Video game documentary offers entertaining global look at virtual gamingThe Canadian Press
NEIL DAVIDSON
January 31, 2007
(CP) - The appeal and power of video games come across clearly in the first episode of the documentary "Gamer Revolution" (8 p.m. Thursday).
But the startling web that video games have spun around the globe is really depicted in Episode 2, elevating the two-hour production from Toronto-based Red Apple Entertainment above the norm.
Charity and Richard, a Christian couple from California, are shown playing the game "City of Heroes" online. Soon after, Charity laments that she cannot improve her virtual character's powers because her worldly duties as a mother restrict her from putting in the hours that her husband does. Charity's character, known as Chilled Bubbly, is stalling in the game because she doesn't have the time to slay the necessary monsters to upgrade her skills.
But help is just a cheque - and a mouse click - away.
Enter California's Patrick Bernard, who's made a business doing others' video game dirty work. Or to be more accurate, outsourcing it.
It's called power-levelling.
Bernard's Gamer's Loot website does the grunt work for a price. After Charity pays to improve her character, it is loaned to a 24-7 operation in Romania where workers put in the grinding hours in front of a computer playing the game to earn Chilled Bubbly experience points. Ten days later and Charity has gone from Level 30 to 40.
One woman's video game desire to cut corners helps fuel an entrepreneur's business, opening the door to new jobs in Romania in the process.
Adding to the virtual irony, the documentary notes that the Romanian enterprise eventually shut its doors, replaced by cheaper labour in the Philippines.
Forget global village. It seems more like global idiocy, even to someone who plays games.
There is more than a hint of manipulation in that the gamer couple chosen is Christian and shown celebrating their faith as the Romanians work their magic on Charity's character halfway around the world.
One wonders what role religion plays in this subplot other than to spice up the story.
The first half of the documentary depicts video game hot topics, from the controversy over the relationship between virtual and real-world violence to how the U.S. army is using gaming as a recruitment. It also tells the compelling tale of pro video gaming in South Korea.
In another segment, younger gamers in the Middle East talk of their disgust at western video game norms where Arab terrorists are often the hunted.
"Killing Arabs is not fun," says one young Syrian gamer. "On the contrary, it makes one get really mad."
Instead he plays "Under Siege," a Syrian title whose opening shows Baruch Goldstein, the real-life Israeli settler who killed 27 worshipers in a Hebron mosque in 1994. From there, the gamer plays the role of a young Palestinian battling a brutal Israeli military.
The documentary includes a range of academic voices and makes for an entertaining journey through a world that "Gamer Revolution" makers say is home to 800 million video gamers.
Shot in high definition, it is co-directed by Ian Hannah and Marc de Guerre, who also serves as co-producer with Red Apple Entertainment president Rachel Low.
Episode 2 airs at 8 p.m. on Feb. 8.
Copyright © 2007 The Canadian Press, All Rights Reserved.
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