So let me get this straight ... you expect the guy who sells you your copy of Warhammer Mark of Chaos to have shaved but you still teach physics while resembling a homeless guy who has accidentally wandered in off the street? Bless you my little darling ... and get your paws off my copy of Jade Empire.

Damn straight! If you can get it cheaper in HMV, then I say go to it. I like growing up a bit - the little crappy things that once obsessed are put in perspective, and generally one becomes less of an arsehole. :)

"Casual gaming" means not running your Weapons of the Gods game more than once a week? Makes sense to me, "hardcore" gaming seems to involve letting your entire social life revolve around it.

The thing I've found about the transition is that it's so painless. It's the reverse of painless. It's great fun trying to establish a grown-up existence.

See you at the next post-geek support group meeting.

So is a "post-geek" someone who's changed from actively conforming to a geek stereotype to actively conforming to a post-geek stereotype (said stereotype being illustrated by the examples here), or someone who's graduated from actively conforming to a geek stereotype to making up their own mind? Either way, it seems an awfully slim definition on which to hang the label of a nascent subculture...

And should people's personal preferences in computer game purchase and coffee drinking actually matter to anyone? It's all a matter of individual choice, until either camp starts telling people that their choice is somehow better!

I don't think it's a matter of conforming to geek stereotypes so much as subscribing to geek groupthink. The difference is slight but real - stereotypes are about what other people think about "geekdom", whereas groupthink is about how a particular clique, gaggle, or subculture defines itself.

For example, there was a thread on RPG.net a while back about "casual gamers", which caught my attention for two reasons. Firstly, there was some quite incredible expressions of hostility towards casual gamers. Secondly, at least six different definitions of "casual gamer" cropped up, ranging from "people for whom gaming is not their primary hobby" to "people who don't make every single session of every single game they are involved in" to "people who can converse about non-gaming topics".

RPG.net groupthink (RPG.net being a particular grouping which could be classified as "geeky" if you wanted to) is hostile to the casual gamer, because the casual gamer is not hardcore enough, not dedicated enough, is suspiciously willing to drop the game in order to spend time with his girlfriend. The post-geek outlook doesn't really care either way, so long as people are keeping a healthy hobby/life balance.

Hmm, forgot to bring in the conclusion to that thought - here it is:

The thing is, there is a certain tendency in any subculture to get a little smug. "I'm in with the in-crowd, I'm part of the clique, I belong with the people who belong in this wonderful welcoming group of folk who share my interest (hobby-based, musical, religious, sexual, whatever) - how can those outsiders, those mundanes who are so freaked by our various activities ever understand me?" I think a big part of becoming "post-geek", or "growing up", or however you want to put it is to realise that, while other people's superiority complexes are dumb and groundless, *so are yours*, and while attaching labels to other people is a waste of energy, attaching a label to *yourself* - either explicitly, or by conforming to the expectations of said label - is just as pointless. Like the man said, "being a geek, but not being all about the being a geek".

Dan is defining a nascent subculture? Dear me, call me shallow but I thought he was having a joke...

And all this commentroversy is to ignore the article's *real* failing

[Cont]...surely if there's one sign of 24-carat pure geekdom, it's the ability to get exercised by a satirical article in a humourous webzine? But then, I can't possibly be a true-blood geek, because I'm still sniggering at the phrase "docking my Cobra manually". PS - I am Moe.

Exhuming this article from the grave to point out that youaredumb.net's Be A Better Nerd series (navigable via the links at the bottom of the page) could well be the most crushingly harsh post-geek statement to date. I especially liked the articles entitled "Nobody Invited Your Brujah", "Your Orange Kilt Does Not Make You Special" and "I Find Your Lack of Pants Disturbing".