“The Nerding Instinct is about celebrating and unifying all facets of nerd and geek culture.” This is a bold statement for such a young podcast of only 14 episodes, as I write this. I have listened to all of them and I have to say, I really like their concept. The podcast sounds very much like the conversations I used to hear when hanging out in my gaming store years ago.
For any of you who were never regulars at a gaming or comic store, the pace with which topics are changed and the knowledge base that is required may be daunting. But Mike and Myke, or the “Mikes who say ‘Ni'” as they refer to themselves, on occasion, do educate their audience along the way, at least sometimes. Other times, you may feel the need to use Wikipedia to keep up.
Their first few pods are about their mission statement, “celebrating and unifying all facets of nerd and geek culture.” They haven’t really unveiled it yet, but they want to do a segment called “15 Megabytes of Fame.” The concept is brilliant and extremely philanthropic; to share someone’s work to their audience and help a larger and/or different audience embrace that work.
The Nerding Instinct Podcast with hosts Mike Brown and Myke Hritz
They talk at length about owning your nerdiness, nerd rage, and they speak with some tongue-in-cheek lightheartedness about nerds striking back in an anti-bullying episode. The name of the podcast comes from the “herding instinct” of animals who stick together for protection, thus “Nerding Instinct.”
They are trying to crowd source their podcast in a good way. They are trying to create, speak to and promote a community. These are all very grandiose and good things and they happen to agree with me, that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Battlestar Galactica are a great shows. (Not that I wouldn’t listen if they didn’t.)
Before I begin with the constructive criticism, I must again point out that as I write this there are only 14 episodes. Listen to the early stuff from SModCast, Nerdist or WTF with Marc Maron, it takes a while to get into the groove. I’ve been writing this blog for over 100 posts and I’m still trying to find my groove.
That being said, the one thing that’s a plus for this podcast is also a detriment. They want to “unify all facets of nerd and geek culture,” but that is a vast and varied audience and, as such, they tend to be all over the place for topics. Again, not a bad thing, they’ll never run out of topics, but it does mean that their target audience is so extremely diverse, that you may like one episode and be completely uninterested in the next. But don’t give up, because the third one could be right up your alley, or not.
As Mike and Myke say, “Keep to your Nerding Instinct.”
Also, remember that this is still a new podcast. Who knows what it will be when they hit their stride and get into a rhythm. Again, this is one of, if not the most, philanthropic podcast that I’ve ever listened to and in my opinion and that’s a good thing.
All in all, the podcast is a very enjoyable listen and I urge you to give it a chance. Is this the best podcast ever? It’s not. But it I’ve listened to all of them and I don’t want my hours back, because I’ve enjoyed the hours of content they’ve produced thus far. I may not always agree them, but I’m willing to bet they’d hear me out if I disagreed with them. (At least, I get the impression that they would.)
Why you should listen to The Nerding Instinct Podcast? Again, if you were ever a regular at a gaming or comic shop it will bring back memories, if you currently are a regular then you’ll hear different voices than what you’re used to, and if you’ve never been a regular there’s still something in it for you, besides a glimpse into the conversations that happen in gaming and comic shops. The relationship that Mike and Myke have is a dynamic one, where each can play the good or bad guy depending on the topic. You may learn something, you may discover something new or hear an opinion that makes you look at something in a different way. Your move.