View Full Version : Were you ever picked on in school for being a gamer?
otaku
06-04-2008, 10:38 AM
yeah especially in middle school, most the kids there weren't into gaming and if they were to a limited extent. I was very into it, reading magazines at recess, drawing, talking about it etc. so yeah I got picked on for it a bit. Still do to this day by some people.
AB Positive
06-04-2008, 11:48 AM
I get picked on an almost daily basis for being a gamer at school. Of course it's because I *work* there and the people teasing me are the staff, not the students.
... not the same really, I guess. :D
-AB+
Ed Oscuro
06-04-2008, 12:37 PM
yeah especially in middle school, most the kids there weren't into gaming and if they were to a limited extent. I was very into it, reading magazines at recess, drawing, talking about it etc. so yeah I got picked on for it a bit. Still do to this day by some people.
It helps to have interests outside of gaming. I can't blame somebody for thinking a person who's drawing Sonic and Mario is a bit off, even if it's unfair.
The label "otaku" isn't one I'd apply to myself, either, since it signifies near-clinical obsessive behavior ;P
mnbren05
06-04-2008, 02:43 PM
Not really, a decent amount of my friends had interest in games. I never spouted off facts about gaming or bragged about it, but I was more than willing to give input. I also never made it obvious that I was a big game collector. It was easier to and more socially acceptable to bring up cars, music, and such than it was to bring up my favorite SNES game.
Rob2600
06-04-2008, 02:49 PM
I never spouted off facts about gaming or bragged about it, but I was more than willing to give input. I also never made it obvious that I was a big game collector. It was easier to and more socially acceptable to bring up cars, music, and such than it was to bring up my favorite SNES game.
I didn't learn that lesson until the end of sophomore year. :)
thom_m
06-04-2008, 07:12 PM
I got picked on for other things, like being fat, using glasses, or stuff like that, not for being a gamer. Everybody grew up with a 2600, and The NES (I mean, the famiclones we had here) had a fair ammount of acceptance when I was on elementary/high school.
Here in Brazil, this popularity stuff is not that heavy, anyway. the kids get along more easily, ther's no distinct groups like "jocks" or "geeks". Which leads me to a (realtively off-topic) doubt I always had: is this popularity issue as important (and potentialy traumatic) as we see on american movies? 'Cause, if so, damn!
Kyle15
06-04-2008, 07:44 PM
I was picked on for other things more so than video games. It was mostly because I liked Anime and was not a "tough skateboarder punk". Oddly, the group that I was stuck with for a big portion of middle school was all over the "I don't give a darn" attitude that they seemed to be attached to.
I was also never the type to stand up for myself, which probably just made everything worse.
At least I had my own Anime/Game group of friends that actually accepted me and made the bullying more tolerable.
NytroSkull7
06-06-2008, 06:15 PM
throughout my high school years people have been asking me most of their "what was that game_____ on ______" I have been more of their Retro gamer dictionary rather than a punching bag.
incubus421
06-06-2008, 06:41 PM
Not really, a decent amount of my friends had interest in games. I never spouted off facts about gaming or bragged about it, but I was more than willing to give input. I also never made it obvious that I was a big game collector. It was easier to and more socially acceptable to bring up cars, music, and such than it was to bring up my favorite SNES game.
My words exactly. I talk with my younger brother and a few cousins about games....and that was really it throughout my elem, middle, high school career. Now, working at a game store, I talk to just about everyone I meet about games and have never been picked on at all...outside of people thinking their 360 is superior to my PS3...but that's a whole nother topic.
Still, even now I'd say the person I talk to most about games is my brother and my co-workers.
TheDomesticInstitution
06-06-2008, 06:46 PM
I couldn't afford a video game system, so I got picked on for being poor.
gdement
06-07-2008, 08:49 AM
Here in Brazil, this popularity stuff is not that heavy, anyway. the kids get along more easily, ther's no distinct groups like "jocks" or "geeks". Which leads me to a (realtively off-topic) doubt I always had: is this popularity issue as important (and potentialy traumatic) as we see on american movies? 'Cause, if so, damn!
