Friday OT #1 - Caught In a Bad Romance

[SCNCY]

I think D&D, while not exactly becoming more mainstream, is becoming more accepted. There's a D&D club at the middle school my wife teaches at.
I think being nerdy in general is more accepted than it was when I was a kid. Comic book movies are mainstream and super popular. Computers are basically a requirement instead of just something nerds played with when I was little.

I wonder what effect the Big Bang Theory had on this. Because it's only in the last 15 years, during the show's run, as well as Marvel's run of movies that coincided with this acceptance.

 

[cyhiphopp]

I wonder what effect the Big Bang Theory had on this. Because it's only in the last 15 years, during the show's run, as well as Marvel's run of movies that coincided with this acceptance.

I think schools cracking down on bullying has helped some too. Some kids are always going to be cruel, but I think it's less common to pick on someone for being a nerd.

Nerds like Elon Musk and Bill Gates have made **** loads of money, so I think some people realize nerds have a lot more power now than they did in the 80s.

 

[madguy30]

I think schools cracking down on bullying has helped some too. Some kids are always going to be cruel, but I think it's less common to pick on someone for being a nerd.

Nerds like Elon Musk and Bill Gates have made **** loads of money, so I think some people realize nerds have a lot more power now than they did in the 80s.

Off the off topic but stuff like Musk's recent announcement about his Asbergers (there's been others) may also pave the way for some, i.e. you can still do plenty even if we don't always fit in the 'norm'.

 

[cyhiphopp]

I wonder what effect the Big Bang Theory had on this. Because it's only in the last 15 years, during the show's run, as well as Marvel's run of movies that coincided with this acceptance.

I know people hate Big Bang Theory because it was dumbed down and went for cheap laughs and cliche tropes for laughs, but it did normalize nerd culture. And it's success led to more and better shows about nerdy topics like Silicon Valley, Halt and Catch Fire, and Westworld.

 

[cyhiphopp]

Off the off topic but stuff like Musk's recent announcement about his Asbergers (there's been others) may also pave the way for some, i.e. you can still do plenty even if we don't always fit in the 'norm'.

Yep. I have family members on the autism spectrum, and my two oldest boys are nerdy as heck, but generally happy and I don't think they've ever had problems with bullying like I did as a kid.
They've never really done any sports outside of short stints in tae kwon do. Their activities are band for both and scouting for my middle kid.

I almost quit little league baseball because some of my teammates were pricks. I was never good at sports but I still tried. I was better at band and math. I got picked on for being awkward and tubby in elementary and middle school and I wasn't outgoing enough to fight back most of the time. High school was better because I had friends in band, but at the point everyone is in their own cliques and they didn't associate with someone outside their social rank. I didn't get bullied anymore because I was 6'2 and could beat most of their asses, but I was never anything close to popular.

 

[BCClone]

I have only read books about Tolkien and not seen the movie, but he seems like a fascinating person, from his experiences in the Great War that framed the relationship between Frodo and Sam, to his friendship with CS Lewis, and the obvious religious symbolism in Frodo’s quest.

All of my boys have read The Silmarillion, which I could never make it through. One of my boys was only 8 when he saw Fellowship and had to know what happened so read all of LOTR to find out, a bit over his grade level. He had been horrified when he thought Gandalf was gone.

There is so much more to these books than writing them off as “nerd” fare.

While neither of their parents play D&D, some of my sons do. One has kept up with his group playing virtually during Covid. It seems to be a lot more creative and a good way to socialize. Not sure why it is looked down upon as opposed to playing video games for hours or something similar, but whatever. The human race seems bent on putting others down.

My thought is, if the kids (or adults) enjoy something and there are no ethical/moral obstacles to it, go have fun doing it. Don’t care if it’s nerdy or jockey. The sci-fi world just wasn’t me.

 

[Sousaclone]

I think D&D, while not exactly becoming more mainstream, is becoming more accepted. There's a D&D club at the middle school my wife teaches at.
I think being nerdy in general is more accepted than it was when I was a kid. Comic book movies are mainstream and super popular. Computers are basically a requirement instead of just something nerds played with when I was little.

While I don't play D&D, I do follow it somewhat through some web comics and other things. It seems like the game has evolved more from being about math and numbers and moving little miniatures and "I put on my robe and wizard hat" into more of a roleplaying/situational game. A lot of the big D&D streams/podcasts are basically just people acting/storytelling in a slightly fantasy realm with some math and rules.

Someone could say, "I've got a situational improvised acting group I meet with every Thursday" instead of I go to my D&D group.

 

[Trigger]

I think D&D, while not exactly becoming more mainstream, is becoming more accepted. There's a D&D club at the middle school my wife teaches at.
I think being nerdy in general is more accepted than it was when I was a kid. Comic book movies are mainstream and super popular. Computers are basically a requirement instead of just something nerds played with when I was little.

As a high school freshman in 1983, a small group of us (5), started playing D&D on the occasional weekend. Once a teacher heard about it - we had to go before the school administration to explain what D&D was and assure everyone that we weren't going to form a satanic death club or something. This was in small town western Iowa.

 

[carvers4math]

I wonder what effect the Big Bang Theory had on this. Because it's only in the last 15 years, during the show's run, as well as Marvel's run of movies that coincided with this acceptance.

I think the better nerd portrayal and probably less popular because of that, plus it wasn’t a comedy, was Numb3rs. Although they almost went overboard with sometimes losing balance between superhero smart guy Charlie Eppes and FBI brother Don. I did learn a lot from that show though, like examples of the Fibonacci sequence in nature and FBI agent’s shouldn’t really date each other.