For the majority of the year, the most serious nerds among us are shutaway in dark rooms or basements in front of computer screens and games ofDungeons and Dragons. But every once in a while, the mothership seems to callthem all home, at least for the length of a convention or other kind ofmeet-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 differencesbetween geek and nerd culture. If you want to argue about it, we can probablyassume that you fall into one of those two categories and will find a gatheringyou'll love below.
This famous meet-up in San Diego typically draws in more than 125,000lovers of comic books, sci-fi, and basically anything that might get you beatup in high school. Welcoming nerds since 1970, Comic-Con has grown into a hugecultural phenomenon, attracting the media, comedians, and curious members ofthe public, as well as fans of the many pop culture elements the conventioncaters to. Apparently these nerds and nerd-watchers aren't sparing any expense;the convention has an annual impact of around $160 million on the regionaleconomy. If you're going, buy tickets early as they tend to sell out, planwhich workshops you want to attend, and don't forget your camera.
As a trade fair for the anime industry that takes place in the homecountry of anime, you know this event lures in the best and most famous animecompanies and creators in the world. Though it's only been around since 2002,the support of Japan's government and powerful politicians have helped itsattendance skyrocket to the 130,000 people it has seen in recent years.Prestigious industry prizes, known as the Tokyo Anime Awards, are given outduring the convention. While anime and manga may not be considered nerdy inJapan (and many American fans would contend that it's not nerdy anywhere), it'shard to deny that there's a specific demographic of people that follow theJapanese animation trend.
Each year crowds pushing 50,000 converge on Atlanta to consume as muchabout 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 andperformers, contests for everything from different types of costumes to robotbattles, and an independent film festival, this event is perfect for those whoreally enjoy any of the categories covered here and want to mingle with otherfanboys. Been looking for the chance to enter aStar Trek pageant or showoff 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 createaudio-visual presentations to show off their skills and creativity. Don't eventry to act like that's not nerdy. A demoparty is normally a several-days-longevent where programmers get together to compete against each other by creatingthe best "demo" in several different categories. The Assembly is oneof the largest demoparties and takes place in Finland. Thousands of the mostdemoscene-obsessed from around the world gather to compete and hang out forthree or four days.
Computer lovers and multiplayer gamers should put DreamHack in Swedenon their list of events to attend sometime in their life. The gathering, whichis considered the world's largest computer festival, actually holds worldrecords 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 fastestInternet connection. The event is held twice a year, lasting 72 hours each timewith activities scheduled around the clock. The fun includes the festival whereattendees can plug their computers into the system, several gaming and digitalarts competitions, concerts, and an expo for the latest technologies.
While most people head to Vegas to have a scandalous good time withscantily clad showgirls and high-stakes poker tables, a large segment of thenerd population go there for the annual technology trade show. Since majorproducts like the VCR, Nintendo, and 3D HDTV have been introduced at the eventin years past, it has become a haven for technophiles around the world. Themost recent gathering boasted 153,000 attendees and demonstrated some improvedtechnologies, like an accelerated processing unit that you would probably onlyunderstand 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 traditionalnerds, but it's definitely not a mainstream interest. Furry fans or furries, asthey're often called, love fictional human-like animal characters. Thisincludes any animal that walks, talks, dresses, or otherwise acts like a human.While this might be normal for children considering how many books and cartoonsinvolve talking animals, this conference is for the obsessed adults, many of whomdress up as their favorite anthropomorphic fantasies, costumes that they callfursuits. You might think you were walking into a sports team mascot conventionif you didn't know where you were. While there are other furry conferencesaround the country, Anthrocon is one of the largest, with more than 4,200members.
Possibly the largest gathering of comic-book nerds on the planet, withmore than 500,000 participants each year, Comiket is a huge market for sellingself-published comic books, particularly Japanese ones. It takes place in Tokyotwice each year and crowds get so thick that people who arrive in the morningnormally wait between one and five hours in line just to enter. Unlike manyother nerd gatherings, the audience at this event has traditionally been mostlyfemale, though the tides seem to be turning in the past two years. Whether it'smen or women buying these unique comic books, they can expect to resell themfor much more than they purchased them for since reprintings are few and farbetween.
Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, is widely recognized as the world'slargest games event. More than 275,000 nerds and 5,000 journalists (who mightalso be nerds for all we know) show up each year, and companies show up from 39countries to show off their gamer gear. Since the world's biggest video gamefans and industry experts are all together in one place, many game developers,including Nintendo, Sega, and EA, use the opportunity to show off and testtheir newest toys. And you can't deny the hilarity of the eager attendeesrushing into the event space when the doors open, which has been affectionatelynamed "The Running of the Nerds."
What do nerds do in the time between their favorite conventions? Theyplan vacations to video game-themed amusement parks. China's World Joyland is a600-acre theme park based around the works of the company that created Worldof Warcraft and Starcraft. The park definitely attracts large numbersof geeks. The day before the park's grand opening, it arranged to break theworld record for most people dressed up as comic book characters. Theysucceeded, with 1,530 nerds showing up for the task. Another 201 people weredisqualified for dressing as characters from video games or other forms ofentertainment. It must be depressing to be disqualified from being a part ofthe comic-book nerd community.
Rose King
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