Avatars Offline

Rating:
Summary: A must for online gamers.
Review: A fascinating look into online worlds. A little bit of history, some great interviews (check out Richard Garriott aka Lord British - his house is incredible) many thought provoking viewpoints.

This documentary takes a look at many of the issues invovled in the rapidly growing industry of online gaming (MMORPG's), the director takes a balanced viewpoint and discusses many of the pro's and con's of the worlds we incresingly spend our lives in.

Rating:
Summary: The Enigmatic World of Online Games
Review: Nice job on this full length DVD which explores many of the issues concerning massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG).

If you follow tech or pop culture at all, you've doubtless heard of Everquest, Ultima Online, or Lineage, a Korean game that is the most popular MMORPG in the world.

Avatars Offline (an avatar is a character that represents a real person in a game) balances pros and cons by weaving in and out of interviews.

Subjects interviewed include Richard Garriott, creator of the Ultima series, and Ultima Online, the first major MMORPG in North America.

There are also clips with several professors giving their views, a theologian, numerous players, as well as a husband and wife who met on Everquest.

My only gripe was that there were too many "man on the street" interview questions with non-gamers. I guess this was meant to give balance, but as a hardcore gamer I got a little tired of their uninformed opinions.

If you are into MMORPR or just want to know more about it, you'll enjoy Avatars Online.