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tech geek

culture/language geek

fandom geek

otaku

art geek

music/acoustic geek

medical geek

physics geek

psychological geek

mathematical/programming geek

mechanical geek/"petrol/gearhead"

gaming nerd

omni geek (broad interest of knowledge, poor depth)

I am in denial about my geekhood.

I am a poll geek, I live to vote on these polls

oh yeah, and science geek

... and theatre geek

[Pnx]

So, there's sub-genres of geek, which in my high school I saw a lot of. I'm wondering some things about a particular kind, and let me try and explain about this kind of geek.

So we've got multiple kinds of geek, Which is to say that there are certain crowds of geek you tend to see. These aren't solid categories, people can fit into multiple ones, and it's not uncommon, but anyway.

You've got the tech geek.
These guys are interested in technology. They like hearing about the newest innovations in microprocessor technology.
They like gadgets. They may take interest in building and messing with electronics and such. They might build a homemade remote control micro-submarine. Or perform a similar project.
It's common for them to have an interest in programming and mathematics. they're the kind of person that would know about generating fractal art.
Physics and other high sciences often factor into this person's domain, and they also tend to be heavy gamers, and are pretty big on custom building the best gaming rig.

Then you've got the fandom geek.
Otaku is sub-sub-genre of this kind of geek.
They also, are frequently heavy gamers. DnD is something they'd take an interest in. They liked Boba Fett before he got cool and had all the cheap knockoffs made.
Perhaps they'll wear a browncoat. Or like to wear a combadge.
Trading card games fit in here.
They might also be a fan of fantasy

Now, the kind of geekdom I'm talking about doesn't really fit into these categories too easily.
This kind of geekery tends to involve things like historical classic works of fiction.
They're likely to take an interest in foreign culture. And seek to learn other languages, particularly ones like Russian, German, French, Italian.
They tend to be history buffs. And enjoy drama.
They don't tend to be hardcore gamers. Although pokemon is a common vice.
They're generally not huge fans of scifi. But perhaps have an interest in comics.
They thrive on the unique and unusual (although don't we all?), they might be the type to enter a prenactment society, pretend to be a time traveller, or dress up as zombies.
They tend to enjoy dressing up in general (mostly a female thing, but males do it too). I don't mean cosplay, I mean, skirt! Flower! Nazi leather!
Perhaps they roleplay, and the aforementioned history affinity can play into that... In highschool they said I would make for an excellent Duke of Buckingham... Of course the fact that I had no idea what was going on made that difficult.

Anyway. Is there a name for this kind of geek? I feel like I'm the only one who's seen very much of this.
Does anyone else have experiences with this kind of geekery?

I dunno. This topic feels like it's going have a short and awkward end.

[Vector]

Probably "history nerd."

[MonkeyHead]

I just call him Rob, cos thats his name... or BeetlJuice, cos thats his nickname.

[Pnx]

Probably "history nerd."

Actually after thinking about it more I realized there's probably a category of geek I'd call "regency geek". Some people might be familiar with regency novels. And Brits might be familiar with the wealth of naval fiction you can get over there. Honestly there's whole sections of book stores dedicated to it.

[Armok]

Sounds like a Culture Geek. Not to be confused by the much more well know Culture Snob.

[quinnr]

Out of those, I fit in Fandom the most (in that Otaku sub-sub-genre), and Tech a bit.
Hmm...

[C27]

Anyway. Is there a name for this kind of geek?

Yes.
And it is "awesome".

[Pnx]

Anyway. Is there a name for this kind of geek?

Yes.
And it is "awesome".

Well yeah, obviously, but apart from that.

I think I might actually be lumping too much stuff together to make it all neatly fit into one category.
It's just the kind of person I love being around, yet I don't see any depictions of these kinds of people. It seems like to the rest of the world these people don't exist, yet there's a sort of subculture there that occasionally seems to poke it's head out from between the cracks. I was just wondering how much of an awareness there is that these awesome people exist.
... I'm not sure how much sense all of this is making.

[DJ]

I think theatre geek is the right word, even if they don't actually play in an amateur theatre.

[Grakelin]

I dated one of these people in high school and would classify them as 'pseudointellectual geeks'. They were appealing to me at a young age, as well, but I quickly found that they were actually just sort of boring and borderline and liked things that were different than what everybody else liked. Even if everybody else actually liked them.

You might also call them 'hipsters', though I think you have to like indie music to get that stereotype.

They aren't theatre geeks. That's a term applied to the kids who spent all their time in the school theatre practicing for a play.

[GlyphGryph]

I've met a lot of theatre geeks who do seem to overlap with this group, and that was my thought as well, but it doesn't really fit.

I think the "real life game" or "real life roleplay" geeks are most likely to fit here, though. The kind that play ARGs and SF0 and that sort of thing.

But the thing is, I wouldn't really call them geeks at all. They've got no knowledge focus - they are usually experience focused. Its completely different, really.

Some of them might be actual intellectuals. Some of them may just enjoy playing pretend. They're more part of the "alternative" crowd than the geek crowd, in my experience.

I'd actually consider myself, when I was in high school/uni, part of that crowd. Never really noticed much of a pokemon thing amongst them though.

[Chaoswizkid]

I'm not really sure if there's a name for it. I know some people who fall into that category though. It's like they have their own genre of geek since they seem so disenchanted from the mainstream, though they often fit right in with the rest of us (unless the conversation goes to some game everyone but them play). They seem pretty rare to me though.

[Kay12]

Heh, many of my non-academic friends consider me to be the only "true" geek there is.

I've always found mathematics fascinating and am a computer hobbyist since elementary school. I use Linux and whenever I have to switch over to Windows I keep either a Linux partition or Virtual Machine so I can always practice my yet insufficient command line fu. I enjoy old British comedy (yeah, Monty Python) and old music. My favorite literary genre is science fiction and I read (and enjoyed) Isaac Asimov's Foundation series in elementary school. I read science and history magazines and spend a lot of my free time browsing Wikipedia. I study computer science in an university and consider that stuff actually very fascinating. If you ask me about misunderstood genii you'll probably hear a rant about modern society forgetting Alan Turing already despite his great work and unfair persecution having happened less than a century ago. Oh yeah, and my purity tests return ~85% for nerdishness. (here's the same test online)

Then again, I know a few people who do all of these, so no, I'm not the only "true" geek. And I don't fit well in the traditional nerd stereotype because I've got plenty of friends who are nothing like this.

[Vector]

Pleased to meetcha!

You never know when you're going to encounter a rare and fascinating specimen of humanity on the forums :3

[Pnx]

You sound like a tech geek, there should be a personality quiz for this stuff.