I think this misses the central idea in the essay - it's not that nerds are arrogant for thinking they are above social games (they're not), but that nerds are "nerds" because they prioritize the pursuit of knowledge over the pursuit of popularity (in broad strokes).
In fact, nerds would very much like to play the social game and be at the top of the ladder, but at the stage in life being discussed (high school), nerds don't have the kinds of life experiences or knowledge to play the game well, precisely because they spend most of their time tinkering/hacking/learning about other things.
In fact, nerds would very much like to play the social game and be at the top of the ladder, but at the stage in life being discussed (high school), nerds don't have the kinds of life experiences or knowledge to play the game well, precisely because they spend most of their time tinkering/hacking/learning about other things.