The SLENZ Update – No 108, July 03, 2009

ONLINE GAMES or MMORPGs

In an alienated world, a place

to get to know somebody?

Second Skin DVD Promo … slected theatre release across US,

from August 7,  DVD release August 25.

The video documentary on virtual worlds and MMORPGs, “Second Skin, Alter Your Ego“, which has been receiving  rave reviews on the US Film Festival  circuit,  should gain a larger audience next month as it moves to  scheduled screenings in New York City, Somerville, Mass., and Austin, Texas  as well as into DVD sales, in the US at least

The film is the result of  writer and producer Victor Pineiro,  friend Peter Brauer and  director brother Juan Carlos spending two years “racing around the world following gamers who had fallen in love, become addicted, formed enormous guilds, or made their living playing MMOs like World of Warcraft, Everquest and Second Life.

“From gold farmers to disabled gamers, we tried to get a sense of how integral virtual worlds are to the fabric of life these days,” he wrote on  blogger Cory Doctorow’s   Boing Boing. “We’d love you to check it out – the first five minutes are available on Current TV - here.

Doctorow says  he  was “blown away” by the film when he saw it at the Toronto film festival. ” … (it’s) by turns touching and funny, and always fascinating. This is a loving but clear-eyed look at the relationship of gamers to their games.”

And Randee Dawn, in The Hollywood Reporter”s RiskyBusiness blog, said, “”Another doc generating significant buzz: Second Skin, … a fascinating film… gets audiences who’ve never considered spending 18 hours in front of their computer to sympathize with those who do.”

As one of the expert interviewees in the movie, games director Gordon Walton says,  in today’s world where alienation from your neighbours is a fact of life – in the US it is estimated only five percent of people know their immediate neighbours -  “online games provide a place where it is safe to get more intimate.”

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