20130822: Review Documentary--Game Over

Game Over

1. Documentary, 51 minutes, NR, live action with clips from video games, 2013.
2. IMDB: nothing.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: nothing.
4. 50 million online players on any given day make online games a large presence in entertainment world.
5. The film is mostly about the virtual gold mining industry, which largely operates out of China, and secondarily about the social aspect of gaming communities.
6. In times past, virtual gold was obtained by people playing the games.  The profit margins were larger for robots (scripting programs) which play the games as automated avatars, so the shift was to automated mining.
7. The virtual gold is then sold in-game to players who don't want to do the activities usually required to obtain it themselves.
8. This is usually discouraged by game publishers, though with limited success.
9. Games profiled (lightly) include World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, and Final Fantasy.
10. Cosplay is discussed somewhat, as are FPS (first person shooters) and racing games.
11. Games for smartphones and tablets are profiled a bit, including the scramble to port PC and console games to the mobile platforms.
12. Two stars of five.

Cinematography: 8/10  Usually rather good; the exception would be when the gold farmers are interviewed.

Sound: 8/10  Gets a bit too soft for interviews.

Acting: N/A

Screenplay: 6/10 Too short, too light on content, nothing new at all.  The POV (point of view) of the film seems nebulous.

The time spent on the virtual gold farmers (well, thieves) was low tech, badly lit, and poorly miked.  And, yes, one should always kill known gold farmers to limit their income.  One should also report them, so their accounts can be cancelled.  These bastards are a good proportion of the hackers who steal accounts so they can seize virtual gold directly and sell items for more gold.  Why lionize these criminals?

Why are the European critics even present?  They don't add much, and their attitudes are repellant.  They keep repeating observations that have been around for decades, and act like they have gifted us with some sort of great insight.