It’s that time of year again everyone! Guild Launch, our parent site, is hosting the Annual Dragon Slayer Awards. This year’s nominees for Best Gaming Personality are definitely proving it’s going to be tough to choose just one. I’m here to tell you why Wil Wheaton should earn your vote.
I’m sure many of you have heard of “Wesley Crusher” from Star Trek: The Next Generation. No? Okay, how about hearing the name uttered from the mouth of “Sheldon” on an episode of The Big Bang Theory? Ah ha! That rings a bell. Yes, Wil Wheaton has appeared on both shows and more. Besides being a fantastic actor; he is also a well-known blogger, musician, writer, producer, comic writer, voice actor, host, podcaster, and gamer. What doesn’t this man do?
Wil Wheaton is also quite a geek–The Geek. He’s also humble and down right nice guy. In an interview with GQ magazine, here’s what Wil had to say when he was asked to define Geek.
I use “nerd” and “geek” interchangeably—I don’t make a distinction. I’ve said that being a nerd is not about what you love, it’s about the way that you love it.
So you can be a nerd for football, and obsessively follow stats and player trades and figure out things that give you an advantage in, like, sports betting and things like that. Or, you can love Battlestar Galactica and try to work out all of the complex mythologies and get into things like blueprints of the ships. And then you can love things like Agents of Shield and Winter Soldier, and love that so much that you end up going to a comic book shop and then reading all the way back through ten or twenty years of Captain America comics.
Someone who I would describe as a “geek” or “nerd” is a person who loves something to its greatest extent, and then looks for other people who love it the same way, so they can celebrate loving it together.
At the 2013 Denver Comic Con, Wil Wheaton also had a pretty epic response to a young girl’s question regarding bullies. Watch below.
Here’s some of what Wil Wheaton does:
- Starred as “Gordie LaChance” in Stand By Me
- Starred as “Wesley Crusher” on Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Starred as “Joey Trotta” in Toy Soldiers
- Starred as a fictionalized version of himself on The Big Bang Theory
- Starred on The Guild, Leverage, Eureka, Numb3rs, Criminal Minds, and more!
- Host of The Wil Wheaton Project on SyFy
- Host of Tabletop on Geek and Sundry
- Voice Actor on screen such as Secret of NIMH, Aqualad, Teen Titans, Robot Chicken, Family Guy, Kyle + Rosemary, Ben 10, Generator Rex, RedaKai, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and more!
- Voice Actor in video games such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, DC Universe Online, Fallout: New Vegas, Broken Age, Brutal Legend, Grand Theft Auto IV, Rainbow Six: Lockdown, Ghost Recon 2, EverQuest II, and more!
Also, he’s just like the rest of us. Here’s a glimpse at his blog.
I’m packing for Comic-Con, finalizing my set for w00tstock, getting all kinds of excited for Syfy’s Sharknado 2 party on Friday night, and locking down my character choices for the Welcome to Night Vale / Thrilling Adventure Hour crossover show on Saturday night.
I fold some jeans and put them into my suitcase and think to myself, “this is weird. I don’t feel panicky about Comic-Con at all.”
So, of course, my brain goes, “well, let me fix that for you” and I feel the nauseating well of panic swell up in my chest. My arms feel fifty feet long, my hands get cold and numb, and I realize that I’ve been clenching my jaw for several minutes. My ears actually pop when I release it.
Depression and anxiety are awesome*.
So I’m genuinely excited for all the cool things I will get to do this year, and I’m genuinely excited to be, at least in some fashion, a representative for Syfy, Geek & Sundry, and myself. I’m excited to see neat cosplay, visit with friends who I don’t get to see as often as I’d like, and for some things to happen that I can’t talk about in public at the moment.
… but occasionally things like this happen at Comic-Con, and then I get scared and overwhelmed, and don’t want to go outside.
I’ll do my best to be awesome, but if you see me at Comic-con, and I seem a little weird or off to you, this is probably why.
*not actually awesome
What else can I say about a man that I highly respect and admire? Yes, I’m a huge fan of Wil Wheaton, can you blame me?
So what are you waiting for? Go vote for the 2014 Dragon Slayer Awards!
