New Documentary About Online Gaming Informs While it Entertains

From our contributor Nathan:

Movie Review: Second Skin (trailer at end)

My only attendance at the recent 2008 Boston Independent Film Festival was to see Second Skin, a documentary about the subculture of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) and gamers. Not being a “gamer” myself, I went into the movie with a thinly veiled prejudice against the stereotypical anti-social “losers” that choose to spend hours upon hours engaged in a fantasy world. Needless to say I didn’t “get it,” but was certainly seeking first to understand.

As a growing fan of the “subculture documentary” genre, Second Skin tops my list, even over recent favs Air Guitar Nation and King of Kong . One reason is that Skin provides an impressively revealing, informative and balanced cross-section of this not-so-sub-culture (tens of millions of gamers worldwide). The movie profiles a number of couples and groups of friends who met while gaming online, and in some cases moved across the country to be together. Many of these relationships transcend gaming to the ends of marriage and lifelong friendships, effectively deconstructing the stereotype that gamers shun “real” personal relationships. To the contrary, it is clear that many gamers yearn for interaction and the movie illustrates how gaming can help facilitate very real relationships. At the same time, the film addresses the dark side of “gaming addiction” that can result in the same outcomes as any addictive behavior, such as substance abuse: namely disengagement from and loss of longtime personal relationships, good health, employment and shelter (housing). The movie poetically follows one man through the cycle of addiction, loss, and recovery while he helplessly watches his cousin fall into the same trap. One topic I hoped to learn more about going into the movie was the international, real-world economy created by these virtual worlds, and Second Skin delivered on that, as well.

The real genius of Second Skin is how it engages the audience and takes them from observer to participant, gamers and non-gamers alike. It forces every viewer to evaluate their role in society and culture when hearing why a sizable sub-population chooses to engage in virtual rather than in-person interactions. One eye-opening explanation is that MMORPGs create a space for activity and human interaction similar to a bar, but with a few key differences. First off, while aesthetics may play a role, gamers choose what their character will look like. This certainly eliminates one of the first barriers to successful in-person interactions. It takes a naïve and/or disengaged viewer to sit in the theater without acknowledging that they have been both perpetrator and victim of the idealization of youth, beauty and fitness in our society. Another key feature and attraction of the gaming world is that each player starts off at the same level, and achieves status and success generally proportional to investments of time and effort. At various levels of comprehension, this harshly exposes how immensely pervasive yet fallible the Protestant work ethic is in our society, as are the ways we measure our own self-worth and the value of others. (Protestant work ethic = the necessity of constant labor as a sign of personal value, or more traditionally worthiness of salvation. As the concept has become secularized, the material and social gains that are associated as rewards of “hard work” have come to be regarded as tangible measures of personal value.) The movie also challenges viewers’ definitions, particularly what core elements define the concepts of “community” and “interaction,” and how well those elements are fulfilled in real versus virtual space and indeed what is “real” or “virtual”. The core message is that in many ways, interactions in these virtual worlds may better represent the “real” person in all of us, by stripping away some of the social and cultural biases many of us take for granted.

The (very) amateur cultural critic in me would’ve loved for them to push one step further and address the idea that these people who may feel excluded by the pervading values of western culture are doing more to perpetuate the system by creating an alternate world with many of the same values (particularly acquisition and accumulation of wealth). Finally, and tangentially, one of my pet peeves in the otherwise valid criticism of over-valuing beauty & fitness is that it so often ignores the fact that some basic level of health and fitness has very real value to the individual and society, in terms of cost and quality of life. Sorry, had to get that off my chest. I’m a trained health professional first, amateur critic second. Hey, nothing’s perfect, but this film comes close!

See this movie. Thumbs up.