No, we aren't really broken up into obvious groups like that in real life. People are just themselves. Teenagers hang out with people they like, there aren't such solid class boundaries like they show in the movies. Anybody who acted that shallow and class-conscious in real life wouldn't have many friends.
I've always had a feeling Hollywood movies make us look bad. Please don't think that stuff is real. :)
TheDomesticInstitution
06-07-2008, 09:33 AM
No, we aren't really broken up into obvious groups like that in real life. People are just themselves. Teenagers hang out with people they like, there aren't such solid class boundaries like they show in the movies. Anybody who acted that shallow and class-conscious in real life wouldn't have many friends.
I've always had a feeling Hollywood movies make us look bad. Please don't think that stuff is real. :)
Umm... I don't know what high school you go to, but there were obvious boundaries in both high schools I attended.
Rob2600
06-07-2008, 01:12 PM
Umm... I don't know what high school you go to, but there were obvious boundaries in both high schools I attended.
Same here. There were nerds, burnouts, preppies, skaters, etc.
alec006
06-07-2008, 05:56 PM
Well actually just a small bit when i was in elementry school,the whole were older now,so pokemon is gay and whoever plays it is gay and all that bullshit,now actually im known for the first person who ever brought pong to school and let everyone play it,everyone had fun and thanked me for bringing in such a classic videogame.
Nebagram
06-07-2008, 06:32 PM
Not really, most of the kids were into games when I was at school, hell I even remember giving advice on Resident Evil 2 to some of the tougher kids and getting along better as a result (shock horror: videogames help you make friends! ;)).
Ed Oscuro
06-07-2008, 07:00 PM
Umm... I don't know what high school you go to, but there were obvious boundaries in both high schools I attended.
The Internet makes you stupid (and possibly more tolerant)
(riffing on the Something Awful theme)
guitargary75
06-07-2008, 09:28 PM
I was a God. Sure, I only had about 4 friends. But, I was their fearless leader.
I don't know what's worse, being picked on because you're a gamer or because you're a girl gamer. Ever since I was in second grade I've been picked on, just because I was the only girl in the school with a gameboy for a while, and for the fact that I traded my pokemans with the guys. Then when I hit 5th grade, N64 was a big hit, but I constantly found nerd and other lovely slogans written on my desk, and I was in a constant pissed off mood that whole semester.
After I got into 7th grade, it's been just about the fact that I seriously play games, since nobody can believe that girls can be more serious about games than guys. It's toned down now that I am in "high school" and nobody bullies anyone anymore (or maybe it's my face), but I still get the awed looks and stupid questions. Then they get confused when I use my nerd-fu on them.
I live in a small city with barely enough people to call it a city. The people only play CS and WoW here.
I could also say that I got the anime/manga treatment too when I got into it in 5-6th grade. My attraction to games was the usual reason for bullying though.
Push Upstairs
06-09-2008, 02:36 PM
How do you say "nerd" in Finnish?
Gentlegamer
06-09-2008, 02:47 PM
is this popularity issue as important (and potentialy traumatic) as we see on american movies? 'Cause, if so, damn!Sometimes, yes.
How do you say "nerd" in Finnish?
Nörtti XD. Also hikipinko would be a good substitute for geek, but it's more of the bookworm type XD.
Greg2600
06-10-2008, 09:28 AM
Well actually just a small bit when i was in elementry school,the whole were older now,so pokemon is gay and whoever plays it is gay and all that bullshit,now actually im known for the first person who ever brought pong to school and let everyone play it,everyone had fun and thanked me for bringing in such a classic videogame.
I don't know if I could have ever tolerated Pokemon as a kid in the 80's. I remember I hated Anime, in any form, even as a tike. Give me the Muppets, Sun Bow, Disney or any other characters who I can actually understand what they are saying any day. Pokemon isn't really gaming from my point of view anyway.