The Official Geek Scoring Sheet Conversation Part 2

Whew! This is going to be fun!

Thanks for all the input you guys! This is turning into a big undertaking, but I am energized by a deep seated *need* to see this through.

Before I get into more brainstorming, I have to share this story.

Last night I was at my inlaw's for dinner and talking to my SIL and I told her a brief story of how this whole Geek Scoring Sheet project came about. Being as how she is a theater geek, I mentioned the funny suggestion kr had about points for keeping costumes around the house that are non-sex-toy costumes... points if you keep it not as a sex toy, but if it occasionally turns into a sex toy you don't lose points. She said "if you are using a costume as a sex toy you should lose geek points, because you're having sex."

:)

And a couple comments back:

kr - I've actually been to an SCA event up here near my house. Last summer they were picking the new King and Queen of the local realm and it was one of the largest gatherings for the SCA from this kingdom. It was interesting to visit, but I was spoiled by having visited a living history village prior to the SCA event, so the lack of historical accuracy at SCA was glaring, and it came across to me to be more like LARPing than portraying a period in history.

marsbarn - LOL!... "folicato" does sound like a sex act done with a loofa. It also sounds like it would be painful.

OK, on to the scoring sheet!

I originally thought I'd have a generic "loot" and "campaign" sort of thing on the front page, but the more I think about it, the more I think that each class of Geek should probably have it's own individual section for Loot, campaigns, etc... as they pertain to that class. This way it'll be easier for Geeks to keep track of which of their classes has the most points, and therefore they can easily distinguish which is their main class, and which is their sub-class. It'll also be easier to keep track of whether or not you've counted particular pieces of loot or particular events.

So therefore... I'm going to do the front page similar to a character sheet, perhaps with space for people to make notes or write out a general description. The front cover will be followed by point sheets broken down by class, and within the class we'll have loot, campaigns, and point categories specific to that class. Each class will tally to show an end point value for that class, then the front page will have a spot which will tally all geek points.

Once I have a more detailed rough draft, we can start to debate about where the levels should be (how many points to reach a level?) and should there be an all around Geek Level, or should levels be class specific... or both?

Example: "I'm a level 5 Sci Fi geek, level 2 Gamer..."

After sorting through all the responses to the first conversation, I've begun to formulate a plan with how to proceed - what I need to start with is a list of classes, get the basic page started for each class, then we can get down into the finer details.

For classes... this is sort of tough. I don't want to leave anybody out, but I think what I need to at least *start* with is a basic list of the most common Geek Categories - those that are universally accepted as being Clearly Geek. Nothing against religion, politics, or sports... but I think being highly knowledgeable in any of those categories is not necessarily Geek. The definition I'm running with in my mind is this one from Wikipedia:
"a peculiar or otherwise odd person, especially one who is perceived to be overly obsessed with one or more things including those of intellectuality, electronics, gaming, etc."

Not to say that religion or politics is not intellectual, but I think they are not peculiar.

So for now I'm sticking with the following classes:

Sci Fi (books/movies/TV)
Comic Book
Gamer
Band/Choir Geek
Theater Geek
Academic Geek

We'll work out a definition for each which will show what is included in which class. As an example, things like physics degrees, creating puzzle challenges for MIT academic contests, being on an NPR quiz show... those would all fall under Academic Geek. I'm thinking computer programming would also be in the Academic category. I considered having a separate category for Computer Geek, but computers are so very nearly universal that it's just not... peculiar enough.

I also agree with the comments about getting points awarded for things you do in your Free Time (therefore, IT guys can't get points for # of computers fixed this week, etc...) although there should be some kind of specified standard point value awarded to those who are in Geek Professions.