Video Games over A-levels
I used to play an FPS (First person shooter) called TFC; I used to play it on a national level (this alone should be geeky enough, but there is more).

In order to be one of the top EU players I had to train every day for a minimum of 3 hours, which actually wasn't a lot compared to the Swedish team which would often sack players for not training enough (they would require you to train for 5+ hours per day minimum, geeks…).

Anyway, once during an important match I got a phone call from college; my dad picked it up as I was busy playing of course. It turned out that I forgot to turn up for my math’s A level exam as well as some other one I cannot remember. My father was too puzzled to shout at me, plus as we are not from the UK he didn’t know how important those “A levels” were and thought they were just some small pointless exam (which they are of course, merely a 'good-boy' gold star on your cv).

I rushed to school once I was done with the match only to find an upset head teacher shaking his head in disappointment. He reminded me how much of a loser (not his words) I was for not turning up to my final exams. I tried to explain that I genuily forgot about it as I was too busy getting my fragging skillz up and didn't wish to take it again as "I couldn't see the use of it for my future" (actual quote). Needless to say he didn't care about my online prowess and hinted that I would most likely grow up to be a bum as my only strong points were: Art and .... Gaming.

I'm now a Games Designer for a top UK company - and I love my job - Geek all the way
(Omikron404, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:25, 1 reply)

Goths are jealous of my nerd tan!
I'm first to admit, I'm fairly nerdy. I spend an extraordinarly long amount of time on the interweb.

I'm currently reverse engineering the USB code for Windows, so I can write the specs, so somebody else can write the drivers for the project. I've got the 9x core driver down, just need to sort out the XP core. Anybody care to offer a hand?

More nerdish postings later, especially across the weekend, as I'm spending the public holiday reverse engineering the NT family kernel, after I've recovered from drinking.
(Grey_Ghost has yet to decide on a sig on, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:23, Reply)

Despite having recently had lots of
eye-wateringly filthy sex with my wonderful girlfriend, and shedloads of other good stuff going on in my life right now, my happiest moment over the last few weeks was when my laptop (streaming music via Bluetooth to my stereo headphones) paused the music automatically as my mobile (using Bluetooth) relayed the call to my headphones (Plantronic P590s), and then resumed the music automatically once the phone call was complete.
I was in Geek HEAVEN when that happened.

However, my latest purchase (Harmony One Remote Control) is pants (it's very s..l...o....w....).

Most weeks, my recycling bin is fuller than my "normal" bin. That's because of all the cardboard from geek purchases and empty cans of Red Bull takes up more space than all the lack of normal life stuff in the black bin.

That's a geek - but what a life - the thing that was a hobby in my teenage years has been a lucrative and enjoyable career, and not a particularly arduous one either. Truly, the geek *has* inherited the earth.

*EDIT. I'm 40 - so a real long-time geek, although I'm sure others on here can beat me.
( I_Was_Mordred, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:21, 1 reply)

Nerd check
Star wars obsessive since they came out in 77
Read LOTR more than 10 times
Read star wars star trek books even though they're shite because they're star wars & star trek
Impossible to watch monty python films with due to laughing before the joke

Collected and painted Warhammer 40K figures
Played Warhammer 40K
Played D&D type role play game

Computers & consoles owned Z80, ZX81, Dragon32, ZX Spectrum (rubbery one & clicky key version), Atari ST, NES, SNES, Sega Saturn, N64, Dreamcast, XBox, Gamecube, Gameboy, GBA & DS

Currently a Wii & A PC that is constantly being upgraded I'll get a 360 when Banjo Kazooie 3 comes out

I used to be a research scientist (immunology) till I got made redundant
(sittingduck Attention seeking, bullshitting fuck-knuckle, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:21, 4 replies)

The shame...
I recently bought my first flat, and have created a spreadsheet in Google Documents to keep track of what furniture I need for each room, how much it costs, delivery dates where applicable, a link to the webpage (if available), all with formulae and an "Overview" sheet, so I can see how much I've spent altogether.

