Gamerboys!

[Sehnsucht]

Fanboys piss me off. And no, I'm not talking about Apple fanboys. I'm talking about PC fanboys.

I'm going to a technical school and am in a class full of GAMERBOYS. On the first day, the teacher had everyone take turns telling the class something about yourself, i.e., your job, your interests, what you plan to do after you graduate, etc. So I gave my short spiel and just happened to mention something about "I like Apple products" or "I like Macs" or something like that. That's all it took for every single student in the class to jump on me. First they called me "Mac Kid" or "Mac Guy", which I didn't mind, then they started in with, "Mac Prick", "Mac Whore", "Mac Slut." Then the insults started flying like nobody's business. I would walk in to class and immediately get pelted with hateful, homophobic and even racial comments ("Mac Fag, Mac Queer, Mac Flamer, Mac N***er".) My school email inbox got flooded with gamerboy spam, mostly links to opinion articles for gamerboys by gamerboys. One article was titled "Macs suck: Official Benchmarks." In the article, the writers pitted a brand-new 3.2GHz Dell XPS with 8GB of RAM against a 1.24GHz PowerMac G4. "Oh, look, Macs are slow!" WHAT?!

On and on it went. The articles kept coming, "Tests show the new 15" MacBook Pro is slower than the Acer Aspire XXXXX", "What His Steveness Doesn't Want You To Know: Macs Get Viruses Too", plus insults upon insults. "Mac noobs use OS X cause they're too stupid and ignorant to use a real computer. OS X has to be easy to use so they can understand it."

Finally I got pissed off enough to bring it up with my morning teacher and the school dean. When I got to the part about the racial/homophobic comments, the dean was so pissed that he brought it up with the school board. The gamerboys got their asses handed to them by the school's directors, (meaning expelled) and the dean even made sure to mention to them before he kicked them out that our school is switching to Macs next year. Woot!

Gamerboys SUCK. Everyone share their gamerboy horror stories...I can't be the only one to suffer through this indignation!

 

[themoonisdown09]

All I have to say is... wow. I've never had that problem before.

 

[Theophany]

I usually just quote the world's favourite pirate: "you need a girl mate."

Seriously, anybody who is willing to make such a fuss about something as trivial as your choice of computer, quite frankly, needs either physical contact from their preferred gender, or a good kicking to knock some sense into them.

Since I've gotten older, and thus much more likely to be charged for physical violence against my peers than I once was, I just ignore it as best I can. You did the best thing by notifying the relevant authority.

 

[econoline06]

I'm an IT professional and you'd be amazed at the level of insults that fly around even at the pro level. I'm not sure what to think about all that. As soon as I mentioned Macs of course my credibility decreased. "Why do you even like Macs?" etc etc etc. So, I feel your pain. I'm glad they got what they deserved.

 

[econoline06]

By the way, gamers are famous for being the biggest pricks.

 

[colmaclean]

I'm an IT professional and you'd be amazed at the level of insults that fly around even at the pro level. I'm not sure what to think about all that. As soon as I mentioned Macs of course my credibility decreased. "Why do you even like Macs?" etc etc etc. So, I feel your pain. I'm glad they got what they deserved.

Where I work, for years I was the only person with Apple gear, but now all the previously PC-oriented zealots own iPhones and have bought or are considering other Apple hardware.

We still have disagreements about Java v C Sharp, though!

 

[todd2fst4u]

wonder how many of them owned ipods

 

[0098386]

This sounds a little unrealistic, if I'm being honest. Especially the bit about mass expelling and the dean making sure to tell them they're switching to macs.

 

[zombitronic]

Dude, I'm in the same boat. Comments weren't as mean or vulgar, but similar.

The first day of all my classes, we'd go through the usual routine of introducing ourselves, and I would always mention that I'd like to get Mac certified, or that I mainly use Macs at home, or that I'd really love to work in a Mac environment someday. From that point on I'd be shunned. My professor even went as far as to say, something like, "Well, okay, since they actually make real computers now." WTF?!?! And of course there would be plenty of Mac bashing comments by classmates throughout the semester.

In about a dozen IT Networking classes, there may have been about half a dozen educational mentions about Apple or the Mac OS. It barely exists to these people. Big mistake, IMO, especially as the OS X market share increases.

Look, I can respect Windows but I prefer Macs. Is that so wrong? Apparently to sex starved, pimply faced geeks who get off on the size of their own benchmarks, it is.

My advice? Be proud of your evolved taste and make it a point to mention what you appreciate about your beloved OS during those first day introductions. If your classmates have an attitude about it, eff 'em. Just shrug it off and be above them. That'll piss them off more than feeding their DOS lust.

 

[Arcadie]

thats why these people will end up being just that.. gamerboys. they will always be the ones working for Microsoft instead of with Microsoft...

 

[Arcadie]

plus arnt what these people will be working on is 90% unix based systems?

 

[Sehnsucht]

wonder how many of them owned ipods

Actually, none to be honest. They all had Zunes, which they were very proud of. One of them saw me listening to my iPod touch and started pointing and snickering. "Hey, look at the Mac Kid. He's showing off his iTouch...kinda like a subliminal advertisement for his Lord and Savior Steve Jobs!" Another gamerboy told some BS story about a guy who bought an iPod and several days later it exploded and burned down his entire house, killing his wife and children. When he went to the "Mapple Store" to report what had happened, the guys at the "Brainiac Bar" laughed cruelly in his face and told the poor guy to go f**k himself.

I gues this is what happens to teenage males who consume 10 cans of Full Throttle per day. They become psychotic nutcases.

This sounds a little unrealistic, if I'm being honest. Especially the bit about mass expelling and the dean making sure to tell them they're switching to macs.

OK, just to clear things up a little: Three of the gamerboys got expelled, the rest got a major bitching-out. And yes, the dean came right out and said it, "We've been seriously considering Macs for the past couple of years, and it looks like it'll get the green light next year." The looks on their faces were priceless, I gotta say.

 

[Tomorrow]

I'm an engineer and I get quite a bit of grief for using Macs, but nothing nearly that brutal.

I think the examples you gave have less to do with them being Gamerboys and you being a Mac user and more to do with a bunch of insecure and immature guys finding some level of solidarity with each other and thus feeling bold enough to pick on someone who's "different."

This is going to be much easier for me to say than for you to do, but here it is - let them have their fun, and do your best to ignore them. I'd just about bet a week's pay they're only doing it to try to (1) make themselves look good in front of their buddies, and (2) make themselves feel better by making someone else feel worse. Classic bullying.

 

[macaronie]

that's a damn shame. sorry to hear about ur troubles