There was a time, in the nearly dim and distant past, where Gamers were considered either Geeks or Nerds.

Many true Nerds of course, thought gaming was beneath them.

Gaming used to be a minor pursuit, mainly indulged in by younger boys, who were a bit more tech savvy than older ones. A few younger girls also engaged in gaming.

Nowadays of course, maybe something like 4 out of 5 people have been or are, some kind of gamer. So it would be unusual to consider a Gamer a Nerd in this time period ... though perhaps one could expand the notion, that Linux Gamers are Nerds ... maybe.

What do you think?

And what really is a Geek or even a Nerd for that matter?

My own personal view, colored by my own experience, is that Nerds engage in pursuits like programming (coding), whereas Geeks are just tech savvy folk and users. Though I guess you could say a Nerd is an advanced Geek.

Many would call me a Nerd, because I engage in coding, and I certainly enjoy tech as much as the next Nerd or Geek. But I rather see myself though, as only partly Nerdy, as for me it is about gaining more control over technology, and not about doing coding for coding's sake. My coding is purely a hobby that empowers me, and I code in accordance with my needs and requirements, rather than be a stickler for the theoretical and coding correctness. In fact I am totally self taught and have always learnt on-the-fly, often studying the code of others and slowly gaining understanding that way, rather than through lessons or tutorials. Does that make me a flawed and incomplete coder? For sure, and I've never claimed otherwise. Despite my limitations I feel very empowered though and have achieved a lot.

Anyway, I digress.

I was once so nerdy perhaps, that I thought computer gaming was a rather childish pursuit. I was into more serious use of computers. I started out my computer use with an Apple IIE computer, then a couple of years later, during rehabilitation for a back injury, I was introduced to a Windows 3.1 PC. Fast forward a couple of months and a change of position at my work, I was introduced to Quake, which I and others played in our downtime (lunch, dinner, etc) at work on a work PC for personal use.

Playing Quake changed my whole perspective on computer gaming, and I've never looked back, and I am well and truly a Gamer now, have been for many years. Quake of course led to many other games, some older like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom and Duke 3D etc etc. I even became a Console Gamer with the N64.

Gaming has come a long way, and like Science Fiction and Fantasy has gained more respect over the years.

Many of us older folk here, can look back with nostalgia and the odd chuckle, and what used to be marginalized pursuits. But how lucky are the younger folk, with so much choice and variety at their fingertips these days.

It is hard to imagine a world now, devoid of Gamers, and of course Nerds and Geeks have also increased and become more acceptable folk. In fact, in many ways, Nerds and Geeks now rule the world. Not to mention that much of the technology from gaming advances has entered into other aspects of our lives (i.e. surgery and other medical aspects and anything involving robotics). Of course not all is positive, as can be seen in war related uses. Much is positive though.

The whole Nerd/Gamer etc thing has always struck me as odd. I never really liked tagging myself as 'this' or that' even more so when they're boiled down to marketing terms these days.

For me, I've always just took the approach that if you're interested in something I know/like, I'm more than happy to talk about it with you!

But as for the other part of the topic - We clearly live in a time where stuff that was once seen as fringe is mainstream, wether or not that's to a fault in an entirely different topic, but it's cool that there are kids now who won't have a jibe chucked their way for liking a certain genre (for the most part) or deep diving into hobbies...can't say the same about adults on twitter but again, another topic for another time.

''But how lucky are the younger folk, with so much choice and variety at their fingertips these days.'' - I agree with it, but at the same time I think we should treasure how things were for us growing up just before the true explosion of the internet. We've lost a lot of that sentiment, the magic of tightly knitted communities. I miss the days of LANs, Gamespy, forums, TS/Ventrilo but hey! We older types can always talk about that stuff and share it.

Geeks are just immature people who are obsessive about trashy pop culture (like superhero comics and movies), don't have much else on their brains, yet somehow think they're special. tbh I despise such people and feel I have nothing in common with them.
Don't know about nerds...maybe there's some still residucal trace of the "interested in science and technology" meaning...but in general it's nowadays used in a similar way to geeks.
I also think you're exaggerating quite a bit with "four out of five people have been gamers". I think there's still substantial stigma to spending time on video games (and not totally without justification, it's a pretty childish pursuit after all and a massive time-waster), I definitely wouldn't recommend telling everybody about one's own gaming. There could be negative consequences.

As far as I remember terms "geek" and "nerd" were used almost interchangeably for people who were passionate about certain subjects. With "geek" putting the emphasis on passion and knowledge and "nerd" on disinterest in anything else (calling someone nerd usually implied that person not being very social).

Gamers in the past certainly were geeks, as to play games back then (either on console or PC) meant dedicating a lot of time and effort to that. And being a "gamer" is exactly that - playing a lot of games. However, how much is "a lot" and what games should be included in the "gaming experience" was always a subject of debate.

