Old Man Calls Coders 'Spotty Nerds,' Coders Pwn Old Man

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The Confederation of British Industry—CBI—represents some 190,000 businesses in the UK, with members also including universities and public bodies. Its motto is "the voice of business," and it stands for the promotion of domestic business interests through networking, lobbying, and advising on governmental policies, both at home and abroad.

John Cridland is the director general of the CBI, and has been since 2011. He looks a bit like the wizened step-sibling of the Demon Headmaster. (Sorry, but he does.) And today, in an exclusive interview with the Independent, he took aim at the British gaming industry, celebrating its incredible growth while shooting down the sector's "spotty nerds."

Not the best idea that, John.

"We need extra coders," he told the newspaper—something that games industry legend Ian Livingstone told VICE earlier this year. "[We need] dozens and dozens of them, but nobody is going to play a game designed by a spotty nerd. We need people with artistic flair."

Twitter has responded as only Twitter can, with a hashtag: #notaspottynerd. I've seen Joe Twist, the CEO of UKIE, the trade body for British gaming and the interactive entertainment industry, use it and retweet several other posts. She does also stress in her feed, though, that "The larger point about this is that there's an implication that games are not currently made by creative programmers and artists, and that means the perception of our sector, our products, and our talent is misrepresented in the media."

Nail on head. For someone in such a position to firstly even clump games makers together as "nerds," be they spotty or otherwise (hell, we all have the occasional zit-busting session in front of the mirror—it's just as you get older they begin popping up in places that aren't your face), is incredibly naïve and damaging to one of Britain's healthiest business sectors. I was at Develop last month in Brighton, which brings together thousands of British and overseas developers, and I don't recall seeing one, I suppose, "stereotypical" nerd-type, as defined by comic books and the minds of blithering imbeciles shooting their mouths off to the press about shit they do not understand.

Secondly, on that need for artistic flair: John, mate, are you saying that this guy has none of that, or this guy, or this guy? I could go on. Basically, get a grip—or, rather, get educated. Gaming doesn't need put-downs from the very people who should be throwing parties for the amazing work these so-called "spotty nerds" do, day in, day out, usually until well beyond you're tucked up in bed, John.

The #notaspottynerd hashtag's been criticized, one of VICE Gaming's own contributors Jake Tucker replying to Twist's tweet: "It's polarizing. Words are important. Careful which ones you use." I see where he's coming from, certainly, and others have echoed the sentiments. What the hell's wrong with being spotty, anyway? But whatever the hashtag that is or isn't "right" to use in response, Twitter's in complete agreement here regarding Cridland's ineptitude: "Another out of touch moron put his foot to mouth today."

Follow Mike Diver on Twitter.