• Welcome to ZD Forums! You must create an account and log in to see and participate in the Shoutbox chat on this main index page.

Holding Back "Geekness"

Do you hide your geekness?

  • Never. I share everything with everyone

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Sometimes, there are things I don't want people knowing.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Often. I only let them know I am a fan to an extent.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Always. People don't need to know that part of my life.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0

Mellow Ezlo

Spoony Bard
Joined
Dec 2, 2012
Location
eh?
Gender
Slothkin
Some things, yes.

My friends always make fun of me for liking Zelda. So, I never tell them when I buy Zelda games, or hang out on ZD, because I know they will make fun of me further. It is a little bit annoying after a while, having to hide my love for this amazing franchise, but oh well.

One thing I am very open about, however, is music. My friends listen to nothing but rock and metal (well... They say they listen to metal, but they only know some songs by Avenged Sevenfold and Metallica... -.-). I listen to those as well, but I listen to far more than just that. I listen to anything from Rush to Miley Cyrus. I'll even throw in some Classical and VG music now and then. My friends always make fun of me for listening to mainstream tracks, but I like them. I love rock, I love metal, I love pop, I love electronic, I love classical, I love VG music, I love screamo, I love country, I love Weird Al; the majority of these I get made fun of for, but I really don't care!
 

Vanessa28

Angel of Darkness
Staff member
ZD Legend
Administrator
Joined
Jan 31, 2010
Location
Yahtzee, Supernatural
Gender
Angel of Darkness
Anyone that holds back their geekiness is holding themselves back, only strengthening it as a taboo, furthermore it only deludes you further into believing there is something wrong with it, be proud of who you are, and enjoy your own tastes, if someone doesn't like that and mocks you for it, consider it a filter for people you should and shouldn't hang around with. :)

:yes: This is absolutely true in all aspects. I'm the kinda person that doesn't hold back at all. When I was a kid I did though but when I grew older I started to be more open and now I'm the kinda person that will talk about it whenever she gets the chance. I am proud of being a Dr Who/Hockey geek and will leave no chance alone to mention it
 

SlimZim

Helena is my baby.
Joined
Oct 8, 2013
Location
YouTube
I always express what I like, and I defend it to the death. Many adages across the Internet will tell you to keep your trap shut in fear of making enemies, but I say to embrace enemies. One can only get tougher by experiencing pain; otherwise you will be a sad sack forever and may even end up not liking anything due to fear of people thinking negative about YOUR LIKES.

I wish I could do this haha. I guess in the world we live in, perception is everything. Though, even my coaches know I'm a computer whiz, but they don't know about my love for gaming.
 

Mercedes

つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
Joined
Nov 12, 2007
Location
In bed
Gender
Female
Well, I do sometimes, though I wouldn't call myself a 'geek', but not for feeling embarrassed about it. Just, I know my friends, and the type I go to bars with don't give a **** about why Deus Ex is a great game, just like some of my Uni friends don't care about the football, and how we beat Cardiff. So, it's just knowing what my friends find interesting, being the only reason I 'hold back' talking about certain stuff. :P
 

SlimZim

Helena is my baby.
Joined
Oct 8, 2013
Location
YouTube
Well I do and I find it adorable! ;)

haha thank you. here, take this empty bottle as a token of my appreciation

empty-bottle.png
 
Last edited:

Dio

~ It's me, Dio!~
Joined
Jul 6, 2011
Location
England
Gender
Absolute unit
If someone brings up a topic I tell them. I would not necessarily bring up Zelda with people I don't know because not many people seem to know it. I have no shame about liking the things I do, however.
 

Mudora

Innocent but not fearful.
Joined
Jul 27, 2012
Location
Canada, eh
Honestly, most of my friends no nothing about my interest in video games. It's not because I'm ashamed on it, but rather that it just doesn't come up in day to day conversation. I don't try to hide it, it's just a fact that most people don't know about me.
 
