Living & Arts

Getting under a 'Second Skin'

In print | April 24, 2008

To put today’s world of mass entertainment into perspective, here are some numbers: The world’s fastest selling computer game, “Burning Crusade,” an expansion pack to “World of Warcraft” made $98 million dollars in its first day, while the biggest one-day gross for a film was $60 million dollars.

These statistics ,provided by the documentary “Second Skin,” which the Film and Media Studies Department screened on Wednesday April 16th, give a sense of the truly phenomenal enormity of these games (clumsily termed massively multiplayer online role playing games or MMORPGs). The documentary, which was co-written by alumnus Victor Piñeiro ’00, follows the lives of several gamers, painting an ambivalent picture of avatar culture.

Much of the film’s intent is to show how online role-playing has enhanced the lives of many and is a complex culture to be appreciated. We meet countless gamers from all walks of life, all of whom have a common enthusiasm for MMORPGs. “We ended up feeling really overwhelmingly positive about the whole thing,” Piñeiro said in a phone interview.

Piñeiro takes care to note that although the movie does focus on one “severely addicted” gamer, “the truth is, for those one or two addicted stories that we found, we found hundreds of other stories where the games were used to really let people communicate and meet hundreds of people whom they wouldn’t have met otherwise.” The film also notes how creating an avatar is a means of escape for many in dead-end jobs. It’s only telling that, as the film states, 45 percent of online gamers are between the age of 23 and 35.

Still, the joy that online gaming brings to the subjects of the documentary is more explicitly stated than felt, as the film all too airily breezes through the talking points of how gaming allows everyday people to transcend their socioeconomic settings. The documentary also unfortunately spends only a brief time with one of its subjects, Andrew, who is disabled and cannot speak, and finds online role-playing to be a means of expression.

What the film finds to be good about gaming ultimately seems to be outweighed by the bad. The antisocial behavior of gamers is on full display, even if the filmmakers are unwilling to note it. We meet the pregnant wife of a hardcore gamer in Fort Wayne, Indiana, who jokes about becoming a “gamer widow.”

Far more harrowing is the story of Dan Brunkard, whose gaming habits drive him to contemplate suicide. More joyous than any other story in the documentary is how Brunkard overcomes his gaming addiction and takes control of his life with a newfound conviction.

While “Second Skin” apes an endorsement of online gaming, it’s much more successful and fascinating as an intimate look at the psychology of online role-playing.

When the film uses scenes from computer games, they are less effective in communicating the thrill of gaming than they are in communicating how addictive gaming can be. When Brunkard describes how his gaming habits led to hallucinations, the film hauntingly shows a regular walkway in a park transform into a computer game.

Equally interesting is how online gaming brings about serious relationships. The film skims through a montage of multitudes of couples, who met through online RPGs. We intimately get to know a new couple, Kevin and Heather, and the oddity of beginning a relationship with someone whom you’ve never met in person.

Another fascinating anecdote that gets too little screen time is the story of a company in China that “farms gold” to assist American players in online games, giving a sense of what a lucrative market online gaming is.

“Second Skin” is a one-of-a-kind look at online gaming culture, especially for someone completely alien to it. It is a testament to the filmmakers’ exhaustive research that we are exposed to so many facets of MMORPGs in such a short period of time. But, after having watched the documentary, I’m afraid you won’t catch me anywhere near World of Warcraft.