by Jeff Woleslagle on Sep 18, 2009
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Second Skin made its DVD debut several weeks ago but has
gotten a lukewarm reception from the gaming public. We'll explore the
MMO documentary's successes and shortcomings, announce our
very first Aion news, reveal two new beta giveaways and much more in
today's Loading... Second Skin Review.
You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result is the Ten Ton Pulse (
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/" target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).
Here's today's top 5 Pulse results:
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/41"Biggest movers today:
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/265"Important
Dates
We first met the directors of Second Skin in 2007, and during
a subsequent interview
series we tried to find out just whose side Pure West was on.
Obviously, documentarians aren't supposed to have a side, but even the
best and most objective documentaries examine the evidence and
ultimately take a side. Prior to watching the film, we wanted to know
what editorial tack to take. Was this a documentary championing the
sociable and entertaining nature of moderate MMO play, or another
hit-and-run smear piece highlighting the most extreme examples of lives
disrupted by excessive MMO play?
But perhaps much of what gives Second Skin its power is that, if you
watch the whole movie in a sitting, you won't be sure what side the
film takes. If you leave at any point you'll be sure that the
perspective is slanted towards MMO lovers or MMO haters. Second Skin
tells the story of two starry-eyed romantics who met each other through
EverQuest 2, an MMO addict who hit rock bottom during the path of the
story, a "humane" gold faming operation, some fairly hardcore gaming
roommates and a couple in Indiana, a severely handicapped gamer who
thrives on Second Life, and The Syndicate (the longest continually
running guild in existence, whose annual events it's been my pleasure
to cover over the past few years).
Where things fell off a bit was mid-way through Dan the MMO addict's
story, when the person heading the Online Gamers Anonymous program
(whose son
met tragedy as a result of his gaming addiction) was villainized
somewhat for her naggingly hysterical methods in trying to
pull Dan out of his bad place. Most of us have had run ins with
addictive behavior know that if there's to be a break in the pattern,
it's not going to be pretty. I'm not saying she couldn't have
benefitted from some counselling training, and that there might be a
thread of the matriarch there that may have driven her son deeper into
the game. Dan probably owes more than he realizes to the OGA program.
And I wonder how the Burning Crusade race to 70 would have
played out if the cameras weren't rolling too. But if you read between
the lines, you will find some average types
like, I'd argue, the bulk of our "hardcore" audience, whose lives don't
revolve
around games but find it's a legitimate means of entertainment.
You can view the trailer
here, and the film's available on Netflix if you want to check it out
for yourself. The machinima is first-rate, the presentation is above
average, and the storytelling is pretty balanced, though I would have
liked to see more of people that successfully balanced their family
life and gaming habits, like the Prices and the Syndicate folks. The
prevailing love story was a little quirky, but I think that worked
in its favor, giving the subplot it own sense of authenticity. And the
extremes were matched in a way that showed, I thought, that games can
either grow your social life or destroy lives - MMOs are what you make
of them. But in the final analysis, I think that MMO haters will find
more ammunition to support their cause than MMO gamers will find
validation. It could be a useful tool for allowing outsiders to see a
little bit of the gaming mindset, as long as the outliers are treated
with a grain of salt. As for how the film inspired me, I think I'm
going to go for a jog.
Seen Second Skin? Think its representative of your experiences and
those of your friends? Your thoughts welcome in the
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=46400">Loading...
forum.
From our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=589">Aion
General Discussion forum
Despite
25 levels of Abyss-free questing, Aion is a PvP game at heart. Our
forum member, Blackhawk, stopped by yesterday to ask the community to
rank the classes in PvP from best to worst. No one has risen to the
best-to-worst challenge just yet (maybe you'll be the first), but
several people have offered opinions and one has offered stats direct
from Aion's Korean servers.
Which class is top dog in Aion PvP? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=46367">Discuss!
==============================
Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread
"Any class in a group
> any class not in a group."
- bobfish
==============================
Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums?
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=32559">Tell
us!
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