LARPers > Hipsters?...some random observations about PAX and nerd culture

I recently spent a weekend at The Penny Arcade Expo. You may have read about the swine flu outbreak there. For those who are unaware, its' essentially a gaming convention/gaming industry event. The focus is primarily on video games and as such they demo new games, have industry speakers and panels and related events. To my surprise, there was a nearly equal focus on table top role playing and board games. Needless to say this event is the nerdiest thing I've ever been to. It was like nerd quick sand.
Because I'm planning on doing a special edition dinocast about my PAX experience, I interviewed several of these awesome nerds for the show, which meant I got to meet some neat people. But even if I wasn't doing a podcast about it, the event just lends itself to meeting people. You spend a lot of time standing in line at PAX (think an amusement park where instead of rollercoasters there are live podcasts and home made movies about dungeons and dragons) so you're constantly in close proximity with people who hold similar interests. Some people were more open to talking than others and some people kept their noses glued to their nintendo DSes and PSPs.
With the people who were willing to talk there was an easy comfort that I found pretty intoxicating. I suppose this happens whenever you get a large number of people together who all have common interests but that doesn't make it any less awesome. These were people who are traditionally/stereotypically shunned and derided. Here, there was little fear of that and you could see a lot of confidence that was worn a little like a new pair of shoes that were not quite broken in.
Before I continue, I want to make it clear that I am a total nerd. I play video games, have played and enjoyed table top role playing games, I have a comics budget, I own THOUSANDS of dollars worth of toys and collectables and I have seen every episode of star trek the next generation multiple times. I really do love all of these things. I also feel that as I get older my appreciations of these things have changed a bit. Now, when I watch Star Trek I am often giggling at it's very star trekness. On the rare times I play a tabletop game, I spend most of the time goofing with whatever friends I'm with. And video games, rather than nerding out over final fantasy stats or agonizing over the death of Aeris, I play fewer games and have less patience for grinding. But I'm still very much about the nerdiest person I know (as you would know if you listen to the dinocast).
So I guess I really just wanted to make a couple points. One, the stereotype of nerds lacking social skills is pretty off the mark. Almost everyone I met seemed to have a close knit group of friends as well as an active presence on line. These people socialize well, though perhaps under more specific circumstances than most. I found myself becoming pretty deeply jealous of these people, not only because of their close social ties, but because I got the sense that they belonged to a world, if that makes any sense. As much as I enjoy a wide variety of hobbies and partake in a wide variety of art forms, I don't feel like I belong in any of them and I don't feel any sense of community from them. I have close friends but they mostly live half a country away and I never see them. Somehow, being at an event that was so rich with social bonding and impressed me with the overwhelming sense of acceptance made me feel really really lonely.
This went double for my exposure to the journalists whose work I enjoy. Not only do these people have the kinds of dream jobs that most people never see, they work with one another in a kind of world that is very alluring to me, and not just because I do enjoy video games. The idea of working on something you love with people you respect seems like A) about the greatest thing in a world and B) totally impossible. How far low have my standards sunk that something as simple as that seems like Shangri La?
I also wanted to point out my favorite thing about this kind of epic level nerd and that is a lack of pretense, which is where the title of this comes from. Everyone is different and there are plenty of pretentious nerds, of course, but for the most part these people seemed to wear their opinions and interests on their sleeves and not give a shit what other people thought. This is something I have a lot of respect for. It takes an awesome amount of balls to cosplay or LARP in public and a disregard for the cool. I've always been a fan of the attitude "Fuck the Cool." I have a friend named Jeremy who is one of my all time favorite people in the history of life because of this exact lack of self consciousness. He's pretty much my hero.
I'll go into more detail about the people I met and the things I did at PAX during the dinocast but it was a great experience that I learned a lot from, even if it did end up giving me the heavy sadzies in a way.

WHAT'S UP WITH THAT DINOCAST?

Just a short update on all things dinocast.

I have 5 episodes recorded for season 2, though none edited and put together yet. I think I'll start putting them together when I have six or seven and get one or two done before I start putting them out again. If I start it in october that puts me on track to have about 2 seasons a year, which I'm pretty comfortable with. In the meantime continue to expect some kind of podcast or content each week.

I am "redesigning" the site as well, though this mostly consists of new art. Are there features you guys might want? What should I do with the redesign? Would forums be wasted?

What will become of these interim podcasts when the dinocast comes back?

I think Game Genies will have run it's course by the next episode, not because it's not fun or because I stopped loving video game music, but mostly because I'm running out of songs. I can get most of them through youtube but not all of them I want and I don't want it to become the all megaman and final fantasy music show. It's also very time consuming. We only record about five minutes of dialogue for it but it takes a couple of hours to put the music in. I don't really mind, but compare that to the dinocast which is usually an hour long and takes about 4 hours to put together. It's a pretty disparate content to work ratio. That said, I still love the idea so if Jon wanted to take a more active roll or if anyone wanted to hook me up with some more good video game music or help out in any way I'd be up for putting one out from time to time.

The Dinobite also might be over. I feel like I'm running out of things to say. I liked doing it because it only took about 20 minutes to put together and the idea is still funny to me but I feel like I'm failing it. What do you think? Have these remained entertaining?

I am still in love with the Dinopitch and could honestly see doing it once a month for the forseeable future. I can't speak for Brayton but I still really like doing these and putting them together.

I'm starting another podcast this month as well, which as of yet is untitled. The fourth season 2 dinocast is sort of a pilot for it. It's a comics focused podcast with a couple of guys I work with. We'll see how it works out.

I'm excited because this weekend Brayton and I are headed to PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo. I'm planning on recording a special "on location" dinocast which will feature interviews with attendees, maybe industry luminaries, and Brayton and I's commentary. My stated mission is to find someone cosplaying as Yoshi's saddle. We also might do a couple of dinopitches in our hotel if it makes sense.

Of course the biggest draw for PAX, for me, is the GFW Radio reunion. It's pretty much the reason I got into podcasting.