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Posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 23:27:08 GMT by: Marina Antunes
Posted under: DVD, Review, Documentary, Online Gaming

Year: 2009
Directors: Juan Carlos Pineiro-Escoriaza
Writers: Juan Carlos Pineiro-Escoriaza
IMDB: link
Trailer: link
Review by: Marina Antunes
Rating: 6 out of 10

Millions of people give countless hours of their lives to it, there are comics about it, jokes and heck, even a very successful web series about it; the world of online gaming is as encompassing and, as director Carlos Pineiro-Escoriaza' would have you believe, as debilitating as online gambling. The proof: Second Skin, a documentary which follows a group of individuals all of whom spend somewhat concerning amounts of time playing World of Warcraft (WoW) among other MMORPGs.

It’s a great idea for a documentary. Everyone knows someone who plays and though some of us understand the addiction (don’t we all have some addiction of one type or another?), many have a hard time adjusting to the idea that spending 12 hours in front of a computer is healthy. Escoriaza’s documentary tries to and somewhat succeeds in shedding some light on these individuals but it does so by spending a majority of the documentary’s running time focusing on the individuals with a clear “problem” rather than those who have managed to moderate and balance their playing with real life.

Escoriaza spends a bit of time explaining the world of online gaming, explaining everything from MMORPGs to Guilds before heading into the lives of a few individuals who play the games themselves. We’re introduced to a group of friends who spend a great deal of time online playing WoW before shifting focus to one member in particular. Andy is married with twins and the documentary captures him talking about cutting down his game time from seven days a week to four. Almost immediately we see his wife’s reaction. A former gamer, she understands the need to log-in but she’s obviously unhappy about her husband’s gaming when he could be helping her more with the children. How about spending a little bit of time talking to Anthony? He has a job, a girlfriend and he also plays WoW (with Andy and their mutual friends no less) but his life is much more balanced. Then there’s Dan who let his entire life collapse around him, losing his business, his home and his girlfriend to gaming. The message is clear: Escoriaza isn’t even trying to balance the moderate from the hardcore gamer choosing instead to build on already pre-conceived notions of gamers.

Squeezed in among all of this are Heather and Kevin who met online and began a relationship that later carried onto the real world, a romance which prompted them to travel across the country to meet and see if the love was more than just virtual. This particular story thread feels forced, as if the filmmaker and/or producers encountered their story partway through filming and decided to include it. It adds a different dimension to the idea of online life vs. real life but it’s simply not flushed enough to offer any real insight.

What’s most discouraging about Second Skin is that it is more interested in sensationalism and the individuals who are “hardcore” rather than the average Joe who spends a few hours a week gaming. The documentary squanders away the opportunity to share some insight into the gaming world and simply adds to the myth that gamers are strange people who sit in their dark rooms drinking nothing but pop, eating chips and getting carpal tunnel syndrome from constant and repetitive mouse movements. It’s an entertaining documentary but one that ultimately disappoints.

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Comments

Because the average Joe who spends a few hours a week gaming isn't that interesting - he's just a normal guy with a hobby.

That said, as a gamer who these days only has a few hours a week to game, I also wish one of these films would come out that shows hardcore gamers who know how to balance things out. From the media, you'd think gamers were all either teenagers with too much time, casual gamers who don't really care about games beyond killing an hour or two here or there, or total addicts. The stats show otherwise.

Posted by: Jandy | October 26, 2009 09:47:17 pm | permalink

I agree with the above comment. I've seen the movie and I do believe that it would have been boring had more focus been put on casual gamers. I think the reason is that most people who will see this film, are casual gamers of some sort. I think that it would have been interesting to see more of the handicapped gamers, who play Second Life and other games to live a relatively normal life. I don't believe that real society puts any pressure on the populace to consider hardcore gamers as weird. Everyone plays video games. Everyone. It's just more interesting to see those that let that dictate how they go about their daily lives. I personally thought the documentary was very good at maintaining objectivity while presenting interesting facts.

Posted by: Jake | October 26, 2009 10:02:27 pm | permalink

i saw this movie and it does present the levels of addiction. there's the casual gamer who can turn the game off and go outside. the person who comes home from work and plays till 2am and finally the person who does nothing but game till he loses everything.

it also focuses on the people who fall in love online and pursue the relationship in the real world

Posted by: guest | October 27, 2009 10:09:20 am | permalink

I play the part of the addicted gamer in this movie, my whole story was a fabricated lie and taken out of context. email me at dannicus617@gmail.com, I'll be more then happy to tell you the true story.

Posted by: Daniel Bustard | December 20, 2009 03:01:35 am | permalink

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