Write a summary of “Geek Love” by Adams Rogers

Geek Love Summary
In the essay “Geek Love” by Adams Rogers, the main theme is the manner in which geeks are lovers of rules for determination of future behavior. To geeks, it is all about logical thinking and scientific methods of problem solution. There is a general concern that ordinary people that are not into the utility or creation of technological products do not act within rules and condition- so called algorithms to the geeks. It is important to note that human beings are unpredictable people until there are scripts assigned to each of them. The author observes that once a person breaks down the elements and associate personality with dice-derived numbers, the person can do it without help. For human beings, the script to be filled as well as the rules for diving into an unknown virtual world has become a guide on how people co-exist. He points out that there would be a possibility of living in a large theatre in which every act is pre-determined by the script and everybody stays in character and role for life. The realization that all people would be engaged in role-playing at all times would assign rules as well as order to the universe. The key point, to this effect, the author wants to out across here is that people are random in behavior by default. Because human thinking is designed to be spontaneous and adaptive, the geeks, who are used to rules and algorithms, do not fit in the practical world of most people (George and Trimbur).
One of the points to consider as one reads this essay “Geek Love” is the degree of detachment the nerd scientist achieves by immersing himself or herself into rule –driven lifestyle. In the context of social life, there are possibilities o endless communication and social problems arising from the reliance on an algorithm-centric life. Adams dramatically conveys the message that the person whose life is influenced by logical and rule-based thinking entirely may have social interaction shortcomings as they seek to mingle with the masses.
As he points out, Gary creates the Dungeons and Dragons game, and the game becomes more powerful as the creator decides to give the players a chance to find a way of personifying their characters and having a feeling of inhabiting their characters in the game, instead of commanding faceless armies. Other than the innovative and crazy accessory of the geek, there are also geeks who are deeper into science fiction and witchcraft as well as fantasy- a totally different variant of geeks. It becomes important to assess the co-existence of popular culture with geek culture as hinted before. To give context, there were two series; the Harry Porter and Twilight Sage. They were also adapted as movies. Twilight is about a vampire story while that of Harry Porter is about a young wizard together with his fantastical journeys. Both of the mentioned books touch on the inner geek in all people. Both the writers of the books developed the fantasy books as a method to channel out their inner geek. In the same fashion, Adams Rogers points out in “Geek Love” that Gary created the game in question but the popularity of the game significantly depended on allowing the players to inhabit the characters. In allowing the players to inhabit the characters, it is evident that even the players of the game- who consider themselves ordinary consumers of a game, end up releasing their fantasies and going to the deepest end of their whimsicality.
In Kaili’s article, the geek is manifested as a person whose self worth is centered on the opinions of others as they get liked in social media websites and get more followers in the same platform. The article further points out that being behind a screen allows the users to not only post the best edited photos of themselves or remarks that they may not say in person but also makes vices like cyber bullying possible. This begs the question of whether social media is an acceptably healthy medium for learners to have self-expression or merely another source of stress and diminished self-confidence? Unlike Rogers’ essay that points out that every person is a geek in their own small way given the right platform, Kaili is more concerned about the effects of being a geek. It is clear the author maintains that social media as a form of geek has damaging effects on the personality of individuals. The similarity between theses articles, however, is the element of fantasy in the geek. A person who is outright shy and socially challenged in many other ways may have the fantasy of standing before a crowd and doing something he or she deems sophisticated but personal skills may be lacking. The social media gives such individuals a chance to do crazy things that they cannot defend in practical life. Apart from this, there is the key concern of self-esteem. Rather than promoting practical creativity and interpersonal skills, social media pushes the users further into their cocoons of social inadequacy and helps people perfect the lack of confidence and esteem. This is serious matter as people start perceiving their value not on the basis of productive and creative work they do in the real world, but the virtual world-based popularity and approval (Meyer).
Kaili gives a personal encounter in which she occasionally feels less of a person because she has less “likes” than her peers. This is ironical because it appears geek is talking over and even tempting those who preach against it. It also gives context on the power of machines and virtual living. She quotes the findings of a seasoned developmental psychologist who found that young people have a feeling of social support through having large networks of web based friends, some of whom they may never live to see (Meyer). This testifies to the objectivity of the author. In all, this article balances between offering personal perspective and reliance on objective research to support her views. The article is an important source of perspective for a person who is considering a mass social media campaign of them. It is worth noting that content on the Internet stays there forever. When people make silly remarks to get a moment of “coolness”, such remarks might come to aunt them later as they seek public office or as they attempt to settle as mature adults. This is another angle to how being a geek for the moment might have far reaching personal and social effects in latter or current life.
Both Rogers and Kaili assert the concept of being a geek in subtly different ways but they both share the message that being a geek is all about fantasy- something that might push a person to do stupid things that they would not otherwise do in practical life.

Works Cited
George, Diana and John Trimbur. Adam Rogers. “Geek Love”. New York: Pearson, n.d.
Meyer, Kaili . Social media and social perception present both advantages, disadvantages. 14 January 2015 . 9 Feb 2015 <http://www.iowastatedaily.com/self/article_f5de0362-9b4e-11e4-af70-27497a992837.html>.