Basement-dweller

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Osama bin Laden, a basement-dweller.

A typical basement-dweller's desk

The common basement-dweller comming up for wings and tits.The man in this photo is GrandMastaThief of rotteneggs.com

A commonly-used phrase that describes socially inept losers — Fanboys, cosplayers, nerds, slashfic authors, libertarians, trekkies, and so forth — who fear that the light of day will expose them for the freaks they are. Thus, they still dwell in their parents' basement, living off cookies and energy drinks.

Note, however, that while most basement-dwellers do indeed live in a basement, this is not always the case. A basement-dweller need only live under the care of his parents long after he or she has the faculties necessary to become a contributing member of society. This includes being a twenty year old unemployed college dropout whose mother pays your rent, like User:EternalTanelorn.

Excluded from the title basement-dweller are people who live with their parents for legitimate reasons. Some examples of this include:

Living at home between semesters of college or during full-time college study.
Living at home because of financial problems that do not stem from irresponsibility or laziness.
Living at home to assist in the care of one's own elderly parents.

However, typically we overlook these exclusions and apply the title "basement-dweller" at will.

Typical basement-dwellers are needlessly burdensome on their parents, demanding (like three year olds) that they continue to live out their sheltered life at home. Most of their time is taken up masturbating to furry porn, going to nerdish conventions, eating cheese doodles, and playing D&D. In addition, as completists they spend an inordinate amount of time on the Internets, using IRC, LiveJournal, partaking in Bandwidth_envy, and arguing vehemently over their particular branch of fandom. And yes, you will still be a basement-dweller, even after you've finished building your new "v0.1 2X Overdrive dual-ballast dual-T8-tube 128W 6500k daylight fluorescent light."

[edit] Hikikomori

引きこもり. Japanese basement-dweller.

“	Hikikomori live a nocturnal life, in a deep depressive state, far from social responsibilities ( school, work, family) and activities. Even sexuality is often virtually lived and connected to a sexy manga heroine.	„
—Francesco Jodice, describing the subject of his film

Interestingly enough, hikikomori seem to feel that they've got it worse than their western counterparts. A Japanese basement-dweller will often explain that Japanese culture is so simultaneously repressive and demanding that they've never properly adapted to it, causing them to wet themselves if they venture out into the public. Male hikikomori may also explain that they feel they lack social role models because their fathers are entirely pussy-whipped. The large percentage of western basement-dwellers who have to import their Pocky and download their shota likely beg to differ.

Rozen Maiden has a hikikomori as a main character. Much like Neon Genesis Evangelion before it, having a loser protagonist they could identify with meant that American weeaboos latched onto the show like parasitic morays, only this time the "sexy manga heroines" and cartoon lust objects weren't overstacked expressionless doll-like girls, but ACTUAL DOLLS.