I'm cross-posting this from my regular blog because I think this is a better home for the ongoing discussion.
Here is the original post, and the original slew of responses:
I bet you all thought I forgot about the Geek Scoring Sheet?!? Well, I didn't... it just takes me a long, long time to get around to fun things.
So I've figured out a good platform to create the score sheet, picked up some software to accomplish this task, and put together a sort of sketch of what will - hopefully - eventually be a fun time waster shiny object for all to enjoy.
What I've done thus far is figured out a basic outline of how it'll be set up and started with a couple basic categories, and figured out how to program the calculations.
Now I need content.
What sort of categories should we have? What should the point value be? And what should the value levels be? (How many points to gain levels?)
Here is the sort of Sketch Version of what I've got so far. I've only programmed the first line under "loot" to calculate point value - so y'all can see how it'll work. Eventually every category will have a point value, you input how many instances/items/etc... you have, and it'll calculate how many points you get... then it'll add the points up for you at the end.
Any input or ideas are greatly appreciated.
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11 Comments
Blogger PeppyPilotGirl said...
Yow, that's a big undertaking.
I think what we have to recognize is that there are a lot of different kinds of geeks out there - gamer, music, programmer (ok, they probably also fall into the gamer category), even literary, scifi, etc. And, of course, what makes them geeky might vary, don't you think?
5:39 PM
Anonymous kr said...
that will be So Fabulous :)! I luv it!
I will sadly be so ungeeky ... perhaps if you add vicarious geek points, like I get one point for every geek friend I have ... does the academic geek count? I read the Caltech alumni newsletter from a young age, you see ;) ...
(Seriously, don't worry about that. I'm just having Geek Envy ;). Because I wasn't even a Band Geek, only a Theatre Nerd, and really, that isn't geeky.)
7:49 PM
Blogger Jade said...
@PPG
Ideally, what I'd like to do is have one all inclusive document divided into sections for classes (Sci Fi Geek, Gamer Geek, etc...) with the beginning of the document being sections that pertain to all types of Geeks (hence, the "Loot") So far I've just started with the general Sci Fi nerd. I've gotta figure out how to structure points for things like movies and books...
it's a question of how to measure the points. Do we add points for all the books we own? What about frequency of reading the books? For movies... there's viewing the movies, owning the movies, and then there should be bonus points for having the movie so well memorized you can recite lines - in time with the actors - without having the movie playing in front of you. ;)
For gamers, I'm thinking something like... hours played per week? If they have a regular game there are points, if you are the GM there are more points... something like that. I'll need Gamer input on that point structure though.
And how far into our past do we go? Do we automatically have points for having been a band or theater geek even if we are no longer involved?
@kr - Academic geeks should absolutely fit in, we just need to figure out a point structure - what to academic geeks get points for? Having papers published... subscribing to trade publications...
9:27 PM
Blogger PeppyPilotGirl said...
Ok... yes, points for the books and for frequency of reading - maybe points for being able to quote the books at random. Different points maybe for fiction, non-fiction, and technical reference? Do any kinds of books not count (those trashy novels that, er, aren't mine)? If it's a technical reference, I think you get exponential extra points for more technical references in the same field. Say, a dictionary. Most of us have a dictionary and that's 1 point, say, - if you have three - that should be more than 3 points, don't you think?
Also, I think reference books for fictional places/cultures/languages/etc. should count more, maybe - because it's one thing to own all of Anne McAffrey's dragonriders series because you like the stories but when you get into owning the Pern atlas for reference, that's serious geekdom - ditto for the schmematics of spaceships, episode guides, etc. Also, I think you get extra points if you have books on the creator of your geek arena and their creation of the geek arena (i.e., Tolkien, George Lucas, etc. No, Al Gore probably doesn't count even if he does claim to have invented the internet!) /Actually, if you want to get really into detail - you should find 'experts' in each area and have them put together a list of books ranging from the common to the very esoteric and the point structure would increase as you went to the more intense. I.e., for LOTR from common to esoteric:
Hobbit
LOTR
The Silmarillion
The Children of Hurin
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Leaf by Niggle
The Road Goes Ever On: Songs by Donald Swann
Unfinished Tales: The Lost Lore of Middle Earth
The letters of JRR Tolkien
The Histories of Middle Earth (Vols 1-12)
Helge Fauskanger's Quenya book
(there are more but these are the ones I know I own off the top of my head without going to look)
Movies - heh, absolutely one gets bonus points for being able to recite the movie remotely... ;) and, yeah, viewing, owning, and normal quoting get points too.
I think you go all the way back but if you're still involved that's more pointage.
I think also knowing or learning an artificial language (Klingon, Quenya, etc.) gets points - maybe some for having the translation of certain phrases memorized and more for actually being able to dissect some of the sentence structure, do some rudimentary open-book translation, and mega points for being fluent. (And, no, I'm not fluent in anything but English - but I'm in the first/second category for Sindarin and the second for Quenya.) *Heh, and maybe points for knowing more than one language from the same fictional world?
And absolutely academic geeks count! Extra degrees count, dissertations, published papers, trade publications, etc.
Points for having academic study relating to any of your geek categories (for scifi, any of the sciences would count; for fantasy, sociology/psychology; for gamers, programming, etc.)
Music: variety owned - extra points for owned in multiple formats - # of instruments played (voice counts as an instrument), # of languages sung in, # of groups performing with at any given time.
Hmmm, maybe the percentage of free time each week spent in active geek pursuits? (We can't say hours because some people just have so little free time that it would be fair but, say, you have someone with 1 hour free a week and they spend that hour in geeky pursuits, it should count just as much (and arguably more) than someone who has 15 hours a week free and spends 10 in geeky pursuits.)
