Second Skin

Movie Title-- Second Skin

Release Year-- 2009

Running Time-- 1 Hour and 34 Minutes

Film Type-- Documentary

Film Director-- Jaun Carlos Pineiro-Escoriaza

This documentary is about people that play online video games. The film focuses on many different types of people and the decisions they make regarding different video games, as well as explores the in game dynamics of online video games.

Well, just to start, I have to say that I may be a little bias when it comes to this topic because I myself am an online gamer. I am going to start this by just informing anyone reading this that is not real sure what online gaming is, a few things you will need to know for this review; most online games are commonly known as a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game or MMORPG. Some of the biggest MMORPGs out there at the moment are World of Warcraft (more commonly known as WoW), Everquest 2, Lord of the Rings Online, Darkage of Camelot and Runescape; there are more than this out there, however these are some of the top ten online subscription games. Every month, MILLIONS of people pay a subscription fee to play these games (nothing any higher than $20 a month that I know of).

A few more statistics to continue this on, over 50 million people play MMORPGs. For 1 female gamer, there are 10 male gamers. 1 out of every 3 female gamers date someone in a virtual world. The age ratio of people that play online games are as follows, 25% of people that play are ages 12-19, 15% of people that play are over 35 and 60% of people that play are 20-35. That is a huge number of "grown ups" that play "kid's games". Online gaming is no longer for children that have time on their hands, no, now with games like WoW, Everquest 2 and even Second Life, more and more adults are being mesmerized by these types of games.


This movie follows several different types of people such as a couple that meets on Everquest 2, a community in Fort Wayne, IN that looks to be a small mecca for online gamers and even a guy (who in my opinion is a little crazy) that has an online gaming addiction. As I watched this film I was very interested in the facts that were presented (like some of the ones I posted above) but there were other things that kinda bothered me. Stuff like Daniel Bustard and his "gaming addiction". I do understand that some people out there become addicted to video games (I do believe I know a few people that are) but this guy is crazy. He threatened suicide and even did things like lost his job because of his addiction. I understand that some people really, really get into their video games but everyone that I know that plays MMORPGs are all functioning members of society. They do things like go to their jobs and interact with "real life" friends and then play online in their own spare time. This movie in a way shows gamers in a negative light and where I can see that some people that play these games become way too invested in these types of games, most people aren't like some of the people in this film.

Most of this documentary was filmed in 2007 when Blizzard Entertainment, the company that makes World of Warcraft, was getting ready to release their first expansion, World of Warcraft the Burning Crusade (since the production was released Blizzard has put out another expansion, World of Warcraft The Wrath of the Litch King and a third expansion is scheduled to release later this year). The film crew follows four friends to the midnight release of the WoW expansion and joins them on a quest to see how close they could get to the level cap for the expansion in the span of one week. The Burning Crusade expansion made $96 million dollars on the day it was released, the top grossing movie in 2007 only made $60 million. In 2007 Blizzard grossed $1.2 billion dollars overall. The in game economy of WoW in 2007 was worth $20 billion dollars, that is a lot of worth for just a silly video game.


Edward Castronova, the author of "Synthetic Worlds" said this: "These computers on our desks are turning into portals to other realms of existence...realms that will one day be preferred to earth." In the cases of some people, this is already true. Some people are so drawn into MMORPGs and it has become an alternate reality for them. Half of all online gamers value their online friends more than their "real life" friends. For some people, online gaming is everything but that is not everyone. A lot of people that play MMORPGs make serious connections, making friends that they sometimes keep longer than the friends they see at work or school everyday. Online gaming for some people are the only way they can be social. People that have "social disorders" and even some people that are handicapped (there is a man in the movie that they interview that is handicapped and can not interact with other people) can only open up in this "other world". Some people feel more confident interacting with other people online because they don't feel like they are being judged and honestly, it is difficult to judge someone just by looking at someone's character on the screen in front of you.

All in all, this is a pretty good film. Some of the things presented in the film are over exaggerated but over all it is very interesting. The facts about the the online economy and how much the game company is making annually from the game were astounding, even as a WoW player I did not know the massive numbers that WoW achieves annually. If you are have some free time and are interested in learning more about MMORPGs then this is a good one to check out. All the online game screenshots are courtesy of me...I couldn't find any pictures from the movie (other than the opening picture) so I put my own pictures up. Also, I am sorry if you are reading this and are disappointed in my lack for information from other MMORPGs, honestly the only one I play is WoW, therefore I know the most information about that one. One of the gamers in the movie said "We're gamers, that's what we do." and that is very much a true fact. No one is going to stop a gamer from playing whatever game it is they play. It is recreational, just like some people go out and drink or party all night long, gamers play games, it's just what they do. If anyone is reading this and wants to look me up in WoW, just leave me a comment, I will let you know my screen name and server and until next time, don't forget the popcorn.