Hundreds embrace their inner geek

Jessica VanEgeren  —  9/29/2008 5:40 am

Chadwick Becker remembers the day he was introduced to the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society. He was sitting in his dorm room on the Iowa State campus when his roommate ran in and told him he had to come and check something out.

What he saw were guys and girls dressed in medieval dress, wielding cushioned swords and shields as they fought one another. That was seven years ago. Once he saw it, he was hooked.

"I haven't been able to stop," said Becker, 25, of Illinois. "I do it for the physical activity. You have to be fast and quick. It's like a sport."

Becker was among a dozen Belegarth members who were demonstrating their skills at the second Geek.kon convention held Saturday and Sunday on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Meant to embrace all things geek, this year's event featured role-playing groups, miniature collections, impromptu rounds of people in costumes playing cards in the halls of the Humanities building, and rooms to play popular video games such as Dance Dance Revolution or watch Japanese animation.

Event volunteers Robert Laib and Sari Eichhorst said some of the activities featured at the convention have gone mainstream and are no longer seen as "geeky" things to do. Video games have gained mainstream popularity, though obscure board games or card games still have somewhat have a geek label. But Eichhorst is quick to point out that the G-word doesn't necessarily have a negative connotation.

"Not in our world," she said.

Laib agreed.

"It's all about context," he said. "Ten years ago if you told somebody you were watching anime (short for Japanese animation) they would have thought you were weird. That's not the case today."

Last year, 1,800 people attended the two-day event, Eichhorst said. By midday Sunday, 900 people had attended this year's Geek.kon convention.

Jessica VanEgeren  —  9/29/2008 5:40 am