Why are there so many social outcasts in geek culture?

[Glitch42]

I watched a documentary on Bronies once that made a connection to the spectrum. The hypothesis was that having a cast of highly individual characters with their own unique color schemes, symbols, and predicable behaviors was a relief for folks who have a harder time decoding the actions, emotions, and motivations of complicated everyday people. (If I remember right, this was in fact backed up by the comments of a Brony with autism.) I can see that extending into video games, what with established player characters, unique special moves, and so on.

Yeah, watching the Brony documentary sort of chilled me out about grown people going nuts about My Little Pony. Like I still don't find the cartoon interesting, but if it serves as a venue for helping awkward people make friends it's just a good thing for the universe.

Truthfully though, I still can't grasp the appeal...

[yaktaur]

I think it is something like it started half-ironically or maybe they want to be childish in watching it and as a community grew it became about being part of the community. Have you seen the doc? It's really interesting and softened me on Bronies a lot, even though I'll never watch the show.

[TSTR]

JOHN CENA SAYS
Be a STAR
STOP BULLYING
#RISEABOVEHATE

[Glitch42]

Hey I'm not condemning it, just can't understand it.

One day I'm sure to get around to watching it...
As I do love watching those human interest things like Taboo and stuff

[Anayo]

I'm not exactly the connoisseur of Brony culture, but a few things come to mind. Every subculture has members who go off the deep end with their enthusiasm. It would be hypocritical to say gaming is somehow exempt from this. I'm in no position to judge anyone for spending five figures on an NES cartridge, but we've all seen ardent MMORPG players who lose their grip on reality and end up in the news. It's no stretch to say each gamer has probably been unfairly lumped in with these people at least once.

Perhaps this is only tangentially related, but I had a situation where some coworkers found out I studied Japanese. Half jesting, they asked me, "How much anime porn do you have on your computer?" While the level of machismo chest thumping in my current work environment is a tad higher than average, it reveals how we create unfair caricatures of each other. A quirky hobby doesn't necessarily make someone a deviant.