Paladins, RTSs, and Noobs oh my!
March 11, 2007 by dallen
I’ve had some thoughts, and I have been able to loot a shiny new blog, so I’ll relate some of them to you.
First and foremost, I’ve been looking a lot at the development of what I call, for lack of a better descriptor, ‘nerd culture.’ Central to this, of course, is the explosion of popularity in MMORPG type games and the overall movement of gaming into the mainstream. For a long time, most things relating to gaming were thought to be strange or deviant. I still know people who think that playing D&D will get you a “one way ticket to Satan!” However, this is generally no longer the case. Nerdy things have been becoming much more mainstream, and quickly. Since 1993 (when I was 4), games have changed a lot. They’ve become more interactive, more real, and much more engaging. Nerdcore music has emerged and is gaining popularity, as MC Frontalot, MC Lars, and others continue their nationwide tours. The Penny-Arcade Expo has increased in size each year, so much so that they’ll probably be renting out all of Seattle soon.
It is important to consider, however, that with popularity comes change. I think gaming will follow a course similar to that of music. When Jazz emerged, it was an obscure type of music, played in brothels and other places one wouldn’t be caught dead. Over time, it gained popularity (and infamy, among the older generation), and then made the leap from “that racket the kids listen to” to the ’smooth jazz’ that upper class folks now find respectable. Rock had a notably similar course, as it began as “that racket” and is now (while still just as alive and healthy as jazz or other forms of music) has oldies among it’s ranks and appeals to a more aged audience. Rap is doing the same thing, and I believe that nerdy aspects of culture may follow a similar course.
The ease of communication via the internet has already attracted a lot of notice. IMs, YouTube, and blogs are things that everyone knows about. While the ‘big game’ on TV on Sunday might not be a Starcraft match any time soon (unless you live in Korea!), it is possible that the products of nerd culture will rapidly begin to affect mainstream culture. I’m excited and cautiously optimistic about the effects our (no longer) little culture will have on the mainstream, and what effect a giant influx of noobs will have on ours.
I’ve also realized that so far, my title has very little to do with my post, so I’ll leave you with an interesting tidbit about Paladins. A Paladin is not only an awesomely versatile class in WOW, but is also a tool of the US military. The Paladin is a mobile artillery unit, capable of firing accurately at long ranges and moving. It’s heavy armor and concealment for all personnel makes the Paladin one of the machines with the most survivability in the US Army. So not only are Paladins an essential component of a 10, 20, 25, or 40 man raid, but they are also an essential component of a 3000 man batallion.
“While the ‘big game’ on TV on Sunday might not be a Starcraft match any time soon (unless you live in Korea!), it is possible that the products of nerd culture will rapidly begin to affect mainstream culture. I’m excited and cautiously optimistic about the effects our (no longer) little culture will have on the mainstream, and what effect a giant influx of noobs will have on ours.”
The products of nerd culture are already affecting mainstream culture. MP3 players, once a device reserved for technophiles, has been made ubiquitous by the iPod. MySpace allows the average person to have a website, something that, 10 years ago, would label you as a nerd. Heck, if you even look back five years, people who had a broadband connection and a CD burner were able to make good money selling pirated CDs downloaded from Napster. Even internet connections, something Americans take for granted nowadays, were hard to find 20 years ago.
From a more cultural perspective, something interesting is going on right now. There are two very rough groups right now, sort of. The geeks, and everyone else. The only difference is that the geeks are using what could be mainstream in five years. Apple products are becoming more popular, and normal folk are beginning to hear about and use Linux (thanks to “humanization” projects like Ubuntu). Every so often, there’s a story in the news of bosses holding virtual meetings in some MMO or Second Life, and video game and console release dates are tracked by “average folk”. These occurrences are signs of changing times, and it’s the job of the geeks and nerds to help the average people into our world.
You make a very fine point, David. Things which used to be “nerdy,” like having your own website or your own MP3 player, are rapidly becoming acceptable (even cool) in society.
However, I am leery of saying that everything Geeks do will be cool in five years. I am even a bit unsure about categorizing folks. I think that the most important and interesting development is not the passing of technology from Geeks to regular Joes, but in the greying of the line between joe and geek. Perhaps, rather than having Geeks at the cutting edge and Joes pulling up the rear, we’ll have lots of Joes, some of whom happen to like things formerly in the geek domain, and will therefore be at the cutting edge themselves. Good thing or bad thing, I think that either geek-ness is rubbing off on the Joes, or joe-ness is rubbing off on the Geeks.