“Second Skin” is a documentary that takes a good hard look at the world of MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) players and how their hobby, and in some case addiction affects their lives and the lives of the people around them.

The doc is very well researched and the people who are profiled are certainly a good semblance of the hardcore MMO gaming community. Even though this movie is already a little outdated (a portion of the statistics and storyline revolve around the release of the World of Warcraft expansion The Burning Crusade (at this time the lastest expansion is the Wrath of the Lich King), and also gives statistics that are somewhat dated as well, but even so for the time very accurate. The people profiled in this movie take on all shapes, sizes, social classes, and attitudes. It delves into their relationships with their friends and families as well as their significant others. In this regard it also takes a peek into the world of online love and virtual dating (both the pitfalls of, and the successes of). It’s very sweet and includes two examples of wedding ceremonies from two couples that were included in the doc.

Another thing that is examined is online gaming addiction, which seemed to be very heavy handed and also very religiously biased (the people who were interviewed, not the documentary itself). Every person who was either against online gaming or were part of some support group for online gamers had some fixture of Jesus either on their person or in the background. It also includes a very extreme tale of gaming addiction regarding a man who lost everything by getting wrapped up in his own fantasy world.

Another important topic of this movie that was covered, all too quickly in my opinion, was the economic aspects of the games, including the slave labor like Chinese gold farmers who provide players around the world with in-game money, items, and clothing.

This movie has already been around the festival circuit and will be running in select theatrical runs as well as being available soon on DVD. Anyone who is an avid gamer of the MMORPG genre will certainly find it interesting, and possibly illuminating to see how these games affect people, and how it might have even been affecting their own lives.