The only thing I can say for sure is that all three terms were used as insults at some point. And, apparently, today are used too.

*thumbs up*
In my opinion, you nailed it with just a few words.

Grew up in Silicon Valley area and found if I wasn't a nerd or gamer back then, I was the strange one. So maybe it is a matter of perspective? xD

I rather dislike these labels and I think that not only the words are US imports, but also the concepts behind them. I guess there was - and still is - a certain stigma to enthusiastically indulging in tech stuff in Germany ("Computerfreak", "Technikfreak") or being too smart and interested in learning ("Streber" etc.), but dividing people into "nerds" and "geeks" etc. wasn't really a thing here before Hollywood high school movies and internet forums made it popular. I also don't really buy into this "nerdy is the new cool" pretense; for old me it still has a pretty disparaging ring to it.

That being said, I understand "nerd" to mean someone who is really into science, math or other forms of abstract thinking, to a degree that they might have difficulties connecting with people who are not, while a "geek" means someone enthusiastically interested and knowledgeable in a very specific topic that others might consider trivial, often connected to pop culture and entertainment. So to me "nerd" has a certain connotation with intelligence but also social awkwardness (the Hollywood stereotype conveys both by portraying them with glasses - bookish smart - and unattractive looks/weird behaviour), while "geek" just has a connotation with being crazy about something, regardless of whether you're smart or dumb, social or a hermit (perhaps portrayed by characters wearing a fanboy or meme t-shirt). I'm somewhat fine with "gamer" because it seems more descriptive than judgemental and doesn't really mean anything to me other than that someone is passionate about videogames and spends more time with them than the average person, and I'd be lying if I'd say that wasn't true for me, heh. Still, these labels make it seem like that's everything you need to know about a person and you can already judge what they're like.

You bring up an interesting point. I use to get my ass beat for liking Marvel comics. How ironic it is years later and those same abusive people would flock to see Marvel movies lol

The times be a changin!

I sometime use geek in reference to technology to draw a line between those that are invested in making it work and those who aren't invested in it beyond being able to use it as a product that just works.

Given how arcane the pursuit appears to those outside the business, it somehow seems appropriate.

However, I tend to use the term in an emotionally detached way (well, maybe also to sound humbler and less threatening) strictly to describe people pursuing an activity that most would consider an acquired taste at best (I personally would rather it wasn't so, but it is what it is).

I don't look kindly on the use of the verbiage to denigrate or to get a surperficial sense of belonging and achievement.

I don't think those who help maintain and improve the technological framework that modern society relies on for its prosperity should be looked down on and I think if you want a real sense of achievement, you should strive to achieve something that will make a meaningful positive difference in the lives of people (anything less than that... be it a high IQ score or whatever other qualificative floats your boat is meaningless self-gratification... if you want to feel that emotional high that comes with achievement, you should actually earn it).

So, turns out I was living a lie. I thought that because I love sci-fi, video games, tabletop games, comics and all that stuff I'm a nerd, or a geek (always used the two interchangeably). But I'm not even close to being "tech savvy" by any stretch of imagination. Guess I was just a dork the whole time.

Interesting perspectives folks.

I guess like much of the English language many concepts are warped to interpretation, especially when a word is invented and starts to spread before it becomes some sort of official.

I guess both Nerd and Geek have their derogatory aspect from times past, and that still hangs on a bit for many. They are certainly a product of the modern era, though I am sure they had some sort of equivalents in the dim and distant past.

And let's not forget that looks are often associated with the labels ... looks like a Nerd or looks like a Geek. And of course someone can also sound like a Nerd or Geek, going by their description.

What seems fairly clear to me though, is that neither Nerd or Geek are mainstream, even in this age they are quite a minority, if a very noticeable presence in our technological era.

Gamers on the other hand no longer seem anything like a minority ... though of course there are Gamers and then there are those who play games. So not all gamers are the same, and many show Nerd or Geek tendencies.

I'm not overly fond of labels, as some of you have mentioned, but there is no denying that we live in an age where the powers-that-be want to box and label everything. And of course digital considerations are a big part of that, as we seek to define and categorize as completely as we can. Analogue is a little less perfectionist.

So is everything else, so what?

I'm definitely a life-long gamer. Been playing games since kindergarten on the ole C64. It seems to me that introverts like me are more likely to fit into that category. While I may not particularly care about if the people in my life know that it's my favorite hobby, I don't crow about it to the world at large either. Gaming may have become more mainstream in the last two decades, but it's still viewed as a somewhat frivolous pursuit by many. *shrug*

Never considered myself a true nerd though. That type seems to get super-excessive when it comes to their areas of interest. Better not to get them going or I'm stuck with a ridiculous in-depth analysis/explanation that'll have my eyes rolling out of my head.