Hi. We are making a documentary film about the game EverQuest. We have interviewed Liz Woolley and Nick Yee as well as many players and some psychiatrists. We are still very much in need of the addict's, ex-player's and any relative's point of view who has been affected by a loved ones excessive involvement with the game.
We have posted on the Yahoo EQ Widows' Group board several times and have not gotten much response. Out of the few who wrote us several ended up canceling. We realize that this may be a difficult topic to speak about, however we really need the negative perspective to balance out the film. We have had many players speaking positiviely about the game and we need to show the other side as well.
We are about to do our last bit of traveling and interviewing and so we are trying to find some more people to fit into our schedule. The following is our basic itinerary so if you are in or near any of these areas PLEASE contact us so we can meet with you.
We are going to Arizona on March 3 and will be there for about 5 days or longer if we hear from anyone who lives there. PLEASE contact us if you are in the Phoenix/Tucson area or ANYWHERE near there, or
between there and Los Angeles.
We are then going to try to go up to the Northwest, Oregon, Washington and Vancouver, Canada mid-March.
Then in April we plan to go to Texas, Florida and the Northeast area (NY, NJ, VA, NC(?) PA, OH...).
That will be the end of our shoot so this is your last chance to speak out in a film that we hope to have playing in the theaters. Otherwise we will try to air it on PBS or HBO.
If you live in any of these areas and you really want your side of the story told EMAIL US: eqdocfilm@yahoo.com or info@roleplayproductions.com
Thank you,
Nina Lucia
Andy Walraven
www.roleplayproductions.com
Quote:We have posted on the Yahoo EQ Widows' Group board several times and have not gotten much response. Out of the few who wrote us several ended up canceling. We realize that this may be a difficult topic to speak about, however we really need the negative perspective to balance out the film. We have had many players speaking positiviely about the game and we need to show the other side as well.Frankly, it's no wonder why there have been so few willing to speak publically about the negative experiences they've had relating to excessive and compulsive online game playing. Each time a story has aired that has even hinted of there being some potential pitfall resulting from playing MMORPGs like EQ, the players have descended upon this site and discussion board as if we had written and produced the segments ourselves. Those who had expressed concern about their excessive gameplaying were met with posts like the one I deleted today that said, "I have an idea about what you can do to stop playing so much...get a F'ing life!"
In numerous cases, stories have been written which involved no more research than gleaning through a half-dozen search engine results about EQ and addiction. These stories echoed incorrect or outdated information which again resulted in a deluge of criticism and inflammatory posts.
Having been involved with OLGA almost since the beginning, I've learned that to truly understand the effects that MMORPGs have on society, one must look far beyond the obvious question as to whether or not these games have positive or negative influences.
Many irresponsible journalists have stopped there, however, leaving the reading or viewing public with many unanswered questions, while simultaneously pitting the gameplayers and those who have quit playing against each other. And worse, I've seen a story or two whose sole purpose was to instigate turmoil and sensationalize the problems associated with online gameplaying. This despicable yellow journalism may have sold more advertising, but at the same time, it served to compromise the integrity of the journalists involved, as well as the news services they represent.
While I do not wish to infer that Nina and Andy's intentions are anything less than honorable as I've not spoken with them personally, I would like to encourage any who speak to journalists or reporters to ask them specifically what the focus of their story or report is. While that is no guarantee that what you say won't be misquoted or taken out of context, it may serve to help you decide on whether or not you wish to have your name and identity associated with that particular project.
To Nina and Andy, I wish you well on the completion and successful production of your project. I hope that it will have the ultimate effect of showing that while online games such as EQ are becoming more pervasive and widespread, that they are neither inherently good nor evil, but must be experienced in moderation just like any other activity.
Ron Jaffe
Discussion Board Senior Administrator
On-Line Gamers Anonymous
Edited by: Diggo McDiggity at: 3/1/03 9:07:53 pm
Co-Founder of OLGA and member since 2002
Andy's bio on their website calls him an "avid player of Eq." All real journalists bring certain bias to the stories they are reporting -- this is human nature. Andy's credentials do not appear to include journalism -- he has directed and produced TV commercials and done graphic design.
Nina's bio says that she is a film editor by profession, and that she enjoys online gaming.
It will be interesting to see what the final product looks like. I have no reason to expect it to be unbiased, or to give equal or even favorable treatment to the side of the story that includes those whose lives have been adversely impacted by mmorpg's. Their website offers little insight as to the message they will convey, and their message board posts have been equally obscure.
Ron, they did post on EQ Widows that they will be visiting you. Let me know how it goes, and I hope that they don't make you out to be a monkey. One of them is a professional editor.
Art by Culurien GoldleafEscaped from the Skinner Box 20 October 2002
We understand the concerns you may have and so would like to address them and hopefully ease your minds as to our intentions.
As to what we plan to convey in the film:
There are many fascinating aspects to EQ. Some are "positive" and some are "negative". Some people play in moderation and some people play to excess. Some people have gotten married from having met in game while others have had their marriages fail while one spouse played too much. There is a whole range of apects to the game and how it has touched people's lives and this is what made us want to do the film. It's amazing that one game can have such a diverse affect on people and create such opposing opinions and emotions regarding it. We want to show the whole spectrum. Players who can play in moderation and have had a positive experience with it, players who do/did play in excess, people whose relatives/spouses play too much.
