Is this a troll or did you go to LAN parties in the projects? In all seriousness every large LAN I've been to has had no more awkward "nerds" than your average lecture hall or bus ride out in the real world. Some LAN parties have been run poorly others great but LAN parties are dead in about the same way PC gaming is claimed to be dead every 3 years.

As a student at an engineering college I've found the number of job fairs, company meetings, and jobs available to be staggering for the STEM related majors. Then I had to remind myself that the U.S. is supposedly in a recession/depression and I don't quite believe it. And how is government trying to destroy STEM fields exactly...?