This is a post about Asperger's syndrome. It's a psychological condition, and those with it often call themselves an "aspie." Many consider it related to autism but without the learning problems. In fact, some aspies are intellectually very gifted. Some suspect Bill Gates is an aspie, for example.

So why the heck would I post about this? A game like Lusternia is likely to attract aspies, whether they know that they are aspie or not. And indeed one of the biggest fans of Lusternia is almost certainly an aspie: me!

So what is it? It's fairly complex, but some things of interest include... We don't intuitively learn social skills very well and usually don't realize that fact either. We tend to take things very literally, do worse than average with non-literal things like body language, poetry, etc. We usually have special interests that we pursue to an extreme. At different times mine have included computer Garfield, Piers Anthony, and the Commodore 64. We usually are more interested in lecturing others about that special interest than hearing what anyone else has to say. And we also usually end up on the wrong end of the schoolyard bullies.

Perhaps you understand the body language of your cat better than your girlfriend, dislike making eye contact, have been accused of being a Vulcan, find that you really identify with Sheldon ("Big Bang Theory")...then you might be an aspie! (For me: all of the above.) Knowing for sure if this is the case can be both interesting and rewarding.

For me, it's merely interesting because I've made a good life for myself; it has been a benefit. But if you're having problems from it, as is the case for many, then knowing is rewarding as it can lead to insight for improving one's life: knowing why the schoolyard bullies "like" you or why you don't give a good vibe during a job interview, etc., and then taking steps to improve upon that.

Here is a popular on-line quiz that correlates to Asperger's. If you score 32+ then that does not necessarily mean you're an aspie, but it's a first clue. Link - AQ. What's your score? Mine's 32.

My score was 26.

39. I kind of saw it coming, though.
It's been one of the things I've always been aware of, and maybe it's that awareness that's made it worse, or maybe it's just the living hell that it among other things that hath been wrought from high school.

Comes free with hypersensitivity to stimuli like sound and touch and difficulty breaking routine!

EDIT: Also association with people who self-diagnose and then use it as an excuse to be an arsehole.

15. Guess I don't have anything diagnosable, I'm just a weirdo.

22, people like to claim I have ADHD but I've never been diagnosed with anything, I just like doing many things at once!

12.

My stepfather keeps calling me autistic because I enjoy spending time on the computer and interacting with him as little as I possibly can.

My score was 14.

Gosh my score is like three times as much as some of you people.

A 24 for me.

A lot of that stuff does fit for me though. Except the social awkwardness. I'm usually doing that part on purpose to annoy people.

Yeah, you got three times my score and there is definitely something wrong with me.

Edit: And now this whole thing has made me paranoid, greeeeeat.

18. I exhibit some signs, but not others

24. I had expected higher, since I'm more or less a hermit in a big city, but... yeah.

I got 22, but I've actually been diagnosed with Asperger's.

One thing about people who fall along this spectrum of disorders that is often surprising is that, in some situations, they seem to understand people better than anyone else, which seems like a paradox but it really isn't. It's the same as how, in a pitch black room, a blind person sees better than the sighted.

Most people pick up all kinds of subtle cues about other people that are below their threshold of conscious perception: they're detected, but you don't notice yourself detecting them, not even if you look for them, generally. You just lump all the things you're perceiving into vague words like "intuition" or "empathy"; you "just feel" or "just know" things. People who don't pick these things up directly and unconsciously sometimes learn how to recognize some very small subset of them more consciously. It's a very poor substitute, but it's something.

Because the process is conscious, though, these people sometimes understand the cues better when they're presented in a form where only conscious perception applies. They are better at describing them, or understanding when they're described, in indirect forms, like text -- as in emotes in a MUD, or in the language of fiction writing. They are less likely to be fooled when the cues are misleading, either intentionally or accidentally, because they're not picking them up anyway. They are less likely to be misled by the way writing is "flat" and devoid of tone of voice (though they're as likely as anyone else to be misunderstood, in particular, to have the reader project his own emotions onto them to fill the void of subconscious-cue-free text).

Generally speaking, any time everyone else is dragged down to their level of imperception, like the sighted people in the pitch black room, they come out ahead. And this often surprises everyone else; because unlike the sighted in a dark room, the ordinary person in a subconscious-cue-free environment doesn't realize how much is missing because they were never aware of their sensory ability in the first place. They just suddenly feel surprised to see someone who normally misses all the subtle cues unexpectedly being the only one to pick some up.

What Lendren said, but especially this. People sometimes take things I've said, especially in text form, and totally get the wrong idea and I have absolutely no idea why. I mean, I know they're projecting things onto it that aren't meant to be there, but I have no clue what or why or how to work through that sometimes.

In person, yes, I've purposely studied people to the point where I could probably be a manipulative bitch if I really wanted to, but it's a practiced thing and not natural.

Mine's 23. I am aggressively introverted and exhibit some of the signs traditionally associated with Asperger's, but I don't have the condition. I'm just an asocial weirdo. When in social settings I can get along pretty well for a while. Too much just overloads me and I need serious downtime, though.

I got a 26....

and I have always known I'm anti social and I fully accept this.

I mostly just really hate small talk, because I have a bad habit of attracting people who refuse to get to the point and use small talk to distract me before bringing up whatever they really want to discuss

16.

I don't have a problem, I'm just a weirdo by my own right!