Gamer Girls: the Video

For some reason, this video parody of a well known pop star garnered a bit of controversy in the fan community, mainly to the tune of "Why did they get a bunch of models? Why didn't they use real gamer girls?" But as people who read the credits pointed out, the singers are gamer girls. Hell, they even supplied the action figures. As for me, I think it's cute and funny.

Anyway, here it is, including special guest appearances!

Originally from shadesong 's LJ.

When a Fan Dooms Himself to be an Object Lesson.

The news article about it is here: Reclusive small-time writer kills himself by setting fire to the tons of papers, stories, articles and rejection slips that filled his apartment. The community knew him as a recluse, but the fan community knew him as "Froggy",  a brilliantly witty author and internet poster. Such a tragic end to a man who was unknown to the larger world, but honored by fandom. Fans are Slans and all that.

But wait, there's more, as both the article and nihilistic_kid 's livejournal post explores. The man  deliberately cultivated an air as an enigma, cultivating multiple backgrounds and identities. He claimed to have been married three times, and to have had adventures all over the world; nothing could be confirmed, no details given, he was merely the eccentric who dressed like an 19th century time traveler. Neighbors on the other hand knew him as a far right-winger who would only talk about obscure historical topics or dogs, and would occasionally scream about his childhood abuse late at night. And, in what the paper bizarrely describes as "the most sordid story", 10 years ago he kidnapped, tied up, and sexually assaulted a neighbor.

And finally last week he spammed a couple newsgroups with reports that he was "going away for a while" (Quoting an arctic explorer's last words) and then set fire to his apartment and himself. To observers, it's clear that he not only wanted to kill himself, but take all of his neighbors with him.

So this tragedy actually gets revealed as a severely disturbed sex offender whose stories were accepted at face value by fandom, and whose incipient meltdown went almost completely unnoticed. Fandom once again shows it has a hard time telling eccentricity and bad hygiene apart from people with serious mental issues. As for me? I'm trying hard to have some sympathy for the guy, but well, some fans simply choose to end up as object lessons for other fans. He sounds like someone who constantly constructed a fantasy persona to avoid dealing with his actual life. And that's a real object lesson and warning for all fans. Of course I'm probably a bit more vehement than I need to be, because I've known fans that remind me of him. The three-hundred pound hairy unhygenic fans who try to use their fandom as a crutch and a shield from the world. The thing is, in that sort of private war, the world always wins. you can only retreat for so long and so far from the world.

And now, I think in spite of my sore knee, I'm going out for some exercise, and to meet people.