I also do the same thing at Christmas, to keep track of present buying...
( sozzifer, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:19, 3 replies)

I had
every Fighting Fantasy book ever written in order on a shelf above my bed until i was 19. I still read 'Titan the fighting fantasy world' book every now and then even though i know it all by heart.
I also once, while smashed on stickers, arranged my DVD collection by colour and then by director. I have a girlfriend honest guv!
(Jonny Wishbum had bad ear sight, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:18, 5 replies)

Oh dear
At the age of 14 my school had me writing software for them (Printing truancy slips etc) on a commador CBM (With the built in tape drive that you could lift out).

No wonder it took me so long to get laid
( Big Ian has stopped changing his sig, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:18, Reply)

Magic: The Gathering
There was a corner of the Students' Union bar that was devoted to members of the rock/metal music society. They'd wander in for lunch and sit there all afternoon playing some card game which required many multi-sided dice.

"What's that they're playing?" I asked.

b3ta user thrain responds with the legendary,

"Tragic: The Saddening"
( djtrialprice, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:14, 4 replies)

Original Star Wars figures were/are my vice.
I can spot a reproduction weapon at twenty paces. I had to stop going on ebay because every time I saw someone selling some wobbly-limbed piece of shit with a repro weapon as "L@@K VERY RARE C10++ CONDITION", I wanted to warn all the bidders and hunt the seller down and stab him in the eyes.

I managed to buy a mint condition Luke Skywalker in stormtrooper disguise with original weapon AND helmet. It turned me a bit Gollum as it was (and still is) very precious to me.

My precious.
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:13, Reply)

ok.... here goes....
I have a collection of old consoles from nes and mastersystem 1 onwards because I dont think the emulators pull off the "feel" of the games.
I have built a "robot" like one from robot wars just for the fun of it - it just sits in the corner now :P
I converted a mac classic to a PC because I just don't like gays (sorry I mean apple macs)
I did a pin-out of my Cars ECU because no-one else had done before so I could change the air/fuel ratio on the piggyback controller I got.
I have a 400mhz compaq sff computer just because I like them.
Worst of all though is that I post on a site called b3ta.com



edt: I think lego technics kicks ass at any age


|
|
V
( SiX and his hat, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:10, Reply)

In the kingdom of the geeks ...
I still get technical lego for Christmas.
I'm 35.
( paulieg La, la, la, not listening, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:06, 2 replies)

Nerd? Me?
I'm not a nerd, honest.

Although, I am a Microsoft System Centre consultant and I can bore you to death with what I do for a living - most of my friends and family roll their eyes when I tell them what I do - well, they did ask....

I'm a HUGE fan of the IT crowd, I love Star Trek (but I'm NOT a trekkie) and I always seem to see and find continuity errors in programs and then I point them out. All the time...

However, my main claim to nerd fame is the fact that, as a boy, I looked like a younger version of Moss - with the glasses and the hair....

And my best friend Steve calls me "Carlton" (a la Fresh Prince of Bel Air)

And I listen to Radio 4. A lot.

And I have 2 laptops - An Apple Mac laptop which I prefer to use over my (idiot) Vista laptop.
(james_tiger_woods is going to start his killing spree on the, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:05, Reply)

Level up
I'm a Cambridge undergrad. I do Theology. Not too nerdy sounding yet. I do Classical Hebrew (currently only 2 in the University doing this, including me). I play Unreal Tournament. I taught myself HTML and my knowledge of IT surpasses my employer's. My closest friends are physics and Computer Science undergrads (the only reason I don't do either subject is due to flea brain IQ).

All this, AND I'm female.
( its_hatorah_bitch is b3ta the devil you know on, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:02, 3 replies)

oh dear
As age creeps on, you're supposed to mature somewhat past the mental age of 14.

Not so in my case. With my grown-up wages I now collect all the things I ever wanted while I was a teenager, including:

- An arcade machine
- Amiga 500 / 1200
- Atari ST
- Archimedes
- Just about every popular console ever built between 1987 and the present day (incl. NeoGeo)
- huge games collection
- A plethora of Unix equipment of varying ages and flavours

This has died down somewhat since being posted overseas, but I still spunk money away on buying hugely technical niche equipment and tools ("Hrmm, might need that one day" - out comes the credit card), so much so that now I use a flight case to carry my equipment from country to country. Tool shops are hazardous to my bank balance.