Joined
Mar 14, 2012
Location
Minnesota
I do in most circumstances, only because the people either don't need to know or I know they would not understand. For example, at my current workplace I work with only a few girls who are not involved in the "geek" culture in any way. So I don't talk about my interests with them, because I know they would find it weird, so I keep it to myself. My manager actually did mention her 14 year old niece once, who is really into anime and showed us a picture of her niece wearing a lolita dress! I was excited because I love lolita, but my manager kept talking about how weird it was, so I pretended to have only heard of it, and said I didn't really know much about it when I actually own a lovely lolita dress for myself. =P

Places like my college campus I wear my gaming shirts because I know the only people there who would even know what it was referring to would be fellow gamers! Anyone else wouldn't even take notice. All my friends are into some aspect of nerdiness, and I don't talk about those things with someone until I know that the person is "safe" (Also a nerd.) Not because I'm ashamed, but because I doubt a non-gamer would care to hear about my games. *shrug*
 

Sir Quaffler

May we meet again
Is there some sort of middle option between the first two?

I almost never outright hide my "geekiness". If someone asks about something geek-related that I'm interested in, I will unabashedly talk to them about it. I also display my geeky interests in public, though in more subtle ways. I've worn this black Zelda hat for several years now, and I love it for how subtle it is. For those who are in the know, it's a really quick way to establish that we both like Zelda and can talk from there. For those not in the know, it's simply a stylish hat. Stuff like that is what I mean by subtly displaying my geekier side.

I also don't shy away from gaming in public if I'm in the mood for it. I'll whip out my DS (and now my 3DS) on the bus or when I'm watching a show with friends, and I don't feel any less secure about it. Nor do I feel insecure about bringing up animes I like in public, though I do tend to back out of the conversations whenever they turn over to how big the characters' boobs are and stuff like that (and it happens ALL THE DAMN TIME!)

However...

At the same time I don't shove my geekiness into others' faces. Like, if I'm talking to someone about something unrelated I won't just interject with geek stuff unless it meaningfully ties back in to the main conversation. I don't go "Look at how much of a geek I am!", displaying all my interests to gain the attention and desire of others around me. If they notice and are also interested, cool let's talk shop, if not then let's just enjoy each others' company anyway. I have other facets to my personality and so I don't have to rely on being a geek to connect with other people. I display my interests unabashedly, but at the same time not obnoxiously, if that makes sense.


...
And yet, as I write this, it occurs to me that there IS in fact one geeky pastime I actively try to hide from others. Over the past year or so I have become enamored with visual novels, and yet I have not revealed this to anyone else I know for fear of being ostracized as a "hentai-loving pervert" even though I shy away from that kind of material anyways. I love the decision-making and deeply enthralling writing at display, and emulating this writing style has helped me grow enormously as a writer. But I can't seem to be able to explain that to others without them automatically assuming I'm in it for the "porn games" like so many others seem to be and so I avoid it altogether. It's a real conundrum.
 

Raindrop14

Soldier for Christ!
Joined
Jan 29, 2011
Location
E-Arth
Nope, I don't hide it, I let it all out. When people talking about our interests and stuff my geekness blows up like a volcano.
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Can't really say that I reveal much about myself to begin with; it's not like I've got something to hide, though. Fact is, I'm an introvert, but I doubt I'd go out of my way to hide my "geekiness" even if I weren't such. Meh, who am I kidding, I don't give a damn what anyone thinks. Never have; never will...
 

Dan

Joined
Sep 19, 2011
Gender
V2 White Male
Keep telling yourself that ;) is a fantastic phrase often used when confronting people that believe their own lies too much, I often say this to people that do, I enjoy video games but I don't need to tell people this, it's not hiding it's just not telling them, if someone asks me a question about myself I will answer it, I'm not the type to seek out every opportunity to tell my life story, I don't live in the past I live in the present and now, well actually I enjoy playing the past levels on Sonic CD as I think the levels look sexier and the music is more upbeat and super happy :)
 

Skunk

Floof
Joined
Dec 31, 2011
Location
New York
Gender
Nonbinary
I do not hide my geekness. I plan on making a banner that says "Police Public Call Box" and putting it on my TARDIS-blue locker(for as long as it isn't noticed and not taken down...
 

mαrkαsscoρ

Mr. SidleInYourDMs
Joined
May 5, 2012
Location
American Wasteland
really only to personal friends from like elementary school days or fellow geeks,most other people i kinda don't want knowing some of the things i like
actually just recently,my friends barley realized that i loved star wars
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom