For the majority of the year, the most serious nerds among us are shut
away in dark rooms or basements in front of computer screens and games of
Dungeons and Dragons. But every once in a while, the mothership seems to call
them all home, at least for the length of a convention or other kind of
meet-up. You'll see Star Wars characters and gamers in a trance,
flocking to event sites. Now, we're not going to delve into the differences
between geek and nerd culture. If you want to argue about it, we can probably
assume that you fall into one of those two categories and will find a gathering
you'll love below.
This famous meet-up in San Diego typically draws in more than 125,000
lovers of comic books, sci-fi, and basically anything that might get you beat
up in high school. Welcoming nerds since 1970, Comic-Con has grown into a huge
cultural phenomenon, attracting the media, comedians, and curious members of
the public, as well as fans of the many pop culture elements the convention
caters to. Apparently these nerds and nerd-watchers aren't sparing any expense;
the convention has an annual impact of around $160 million on the regional
economy. If you're going, buy tickets early as they tend to sell out, plan
which workshops you want to attend, and don't forget your camera.
As a trade fair for the anime industry that takes place in the home
country of anime, you know this event lures in the best and most famous anime
companies and creators in the world. Though it's only been around since 2002,
the support of Japan's government and powerful politicians have helped its
attendance skyrocket to the 130,000 people it has seen in recent years.
Prestigious industry prizes, known as the Tokyo Anime Awards, are given out
during the convention. While anime and manga may not be considered nerdy in
Japan (and many American fans would contend that it's not nerdy anywhere), it's
hard to deny that there's a specific demographic of people that follow the
Japanese animation trend.
Each year crowds pushing 50,000 converge on Atlanta to consume as much
about the sci-fi, fantasy, and comic book industries as their little (or big,
as the case may be) brains can hold. With a long list of prominent guests and
performers, contests for everything from different types of costumes to robot
battles, and an independent film festival, this event is perfect for those who
really enjoy any of the categories covered here and want to mingle with other
fanboys. Been looking for the chance to enter aStar Trek pageant or show
off your comic book sketching skills? This is your arena.
If you don't know what a demo party is, well, you're in good company.
The demoscene is a computer programming subculture where participants create
audio-visual presentations to show off their skills and creativity. Don't even
try to act like that's not nerdy. A demoparty is normally a several-days-long
event where programmers get together to compete against each other by creating
the best "demo" in several different categories. The Assembly is one
of the largest demoparties and takes place in Finland. Thousands of the most
demoscene-obsessed from around the world gather to compete and hang out for
three or four days.
Computer lovers and multiplayer gamers should put DreamHack in Sweden
on their list of events to attend sometime in their life. The gathering, which
is considered the world's largest computer festival, actually holds world
records for being the largest LAN (or local area network for you non-gamers)
party with 12,754 connected computer systems and for having the world's fastest
Internet connection. The event is held twice a year, lasting 72 hours each time
with activities scheduled around the clock. The fun includes the festival where
attendees can plug their computers into the system, several gaming and digital
arts competitions, concerts, and an expo for the latest technologies.
While most people head to Vegas to have a scandalous good time with
scantily clad showgirls and high-stakes poker tables, a large segment of the
nerd population go there for the annual technology trade show. Since major
products like the VCR, Nintendo, and 3D HDTV have been introduced at the event
in years past, it has become a haven for technophiles around the world. The
most recent gathering boasted 153,000 attendees and demonstrated some improved
technologies, like an accelerated processing unit that you would probably only
understand if you're a huge computer nerd yourself. Don't feel bad if you are;
at least a computer nerd is one of the more profitable breeds of nerd.
It's hard to say that anthropomorphic fans fit in with traditional
nerds, but it's definitely not a mainstream interest. Furry fans or furries, as
they're often called, love fictional human-like animal characters. This
includes any animal that walks, talks, dresses, or otherwise acts like a human.
While this might be normal for children considering how many books and cartoons
involve talking animals, this conference is for the obsessed adults, many of whom
dress up as their favorite anthropomorphic fantasies, costumes that they call
fursuits. You might think you were walking into a sports team mascot convention
if you didn't know where you were. While there are other furry conferences
around the country, Anthrocon is one of the largest, with more than 4,200
members.
Possibly the largest gathering of comic-book nerds on the planet, with
more than 500,000 participants each year, Comiket is a huge market for selling
self-published comic books, particularly Japanese ones. It takes place in Tokyo
twice each year and crowds get so thick that people who arrive in the morning
normally wait between one and five hours in line just to enter. Unlike many
other nerd gatherings, the audience at this event has traditionally been mostly
female, though the tides seem to be turning in the past two years. Whether it's
men or women buying these unique comic books, they can expect to resell them
for much more than they purchased them for since reprintings are few and far
between.
Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, is widely recognized as the world's
largest games event. More than 275,000 nerds and 5,000 journalists (who might
also be nerds for all we know) show up each year, and companies show up from 39
countries to show off their gamer gear. Since the world's biggest video game
fans and industry experts are all together in one place, many game developers,
including Nintendo, Sega, and EA, use the opportunity to show off and test
their newest toys. And you can't deny the hilarity of the eager attendees
rushing into the event space when the doors open, which has been affectionately
named "The Running of the Nerds."
What do nerds do in the time between their favorite conventions? They
plan vacations to video game-themed amusement parks. China's World Joyland is a
600-acre theme park based around the works of the company that created World
of Warcraft and Starcraft. The park definitely attracts large numbers
of geeks. The day before the park's grand opening, it arranged to break the
world record for most people dressed up as comic book characters. They
succeeded, with 1,530 nerds showing up for the task. Another 201 people were
disqualified for dressing as characters from video games or other forms of
entertainment. It must be depressing to be disqualified from being a part of
the comic-book nerd community.
Rose King
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