I am also the WORST person in the world to let loose at a flea market. I will come back with armfuls of dead / obsolete tech and refurbish / resurrect it.

Computer junk yard? Wow, look, an old VAX! (Into the car)

Oddly this doesn't drive my wife mad, which is good.
(mymilkshakebringsallthemongstotheyard poison hearts, poison minds - joining hate, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:01, 5 replies)

I used to play
the Star Wars role-playing game with my friends at school.

also, Werewolf: Apocalypse.

and some AD&D

fortunately I stopped designing websites, went to uni, smoked loads of pot, and now I am the exact antithesis of a geek, a surfing, rock guitar playing stoner.

who loves star wars.

and when watching tv the other day and it announced "now the best ever episode of Star Trek: the next generation" I thought to myself "that's bound to be the one where Picard gets taken by the Borg.

It was.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:00, Reply)

No t sure if this counts
In my time I've owned a few systems including (at various times)
A Dragon 32
An Amstrad 6128
A Megadrive ( i miss theat console)
A PC
A playstation
A GameCube
An Xbox
And currently own a 360 and DS.

I also have an unhealthy obsession of looking for emulators for old systems and games as well as bootleg or live copies of music from bands I like!

I'm also a massive fan of the original star wars movies and can quote most of the lines from it, much so that I decided to work my Xbox live gamertag into a star wars sounding name. I'm in the process of building up a collection of the DVD series' of X-files and own all the Monty Python films
While I've never played Warhammer or the like I do read the books and am fascinated by the mythology of 40K.

I'm also a massive Terry Pratchett and star wars novels fan!

I attempt ot keep a level of normality by going out getting drunk with mates, talking to girls and doing Jujitsu (also a bit spoddy I suppose, especially when I talk about it with mates about how different techniques fit together)

I also felt that i was quite geeky that when I was younger I recognised the Ariston advert (the on which said aristonm goes on and on and on ad infinitum) for washing machines used the music from the robocop videogame on the Amstrad!

One thing that gives me comfort is what my mates step dad said:
'Every person with a hobby is a trainspotter really'

Which I kind of liked
(Fuckarma was masturbating into your handbag, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 11:59, 5 replies)

I guess I'm not the only one...
I tend to plan my life around the Radio 4 schedule.

Nerdy, or just middle-class?
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 11:58, 6 replies)

I used to play D& D
round this ageing hippy's house that lived near me

it was fun until one day he brutally raped me on the roll of a D12

oh it's not one of those QOTW's ;o)
(sittingduck Attention seeking, bullshitting fuck-knuckle, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 11:58, Reply)

I'm nerdy enough
That I want to find an MP3 of the music the Windows XP plays on setup (language, computer name etc), remix it on the computer to bang in a genuine phat beat and use it as my phone's ringtone.

If anyone can help me find a copy of the music, gaz me and I'll love you long time.
( Kroney, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 11:57, 5 replies)

I'm undecided
Evidence For:
I spend a good deal of my spare time reviewing the lives of Greek Gods

I'm named after a cartoon (real name, not b3ta name, which is actually more sensible).

I know huge amounts of facts about horror films, despite having seen virtually none of them.

I have a comprehensive knowledge of serial killers.

I cannot own just one series of something on DVD.

Evidence Against:
The only "dressing-up" I do is for Eurovision, not Star Trek!

The only "game" I play obsessively is Backgammon.

The only "code" I know is that which will open the gates of hell

You decide....
(Jugular, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 11:52, 7 replies)

Well...
I wave my hand Jedi style on walking through automatic doors, a habit I got from my dad.

I own the Kitten b3ta t-shirt.

My text tone is the internal phone ring from 24 ("pip-pip-piii-pip"), and my custom ring for the other half is the hula song from the Lion King.

EVERYTHING stops at 5pm on a Wednesday so I can watch Zero Punctuation and can quote a lot of his comments verbatim (Mr Maladicta likes to work them into sexytime for some reason).

I used to be able to recite the Knights Who Say Ni scenes from Holy Grail word for word, much to the annoyance of my Latin teacher in about Year 9.

I did A-level Latin.