And what about websites/bulletin boards/listservs that one regularly visits or has bookmarked pertaining to one's geek arena? Points for those, for sure. With extra points for active participation vs just lurking, etc.
There's so much more but I need to get back to working on my flippin' website right now and would also love to see what others have to offer... you know, we should probably also copy this discussion on Keep the Geek...
Cheers,
PPG
11:39 AM
Anonymous kr said...
Costumes: point for each non-sex-toy costume you keep around the house after age 18 (points if you keep it not as a sex toy. if it sometimes turns out to be a sex toy, that doesn't lose you points). 2 points after age 30, 3 after age 40, maybe stick at 3 after that because people who start adopting costumes after age 40 may be more the granola-discover-yourself types instead of geeks? Double points for homemade, half points for cheesy/incomplete. Extra point for personalized prosthetics (ears, nose).
If there is a religious geek category, I've got that iced (books, time spent, organizations a part of, radio station listened to ... music collection fairly sparse, but I own at least one religious novelty song, so that's gotta be extra points ;) ).
Novelty songs are another geek category--how many do you own? How many can you sing from memory? In exact time? How many of your friends did you warp such that they recognize your obscure novelty song references? Extra points for the song at the end of Boot To The Head, simply because it is so wonderfully ... novel ;), and also for Were Cow, because I've only heard it once and it was HILARIOUS and I want you to sing it to me if you know it ;)!! Extra points if your favorite parts of Electric Company were "Silent E" and "LY," because it turns out they were by Tom Lehrer and whoever thought it was a good idea to ask him to write for a children's program I can't imagine--but I'm glad he did!
Which of course leads right into, all the same type of measurements for CARTOON THEMESONGS. Oh yes, that glorious day when we used up an entire two-period "block" class singing every single one we could ... probably all of the ones anyone our age had ever heard.
Number of individual muppets you can name. Description only, half-points. (My family round-robinned this at the dinner table one night, elimination-style. All seven of us stayed in for a surprisingly long time. I'm pretty sure we got to well over 100 by the end, since we watched the Muppet Show and Sesame Street. We didn't have cable and couldn't watch Fraggle Rock.)
Early academic geekdom: who could sing the Schoolhouse Rock songs? before they bought the re-release albums in the 90s ;)? Who owns those albums? Those videos? The alt-rock Schoolhouse Rock Rocks album ;)? And then of course there's the social-programming Saturday morning shorts, like "how to make a wagon wheel" (snack) and "bean and rice are nice" and my favorite, "the future blob" ("without a job, without a job, I am the future blob!"). Oh, and "Don't drown your food(, in mayo, or ketchup, or goo!)"
Now that I have made my generation run screaming from their computer screens ;), I think I am done.
Except that I think there will need to be the one set of scales for individual geek-skills and one overall score which adds them all up. Maybe called the nyah nyah score, since of course it won't mean anything but I'm sure we'd hold it over each other anyhow ;).
11:42 PM
Anonymous kr said...
oop, politics geeks, too.
I got a personal, only to me email a couple of days ago from a former --oh growl, I can't remember which title, which shows that I'm NOT a political geek--but anyway, someone who was a top state administrator. About politics ;).
Aside from all the obvious points (have you door to door canvassed? are you Andy?), I think anyone who is a Libertarian automatically gets extra points, because Libertarians are (and I can't imagine any of them being offended by this) by definition Political Geeks. Like, maybe they get a whole level ;).
1:09 AM
Blogger Jade said...
Why is it the phrase "what have I gotten myself into?" in my head is invariably accompanied by the phrase "Whee! This is fun!"
I think, to keep things simple, I'll probably divide geek categories into separate pages (in the background design of this great thing, I'm making it in excel and converting it to PDF, then adding the form info - dividing categories by pages will help me manage changes in the future without having to redo the Entire Freaking Document)
Today I'm going to a costuming class, to learn how to design an authentic costume from 1376, at the living history village a little north of me. It's fitting that the Geek Scoring Sheet ideas are floating in my head as I prepare for the class. *grin*
8:57 AM
Anonymous kr said...
hee hee!
'just trying to help ;).
Have fun, though--with the geek scoring and the costume :)!! 1376 is seriously historical, although I suppose mine is two centuries ealier (ignoring the machine sewing). Speaking of which, you'd better hope you don't garner an SCA geek ;).
1:13 PM
Blogger PeppyPilotGirl said...
I expect you to share the information you learn at said costuming class, btw...
5:57 PM
Delete
Anonymous marsbarn said...
What about naming children after geek characters? That surely must be worth some points.
In the book section: knowing an author, seeing them speak, autographed books, being mentioned in their book dedication, knowing them personally before they are hot, owning alternate manuscripts.
Oh, and multi classing. There has to be multi classing.. Could I be a Fantasy/Book/Priestess of Physics Geek? I've been named in a book dedication, named a child after a Tolkien character, and have a degree in Physics.. that has to be worth something.. right?
Can I just add how happy I am that you have undertaken this instead of me? I think its wicked cool, but tremendously glad that these ideas aren't being tossed at me!
As an aside.. the security word (the one that I have to type in to show I'm not a spam robot) is "folicato" which sounds like a sex act done with a luffa to me... Does that sound odd to you?
9:10 PM
Anonymous kr said...
academic geek thought: I've been mulling over the first-round ideas and I think no points for papers published or journals subscribed in one's paid field--only outside of it ;). Then you KNOW you are geeking, when you are doing it for the fun(/because You Cannot Resist the Dark Side of your degree).
Special allowances could be made by petition, for those few people who really stuck with their inner geek through all the soul-numbing years of school and earned degrees and work in their true geek-realm ;).
But there is something here about being paid means no points ... or doing geek things for the money, anyhow, because of course if you are geeking and people decide to pay you, well, you are just a lucky geek, then.
9:12 PM
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