A mirror brought out by Second Skin

[gianni]

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Second Skin is an upcoming documentary by Pure West Films that focuses on the lives of seven MMO gamers, exploring how their games of choice have affected their lives. It touches on many popular MMO topics, such as falling in love, becoming addicted, gold farming, and the effects virtual worlds can have on the handicapped.

Having spent that 1st 16 months of WoW playing it daily, I can relate to how pervasive it can become. In watching the characters on the film, it's easy to think losers, but I think a lot of us and people we know have found identities within one of these games (WoW, EVE, Everquest, whatever). Given the experieces that I've had more extensively with the socio-mechanics of people at faire (and other small communities), humans seem to have a drive to find a place that means something to them. It could be as a leader or follower or just part of a team, but where it comes from (real life or virtual) is rather immaterial.

I've seen talk about how the online world (both in game, and just on the Net) is causing people to be more isolated, but there are questions about what is required to be isolated (is it simply the lack of face to face and human proximity)? If someone who doesn't have a lot of friends in school (or as an adult), can find a thriving place in a community, even if it's remote itsn't a bad thing. I think it's more if one healthy network is abandoned for another that issues genuinely arise. Meaning that if a kid (we'll use an archtypical high school student in the example) who is getting good grades, has friends, and is involved in activities becomes so engrossed in an online world that they let those pieces of their lives fall apart or suffer, then that's a serious issue. But if they're a loner and a border-columbine type in the first place, if they can find an outlet to have a role in even a virtual society, it could be a life saver - or at the least help them achieve more self-confidence and social skills than they had previously.

href="http://purewestmedia.com/secondskin/?id=home">Second Skin Home Page Pure West Films