Student Meme: The Creep in Mom's Basement

Location: Prowling Through Student Blogs

Well, it's time to haul out The Brick, a painted brick I award to writers who make a sweeping generalization or unsupported claim.

My first recipient of the semester is...yet to be determined. But I'll find it, because one of my writers used the stereotype of a typical gamer as (I paraphrase) a thirty-something male in his mom's basement. I saw it in passing as I gave feedback on my writers' first set of blog posts and wiki entries.

The writer will keep his or her brick until the claim gets proper support in a blog post. Otherwise, the writer's final grade in the class suffers a +/- penalty.

It's a tired meme that describes only a few gamers and residents of virtual worlds. I dislike it because in the crowd I frequent, one is more likely to find educators, artists, and coders who might be a bit on the "geeky" side, but have real lives, families, lovers, and personal goals disconnected from their online work and play. My SL colleagues tend to be active in their communities, families, churches, and places of employment.

So were does the meme of "some grease-covered Cheeto-hoarding bald neckbeard" come from?

From us of course, just as do most stereotypes. Beautifully twisted language like the quotation above breathes new life into the meme. And if some gamers and SLers fit this tired meme to a T, for the rest of us, it's a stretch.

After all, some of us have trailers, not basements, and some prefer pork rinds to Cheetos. So there!