I collect used Paris metro tickets and use the excuse that I'm a French student (13 more weeks and I'm trying to ignore how quickly time is passing).

I still own a Dreamcast (which I bought off ebay about a year ago).

I talk in lolcat speak sometimes (only this morning when reminded we have a test next week I said "oh noes!".)

My username is from a Terry Pratchett novel.

I beat my housemates hands down every time we play Scene It.

One of the pictures on my wall is Misato from Evangelion, from the sleeve of a video I bought when I was about 15.

I'm meant to be writing my dissertation on organised crime in Calabria.

Having said this, my other half is another story: he is the biggest Sonic fan I have ever met and has every single game Sega have ever made starring him and his mates. His PC backdrop was Jack Bauer for ages and his ring tone is the shepherd's pie Oxo ad from a couple of years ago. We are mad.
( Maladicta, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 11:50, 10 replies)

im not a nerd....
im a level 15 paladin
( caffeinefreak, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 11:48, 3 replies)

3-D movies
When I go see 3-D movies like Beowolf I wear the 3-D glasses over my normal glasses making me into some kind of nerd/geek superhero.

That and for about 2 mins in the mid 90's I found Gillian Anderson remotely attractive.
(jackdonaghy has a special helmet, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 11:43, Reply)

Neat & Tidy
I cut and curl my roaches with scissors, that's about it.

Oh, I alphabetised my Cd's once, but that didn't last long.
(Greencloud Wanted to go fishing on, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 11:42, 3 replies)

:)
Yeah...I still remember quite a bit of 68030 assembly code and back in the heady days of the Atari ST I used to hex edit my saved game files to cheat.

Still, not as bad as my brother-in-law who made himself a hairbrush out of processor chips epoxied to a SDRAM board...might see if I can get him to photograph that one...
(bigquack, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 11:41, 1 reply)

not very
but I'm working on it.
before i came to uni, the closest i got was a few rpg games, an a touch of warhammer (fuck me thats expensive).
since getting to uni, ive been studying a maths-heavy physics course, in the spare time ive been lurking/posting on b3ta, ive been to a club 3 times, ive become more heavily involved in piracy, bit torrent, ripping movies and games and had warning messages from our it department for super high levels of bandwidth. on top of that my grades have fallen slight for prefference to learning web and computer languages, ive used linux, edited the windows registry, ive upgraded my and mates computers, i hang about with a group of computer scientists, (atleast) one of which is still a virgin etc etc, and yet i still feel ive a long way to go yet
( wjh31, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 11:40, 1 reply)

How nerdy?
I once tried to back away from the computer by pressing 's'
( lordsaccharine b3taing is well retro mate, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 11:40, 1 reply)

Managed to bypass most of the war gaming stuff
I pretty much moved straight onto the dressing in period costumes and hitting people with large chunks of metal. I've been speared in the face, nearly had the end of a finger amputated as the direct result of a sword fight and am now able to sprint at top speed while wearing ringmail and being chased by several other lunatics wearing blue paint and swinging swords.

And then we all get heavily drunk. Can't complain.

On the other hand I can bore for England when it comes to the Late Roman period. Movers and shakers in 5th Century Britain? No problem. Economic decline and the transformation of the Empire into medieval Europe? Easy!

But the violence and drinking is more fun. ;-)
(Audax Victor, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 11:39, Reply)

Amigas
When I was about 17, and my peers were busily involved with drink, women, and other such things, I started a Commodore Amiga User Group. This would have been 1997-98, by which time the Amiga was pretty much dead as a platform. Despite that, we got a few people meeting up regularly (in fact, three of them still meet up weekly in the pub to talk about computers and sci-fi).

My main computer was an Amiga 1200 hacked into a tower case, which I used until 2001 when I switched to a Linux PC. But I still have all my old Amigas.
*counts up in head*
At least 6-7 of them - 3 A1200s, 1 A600, and a bunch of A500s. Plus loads of disks, peripherals, etc. And my Commodore 64 - can't bear to part with that either. Probably worth something, if I could ever be persuaded to sell them.

Oh yes, I played Warhammer and the other Games Workshop games as well, and still have all that stuff somewhere at my parents' house too.
(BlueLemur, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 11:34, 1 reply)