You're clean, wearing a suit. Oh, wait - you play a nerd game? Fuck you then.

[Autumnlicious]

I preserved the main text as the kind woman who wrote it has taken to revising (read as rewriting it) this piece to make her seem less like a judgmental bitch (which she is, given the differences between this version and the current one).

However, I found the aspect of "betrayal" (bolded in the segment below) to be interesting.

Reddit is hopping mad all over her, but frankly, I feel a bit put out that the world champion of a highly competitive card game is not good enough for a person who helps author some online rag.


REF: http://gizmodo.com/5833787/my-brief-okcu...ing-player

---

Earlier this month, I came home drunk and made an OKCupid profile. What the hell, I thought. I’m busy, I’m single, and everybody’s doing it. Sure, I’d heard horror stories, but what was the worst that could happen?

Two weeks into my online dating experiment, OKCupid had broken me down. It was like the online equivalent to hanging out alone in a dark, date-rapey bar. Every time I signed on, I was hit by a barrage of creepy messages. "Dem gurl u so foine, iwud lik veru much for me nd u to be marry n procreate." Or "your legs do look strong." So when I saw an IM from a guy saying, "You should go out with me " I was relieved. He seemed normal. I gave him my name. "Google away," I said. Then dinner was ready, and I signed off without remembering to do the same.

We met for a drink later that week. He was thin and tall, dressed in a hedge fund uniform with pale skin and pierced ears. We started talking about normal stuff — family, work, college. I told him my brother was a gamer. And then he casually mentioned that he played Magic: The Gathering when he was younger.

"Actually," he paused. "I’m the world champion."

I laughed. Oh that’s a funny joke! I thought. This guy is funny! But the earnest look on his face told me he wasn’t kidding.

I gulped my beer and thought about Magic, that strategic collectible card game involving wizards and spells and other detailed geekery. A long-forgotten fad, like pogs or something. But before I could dig deeper, we had to go. He had bought us tickets for a one-man show based on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer’s life story. It was not a particularly romantic evening.

The next day I Googled my date and a wealth of information flowed into my browser. A Wikipedia page! Competition videos! Fanboy forums! This guy isn’t just some professional who dabbled in card games at a tender age. He’s widely revered in the game of Magic that he’s been immortalised in his own playing card.

Just like you’re obligated to mention you’re divorced or have a kid in your online profile, shouldn’t someone also be required to disclose any indisputably geeky world championship titles? But maybe it was a long time ago? We met for round two later that week.

---

At dinner I got straight down to it. Did he still play? "Yes." Strike one. How often? "I’m preparing for a tournament this weekend." Strike two. Who did he hang out with? "I’ve met all my best friends through Magic." Strike three. I smiled and nodded and listened. Eventually I even felt a little bit bad that I didn’t know shit about the game. Here was a guy who had dedicated a good chunk of his life to mastering Magic, on a date with a girl who can barely play Solitaire. This is what happens, I thought, when you lie in your online profile. I was lured on a date thinking I’d met a normal finance guy, only to realise he was a champion dweeb in hedge funder’s clothing.

I later found out that he infiltrated his way into OKCupid dates with at least two other people I sort of know, including one of my co-workers. Mothers, warn your daughters! This could happen to you. You’ll think you’ve found a normal bearded guy with a job, only to end up sharing goat cheese with a world champion of nerds. Maybe I’m an OKCupid arsehole for calling it that way. Maybe I’m shallow for not being able to see past his world title. But if everyone stopped lying in their profiles, maybe there also wouldn’t be quite as many OKCupid horror stories to tell.

So what did I learn? Google the shit out of your next online date. Like, hardcore. Also, for all you world famous nerds out there: Don’t go after two Gawker Media employees and not expect to have a post written about you. We live for this kind of stuff.

My reaction to the article:
And what did I learn, lady? That you're no prize yourself and since when is it incumbent on anyone to place extraneous information (like hobbies and whatnot) in a fucking dating profile? Have you no sense?

Enjoy your harassment though. While I'll not participate, I'm sure quite a few nerds and normals will enjoy making public spectacle of what you tried to do to an upstanding citizen, whose only crime was to try to go on a date.

[Faith No More]

Wait...is this referring to you?

[thesummerqueen]

[refrains from comparing to recent events in the skeptic community...]

[Cinjin]

Syn,

It's simple, next time you're out on a date like that, just try NOT telling her about your world championship of Magic.

[Autumnlicious]

Wait...is this referring to you?

No you git. I am referring to the article that was referenced and shared on Reddit.

Syn,

It's simple, next time you're out on a date like that, just try NOT telling her about your world championship of Magic.

S'not about me, man. Commenting on the article.

Can't you read the references?

[Cinjin]

S'not about me, man. Commenting on the article.

Can't you read the references?

yeah I know women - nothin new there. Most women want perfection, and use Hollywood's romantic comedies as a guide for that perfection. Allah forbid that someone have a hobby that doesn't meet leading-man specifications.

I know it's horse shit - you know its horse shit ... and that woman is a fucking bitch




... Doesn't change the fact that we all know you're a self-proclaimed fantasy gamer and it if you're going to lob a soft ball in like that --- I'm going to knock it outta the park brother.

Sometimes, you just gotta give a guy a little good-natured ribbing.

[Violet]

Holy shit. She had a chance to go out with the Magic world champion and she didn't?!

The fuck is wrong with her? 0.o

[theVOID]

[refrains from comparing to recent events in the skeptic community...]

Aww, go on

---

And what did I learn, lady? That you're no prize yourself and since when is it incumbent on anyone to place extraneous information (like hobbies and whatnot) in a fucking dating profile? Have you no sense?

Enjoy your harassment though. While I'll not participate, I'm sure quite a few nerds and normals will enjoy making public spectacle of what you tried to do to an upstanding citizen, whose only crime was to try to go on a date.

So she didn't want to date a AAA rated nerd... Fair enough, it's a fairly substantial interest of his that she doesn't share, it would be like calling off a relationship with a girl after you found out she had a massive doll collection and went to conventions... Was writing an article about it a bit crass? Sure... But really, what's so offensive about this situation?

The fact she's being harassed for it is pretty pathetic.

Besides, with all the publicity he's probably been propositioned by a few women who are more in line with his interests.

[leo-rcc]

I'm a robotbuilding robotfighting nerd, and if a potential date is put off by that she can go fuck herself.

[thesummerqueen]

I read it yesterday and I'm responding now so hopefully I didn't skip this sentence if it existed but did she ask if he had OTHER interests? Friends in OTHER areas? If he was the world champ, of course his closest friends would be from that world - they share his values! Doesn't mean he's single-faceted.