It’s lunchtime.
After listening to Leala rant on Spouse Aggro about it and reading Hudson’s post on the stereotypes of the movie ‘Second Skin’, I realized they were in a state of virtual denial.
By no means am I calling anyone an addict or that the movie was perfect, but it hit home on a few fronts.
Second Skin did leave much to be desired and there was some parts that should of been elaborated on to greater extent. But overall I got the gist of what they are trying to say. Please watch it for yourself on HULU.
This has been stuff I have been reading about for years. Now that it’s finally hitting home, I feel that the community is choosing to disrepute it, file it and ignore it. Chalk it up as “stereotypes” and “this movie should of beens”. It just showed you the ugly picture of video gaming addiction and you did not like it. Sorry, not everything in the real world is as pretty as the virtual.
I am not going to let that happen, not for me or the movie, but for that maybe one person that is struggling with video game addiction. Which is my one and only motive. I realized that it is a real growing problem and I will prove it; the academic society realizes it so why not the actual ‘MMO community’ as well?
One reason is that it’s easier to stay in fantasyland where everything is fun and happy… PLEASE DON’T BE A BUZZKILL. No, I’m not going to tell you that gaming is bad, that it’s the devil and to throw your Xbox away. I am just going to tell you the truth about gaming addiction through my series titled “Virtual Denial“(tm) and offer a message of hope to anyone that may be struggling with video gaming addiction.
So for all the healthy gamers, the perfect gamer, the ones that think they don’t have a problem this might not attest to you. But if you know of anyone that might fit the bill of the classic “Second Skin” stereotype, the loser, the geek, the classic gaming nerd that plays for 12 hours straight. Before you label them and shuffle them off, please point them to this direction.
I like the fact that people are pooh-poohing it and coming up with excuses and rationalizing (rational lies) unhealthy play patterns. Rings true back to the days when alcoholics were put in insane asylums and fed belladonna to withdraw. Also the Rockefeller laws that wouldn’t let two addicts share the same space lest arrested; it made holding fellowship meetings impossible. It’s a good sign in my opinion.
Video game addiction is real and it’s time to stop sticking our virtual heads in our virtual holes. I think it was high time that we got honest about it.
Corny old joke: Denial is not just a river in Egypt.
Yours truly,
Frank
I agree that while Second Skin may not be perfect, it definitely raises some questions that deserve some attention.
After reading about how the filmmakers decided to make a documentary on the subject,(http://bit.ly/14XpgT) and how their opinions of MMO’s and the people who played them changed over time i have to say i’m a bit impressed.
What started out as a warning against this possibly addictive entertainment form turned into an exploration of what these virtual worlds mean to those who inhabit them.
Its about time someone asked the players what they thought about all of this
The problem for me was not the content of the movie – so much as it was the marketing message.
If it had been pushed as a “documentary showing the truth behind MMO addiction and addicts” it would be have been fine.
Instead it was a “documentary about virtual worlds and how they transform the people within them.” The only positive stories had major negative undertones. It wasn’t a virtual world documentary at all – it was a video game addiction documentary. Had it been marketed as such I would not have been surprised by it.
I don’t think anyone is saying that this stuff doesn’t happen or are in denial about it. It sure does happen, and to a LOT of people. But the portrayal in the movie showed very little un-biased examples of people who immerse themselves in vw’s without any addiction issues.
Documentaries are great when they show unbiased views of both sides.
I concur with Cuppycake. It was a good movie, but it should have shown some stories that were positive: I’ve heard of more than one couple who met online through an MMO and now are married, maybe even with kids, and play the game together at a perfectly healthy and responsible level.
Regarding the denial assertion:
http://blogs.chimpswithkeyboards.com/vanhemlock/archive/2009/08/13/2101.aspx
Honestly, I side with Van Hemlock and Leala/Beau on this one… Second Skin was too hamfisted and one-sided. Like Cuppycake says, it purported to be about MMO gamers in general, but actually spent most of the time focusing on some worst case scenarios.
Your absolutely right, but I felt that the community was trying to tuck it under the rug again as it’s tucked plenty of times before.
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That’s why I’m going to write a series about it video game addiction from both sides. No tricky marketing here. Just being honest.
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My core frustration is really not with the community, but stems from the denial of the american medical association’s meeting in 2006.
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My goal here isn’t to school or preach to the mmo community, it’s hopefully one person that is in that position. Feeling the effects of video game addiction as depicted in the movie will find some clue on what they are feeling and what to do about it. Not just ignore it.
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Thanks for stopping by!
Frank