded universe” all major changes must be approved by him.
Eleven years before in 1966 Gene Roddenberry put Star Trek on TV for the first time, and geeks would never be the same again. As we all know the show only lasted three years, but spawned four spin offs and almost eleven movies. However there is one major difference. Roddenberry died in 1991 during production of Star Trek VI, and just after the start of the fifth season of Star Trek:TNG. This is where Star Trek began to stumble. TNG went largely down hill in its last few years (featuring such stories as Picard and Crusher psychically joined, and a Worf/Troi/Riker love triangle), and the people who gave us more Trek from there on in have been trying to give us their vision of Trek with various levels of success, and more often than not failure.
With the exception of First Contact, and some parts of Generations, the other subsequent Trek movies have been a complete let down. They were some one else’s vision of Trek, and not Roddenberry’s. I fear for the new “Young Trek” approach, but I’ll hold judgment till I see it next summer. Except for the last few years of DS9 all recent Trek shows have been crap. Voyager was a good mini series that dragged on way to long, and Enterprise is barely even Trek.
Both have an expanded universe of books, comics, video games, and more that have had varying degrees of success. As with Clone Wars these also have to be taken for what they are, attempts at trying something different for different audiences.
With two pieces of work that have been going since LBJ was President a certain amount of ups and downs can be expected. Trek has a larger body of work, which also leaves it open to more likely failures. Saying which is better than the other is the geek version of barroom arguments between Red Sox and Yankee fans. For my money when you put the best of one, versus the best of the other, they are pretty equally brilliant.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I feel that Star Wars has been able to largely maintain its focus thanks to its one clear voice. Who knows what we could have seen from the “Final Frontier” had Roddenberry not passed away. Having seen what others have done with his vision, I some times wish that the series had died with him. Much the same way that I fear New Line Cinemas idea for an all new Lord of the Rings story in between The Hobbit, and the Rings trilogy.
American entertainment refuses to let things go when they’ve given us their best. We continue to beg fore more and more, so studios are more than happy to give it to us. Star Wars has been able to follow the voice of it’s piper for the last 30 years, Trek lost its leader 17 ago. When John Lennon was shot we all knew that the Beatles were never getting back on stage. Let us all remember the good times rather than hoping to once again catch a falling star.
So what does it take to put together a Fan-Run Sci-Fi Convention?
[Editor's Note: TardisCaptain, has been attending conventions since the late eighties from Seattle to Los Angels to Oklahoma and all points in-between. This includes General SF conventions, gaming cons, charity cons, LAN expos and of course Star Trek cons. He has volunteered at various local conventions including Conduit, LTUE and Mountain-Con. He was the ConChair of Mountain-Con I, II and III and is still a trustee for Mountain-Con.]
Attending a convention is a rare treat. There is usually a large buzz of fans wanting to meet their favorite author or actor. Other fans are excited because they have the opportunity to share their fandom. Merchants have brought rare and unusual items to the dealers’ room. Games have been prepared by Game Masters, LARP Judges and LAN coordinators. Costumers have spent thousands of dollars and thousands of man-hours preparing costumes. Artists have submitted images of their imagination to the art-show or film festival. All of these fans have brought something to contribute to the excitement of a convention. All for one glorious geek-fest-filled three days.
The question I pose for all of the fans out there, have you ever wondered what it takes to put a Fan-Run SF Convention together? Well the first keyword is ‘Fans’; volunteers are needed to put together the ConCom (Convention Committee). The phrase “Many hands make light work” really applies here. The more volunteers that are helping throughout the year the easier it is to put together the con.
Out of these volunteers you need to find the person who has the following qualifications. Can they run a small business? Do they have experience with convention running? Are they willing to take the blame when things go wrong? Are they willing to play referee between egos? Are they willing to do all of the jobs of the volunteers underneath them? If you have someone crazy enough to do this (check local insane asylums for possible candidates) then elect that person to be the Convention Chair (aka ConChair). Since the ConCom is made up of volunteers, the ConChair needs to be the glue that holds everyone together and keep them focused on putting together the next convention. The ConChair also coordinates the monthly meetings (multiple meetings held most months), reports to the trustees on the status of the con, name a Co-Chair (basically an assistant who is second-in-command) and basically keep an eye on all of the various sub-committees and chairs.
The remaining members left in the asylum will then fill out the other positions within the ConCom. Each group could be run by just the position chair and co-chair or create a sub-committee to help out.
Accounting- Do you have the lobes for this job?
Anime- Dubbed vs Sub-titles debate goes on.
Art-Show- Oh shiny and you want to sell it too?
Banquet- Yes you can have a formal dinner with the guests.
Dealers Room- These merchants came all the way from Diagon Alley.
Fan Club- The ‘Home Boys from Outer Space’ fan club wants a promotion table?
Fan Film- We are showing it at the con before releasing it on the internet.
Filk- La-la-la-la
Gaming- Where are the Cheetos?
Guest- I need a volunteer to be Jeri Ryan’s assistant
Hotel- Yes discounted sleeping rooms are available at the hotel.
Kid-Con- We are raising the next generation of geeks.
Masquerade- Yes that chain-mail covers enough of you to go on stage.
Operations- You have five minutes until the end of your panel.
Programming- We can put the Ghost Hunting panel across from the MMORPG panel.
Publicity- Getting the word out about the con.
Publishing- The due date for the programming book is coming up soon.
Registration- Badges? Yes you need your stinkin’ badges.
Security- Why do people snicker when they see us in red shirts?
Volunteer- You really want to help out? Oh bless you!
