Second Skin

For a variety of reasons I never started playing MMORPG's. A turn of events which for all practical purposes I must admit has been undoubtedly extremely good for virtually every area of my life and whatever small amounts of growth and development I have managed to piece together over the past five to six years. Because, I am quite certain that I would become very quickly and extremely hopelessly addicted if I ever started to play one of them. The closest I've ever come is a couple years ago over the Christmas holidays when my brother and I snagged one of those $1.99 trial versions of World of Warcraft just to see what it was like . . . . oh boy, we came very close to some sort of disturbing "how the paladin stole Christmas" or something because for a few days/nights there we didn't do much else. And of course, like every male around my age I know (of) people who are hopelessly addicted to one of this breed of game to the dire detriment of their marriages, relationships, jobs, health, etc. But even with all of that I am incredibly interested in these games - in how they work, in who plays them, in how you play them, in experiencing them, in getting immersed in them and all their wonderfully intoxicating seemingly endless minutiae. So, while I'm still determined to steer clear of their sirens song (although my brother and I have made an agreement that once (or maybe if) we get established into some sort of respective profession and find ourselves there for at least four years we'll join up and see what happens) I am very interested to see the forthcoming Second Skin which tells the story of seven gamers who have not only been lured in by the song but are themselves now singing along. From the trailer it looks to be a pretty balanced, fair, humane treatment of the subject and the individuals (the stereotypes have been done ad nauseum) and who knows maybe it will convince me to take a pass after all.