Nexeus Fatale

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originally uploaded by purewestdocs.

Every so often I’ve mentioned that I’m in an upcoming documentary titled “Second Skin.” Throughout this process I’ve become really great friends with the makers of the film, Pure West Documentaries. Over the past two years, I’ve helped feed them information about Second Life, World of Warcraft, and other MMOG’s and Virtual Worlds. I’ve slept in their apartment, met their girlfriends (now fiancés), helped them move, have had drinks with them, karaoke’s and talked to them about the film without ever being shown a clip.

The wait, is over, I’ve just received an e-mail from Victor that the trailer is coming on January 29th, 2008 (a week from today). Continue Reading »

The guys over at Pure West Documentaries have a new design for their upcoming film “Second Skin”, and it looks really really cool (and a whole lot more organized!) While there are a lot of upcoming documentaries, films, and projects about virtual worlds (and Second Life), the PWD’s are taking a broader look and talking about all MMO’s, not just Second Life, but World of Warcraft, Everquest, etc, etc, etc. Unlike the other documentaries I’ve seen though, Second Skin really asks the question about the people engaged in these worlds and “whose lives have become transformed by virtual worlds.”

It seems that they are coming along home stretch at the moment, as June - August has them running all over the place (go for it guys!). To read more about Second Skin, visit the website at http://www.pwdocs.com/secondskin and check out their blog, there is some really great things there (including a picture of Peter and cake!)

Disclaimer: I am in this documentary, so I may be a bit biased. While I have gotten to know the guys, spend time with them, become their friends, I really believe that their film is going to be a real insight into the world of MMO’s and those who inhabit it. I am really excited about their doc!

The past day I went Northbound to hang out with the Pure West Documentaries guys not too shortly after their computer decided to melt down and a day turned into what seemed to be a horrible mess. Although it was made up in beer, being pummeled in Taboo and Shout About Movies 1, and Spaceballs. While the guys are resting and begin to prepare for their upcoming trek to gather more footage from the Syndicate and a group in Indiana, I was able to use the visit as a rest and preparation for the several projects that I have coming along the way, all which I’m very excited about.

It is moments like these, the calms in the storm, where I sit back and wonder “wow, I did a lot, how was I able to get from this point to this point?” rather than the “GODDAMNIT! I’M BEING BURIED!!!” I guess I rather complain about being busy and doing interesting things than being on my ass wondering what I am going to do next.

It was about -20 billion below, or at least it felt that way, when I was waiting for Victor, from Pure West Productions to pick me up. Currently, Victor, his bother Juan, and their friend Peter are all working on the Second Skin documentary (of which I am one of their subjects). Through this process, we have developed a friendship/kinship, have had discussions, and plenty of e-mails from me forwarding them to articles about the virtual world. This kinship was put to the test, as we discovered our inner guitarist (by playing Guitar Hero… I’ve learned I suck at playing the virtual guitar), our inner gangsta (by playing Grand Theift Auto: San Andreas - which we learned that track betting is the best possible way to make money in real life - if you have a save point, and yes it is possible to be helping the po-po while being chased by them), and by then going heads up in several rounds of Bomber Man (the score was Victor - 3, Juan - 2 and Myself -1… I will avenge my losses!)

Regardless of my friendship with the members of Pure West Documentaries (whom shielded me from having to head back to BKLYN in the freezing cold last night, instead, allowed me to head back to in the freezing cold this morning!), I am really excited about their film and the progress of it. I also found out that a short I saw (and quite amused and shocked by), was also done by the group (see: fart match). It is really interesting to discuss with them the nature of virtual worlds and MMOG’s as each one has a different relation to them (quick side note: I almost want to find out what sever Peter is on and battle him in PVP… I’ll probably loose but that’s a different story). It is also interesting to watch and be a part of a documentary of this nature. If you don’t know of it, definitely check out the site Second Skin.

I was reading the blog of my good friends at Pure West Documentaries about Guild Wars reaching the population of 3 million, and soon after at 3pointD there was news about one of the companies within Eve Online beginning to sell shares to players. I begun to wonder what is next. With these virtual worlds all allowing different reenactments of things you can do offline, such as retaining your intellectual property, buying shares in companies, bartering and using microeconomic systems to influence the world around you, what is next for these worlds to accomplish? Are there going to be major NFL, NBA franchises for each game? (Imagine the thought of the World of Warcraft Orcs going against the Second Life Prims at the 2196 NBA Finals). If you look at some of the major MMO’s populations; Second Life at 2 million (about the size of Houston, TX); Guild Wars at 3 million (slightly bigger than Chicago, IL); World of Warcraft = 7 million (slightly smaller than New York City, NY), this idea of the Internet becoming a series of metaverses that you can easily communicate, travel and participate in from one to another is slowly becoming a reality. All of this thinking has lead me to begin to make my predictions of the upcoming year.

Continue Reading »