Once these positions have been filled then the Con-Chair makes sure everyone is filling their volunteer duties in a timely manner. We do not have a TARDIS to travel back in time to beat the deadlines, and these deadlines come quicker than most people expect. Hotel and Guest arrangements must be made very early in the process (sometimes more than a year in advance). Travel and lodging for the guests must be set up (and paid for in advance). The convention space and sleeping rooms need to be agreed upon between convention and hotel. This helps determine the date of the convention (a huge factor for attendees). Programming of panels, gaming, special events and media (anime and fan films) must be completed months in advance in order to make publishing deadlines. Pre-sales of convention memberships and dealers room tables help bring in early funding for the con. Local fan clubs and organizations (SCA to grassroots space supporters to gaming to fan clubs of various shows) need to be coordinated for possible volunteers, sales, room parties, promotion booths, etc.). The booth space for both Dealers Room and Fan Clubs need to be coordinated. Security concerns at the hotel space need to be identified and addressed. Before you know it, months have passed and we are approaching the convention date.
There are a ton of things that can be put together for an enjoyable convention. The three things that may prevent a convention from running a certain event are three things. 1-Lack of money, 2-Lack of volunteers or 3-Lack of time. Like a major motion picture, there comes a time when you have to put an end to the preparation and release the con. However what is released is the heart and soul that an army of volunteers have put together in the name of fun and fandom. You may see a lot of zombie like stares at the dead-dog party (following the end of the convention) but they all know one thing. They volunteered because it was worth it.
If you want a chance to see the fun and excitement of geeks sharing their fandom, check out a nearby fan-run convention (SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT) like Mountain-Con IV held on September 19-21 in Utah. Details can be found at http://www.MountainCon.org.
The gamer social class
Earlier, zohner posted on the hierarchy of geeks from an old chart created by the Brunching Shuttlecocks. While it mainly centered on items that typically might identify geeks, it did leave a big one out: video games.
Gone are the days when playing video games in your basement was a sign of social rejection. In today’s world, there’s something WRONG with a child who has no interest in gaming. Men play video games in social settings in the same manner as their fathers would have poker night. Teenagers use them as their way to pretend they are someone else (and actually try and convince other people over voice that they really ARE as badass as they claim).
What most people don’t consider is that there are actually different classes of gamer. These types are not so different from other diagnosis of behavior, and it is totally possible (and probable) that any one person would grow out of one class and into another. I shall now list these classes (as I see them) and also list the typical setting you will see them in:
“The Otaku”
These ones are scary.
I should clear some things up first: namely what the word means. Otaku in Japan simply refers to someone who is a fan of typically manga (comics), anime, OR video games. By this definition, most readers of this blog would fall into this designation. In America, the term is a little more specific: one who is OBSESSIVELY into those interests. These are the people who are dressed up as their favorite characters at Comic Con or conventions (sorry TardisCaptain).
In reference to video game classes, this player is obsessed with his/her (let’s face it, HIS) games. Not just slightly; they have the wall scroll, they have the action figures, they have the soundtracks, they have the Japanese-only special edition v2 of the game that requires a modified PlayStation 1 to even load.
They play Japanese RPG’s almost exclusively, and praise them for a “high caliber of writing”. Never mind the fact that said writing was originally in another language and directly translated into a dialect it was never meant for and is being displayed one line at a time to horrible music . . . it’s brilliant to them.
If Xenosaga, Final Fantasy, Lunar, Grandia, and Chrono Cross were the best games ever made to you . . . this is your class.
The Frat Boy
This class of gamer is a little harder to specify, as there are times when all gamers will fall into it’s classification. Schmidty, Squishy, and I are certainly guilty of it (even though we aren’t normally in this class).
This gamer isn’t driven by story lines or deep character development. In fact, most the time they don’t actually care about the game at all. Rather, they are drawn to gaming by the social interaction with others. Whether their playmates are in the same room or in another time zone, the scene is the same:
Lot’s of drinking (caffeine or alcohol)
Lot’s of loud talking, with no one actually listening to anyone else
Lot’s of “OOOOOOHHHHHH!!!!!” every time someone does something impressive (if you game, you know exactly what sound I’m talking about)
High fives, fist pounds, and (in worst cases) chest bumps
Halo is a favorite with this crowd, though it could be argued that Halo (and games like it) simply bring out the Frat Boy in all of us.
The Nintendo Fan
Never play anything harder than Banjo-Kazooie, Zelda, or Ratchet and Clank? This is you. It doesn’t mean you only play on Nintendo platforms, but you certainly subscribe to their model of gameplay.
The Squishy
I’m giving squishy his own category, cause I simply can’t think of a better name.
“I play, I enjoy, and screw you if you don’t like what I’m playing or how I’m playing it.”
The Jock
Ironically, this group is never (or at least rarely) actual jocks in real life. However, in the video game world, they reign supreme. They are also the most cocky, aggressive, and demented of the bunch.
Also known as the “twitch” gamer, these guys are PC-FPS players ONLY. In fact, these guys are the ones you see on forum boards picking fights with console FPS fans (the Frat Boys). They aren’t necessarily obsessed with their game, however they play it to win and can be real jerks about it.
You can see them playing any type of game, but it’ll be in the dark, with a headset, keyboard and mouse ONLY, and they are typically in the middle of hazing you.
I’m interested in hearing other people’s classifications of gamers. What type of gamer are you?
Where Are You On The Geek Foodchain?
A few years ago, Zuke and I got into a discussion regarding who was a bigger geek, me or one of our fellow contributors, Carl. It was determined that even though Carl has “con cred” and has huge geekish tendencies, I was the bigger geek because “Carl has Star Trek, you’re just kind of a sad geek.” To that I say “I have Star Wars! I will break you Kazuki!”
It was about this time in my life that I discovered the Geek Hierarchy. It’s a flowchart showing what geeks are better than other geeks. Even though Carl may be less geeky than me, I take comfort in knowing that I’m better than all furries.
