Demi-fiend
Metempsychosis
http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-ways-to-be-better-nerd-in-2016_p2/
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"Gamer" is not an identity. "Star Wars fan" is not an identity. Those are just things that other people made that you like -- and right now, they're things that everybody likes. It does not distinguish you at all to like them more or "harder" than other people do. Because you're not making anything. You're just consuming something that other people made and saying, "Yeah, that was pretty good." You deserve no credit. You deserve nothing more, in fact, because the transaction is complete. You paid for your ticket and got your movie/book/video game.
It's not just that nerds are entitled; it's that we feel like we've been ripped off in some way. We care so much about our movies and our games, we care so much about the things that we're fans of and have sacrificed so much of our lives on the Altar of Our Favorite Thing that surely, surely, we are owed something, right? We're owed a Blu-ray release of the original Star Wars trilogy. We're owed video games that fulfill our every niche preference. We're owed a satisfying conclusion to our favorite TV series. Because we've given these creators our time and our energy and the space in our memories. We've done the work that a good artist expects a good audience to do. So where is our goddamn recognition?
The problem is that no one asked us to do that work. It didn't serve any purpose beyond our own fulfillment. Nerdiness exists outside the "hard work gets you an external reward" social contract. It has to, or what incentive would there be to do any other job? If society rewarded you for bingeing on Star Trek episodes, who would grow our corn?
Nerdiness can't be the primary part of your identity. If you do that, you're setting yourself up for a half-life, because you're defining yourself by things that have nothing to do with you. No matter how much you love Mario, he will never love you back.