However, this is not going to be a film simply about the good vs. evil of the game. To make it that would be simplifying a complex matter. We are not out to demonize the game nor to glorify it. Our goal is to explore as much as we can about the game and people's varied experiences in an attempt to understand how it can be something that can have such an impact on people's lives. We don't want to make it a simple equation, we want it to be an exploration of a situation/phenomenon that is only going to grow in the coming years with more people getting connected and more MMORPGs coming out. The more awareness of it now the better.
Questions we find ourselves asking are... What is so fascinating about this game that it captures people to the degree that it does? How much do they play and do they feel it's a problem or not? What is it about the game that makes them so compelled to play, that makes it require at least an hour of playing for each sitting, that makes them shirk other responsibilities? Is it really the game or is it something more than that, an underlying discomfort or unhappiness? How much are people playing the game? Is it affecting their real lives and why?
There are people out there who don't even know what an MMORPG is, or any online game for that matter. When we tell people about all the various aspects of these games they are fascinated and we are sure that this will be an interesting film for those with no knowledge of this topic as well as players and wids. And rather than pitting each side against each other, which we absolutley are not trying to do, maybe everyone will gain a little insight from hearing all the different stories. Maybe not. We don't know. We can only try to bring all viewpoints out in the open and then we will let the viewer absorb it and form their own opinion. However we can only present that which we can document. So if we don't get the story and opinion in the first place we can't present it in the film.
As to any bias we bring to the film:
Yes we both play online games. And this is actually of great benefit for the project. We know how easy it is for someone to get sucked in as we have both gone through our stints of playing way too much and then regretting it. This is in part what inspired us to make this film and it gives us an insight into the world of gaming from at least two perspectives, though not the one of living with the gamer.
We are making this film because we were inspired and felt we had to tell this fascinating story. We are making this with our own money and we are beholden to no one but ourselves. Our personal experiences bring insight into the project. Those news programs you mentioned are corporate owned and have to answer to sponsors and generate revenue through advertising. They cannot do a labor of love nor do they have the time to explore something fully as they are doing short pieces and have deadlines. They are also most likely being made by people who were assigned the topic rather than people who have lived it and felt compelled to get the story out. Also, if we were to sensationalize this it would not help us to be taken seriously as filmmakers. We want to continue to make films and the only way to do that is to make a good film. A biased or sensationalized film does not make for a good documentary.
Some of the people you may be interested in knowing that we have interviewed so far:
Liz Woolley
Dr. Reef Karim, psychiatrist UCLA
Dr. Maressa Orzack, Ph.D., MacLean Hospital and Harvard Medical Staff
Nick Yee, did study on EQ, related the Skinner Box theory
David Walsh, Ph.D., The National Institute on Media and the Family
If we were planning on making a biased game in favor of gamers/gaming and to make fun of ex-players and wids we wouldn't have taken the time or expense to interview these people.
I hope this addresses your concerns. Please feel free to ask any questions you may still have. If you would like feel free to email us directly.
Soprena,
Just because someone doesn't have a degree in journalism, doesn't mean they aren't more than capable of creating a documentary. Hopefully they'll do a better job at it than the crap spewed forth from that 40 hours tabloid journalistic garbage. Interviewing Ben Stein is a bad idea btw.. he runs his own gaming show.. and he's quite addicted to it. Sad.
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
- Albert Einstein.
nm.. lashed before reading.. my bad.
I hope that the end result will be a high quality product, too.
My concerns are not for the end product, but for some of the people who are interviewed. There are many family members of "addicts" who truly suffer through a miserable relationship with their "EQA." When one reads their accounts, it is clear that they suffer emotionally. (This same thing applies to some of the former "addicts" themselves of course.)
If such people decide to participate in this, they should be prepared for the fact that they have no editorial control over the final product. They will appear on film however the producers want them to appear. If your pour your heart and soul out to the camera, there is no guarantee that the end result will come out the way you'd want it to. There is a possibility that you will be sorry you participated, and that you will feel that your participation did more harm than good. That is a choice everyone has to make for themselves.
"no guarantee that the end result will come out the way you'd want it to." even if it did the viewer will perceev it wrong half the time.Look what happens when this bord gets mentioned in a documentry.Flamers flamers everywhere flamers and not a drop of water to douse the flames.All because they didnt get it right nevermind how acurate the reporting, Man.
After thinking about it a great deal, I agreed to have an interview with Andy and Nina. That interview was held today.
I dont know about all of you folks, perhaps you dont have that great of need within yourselves as much as I do, but since quitting Everquest in November, Im still plagued by it to this very day. Im glad for all of you, who quit EQ, and moved on with your lives. As for me, I feel there is a greater lesson to be learned from those precious time I wasted on EQ. I havent reconciled with myself yet. A part of me died. I feel robbed, and I want that part resurrected. With that said, I felt like I had to be a part of this documentary. Im not encouraging anyone, thats just my two cents.
After meeting Andy and Nina, I have to say sincerely that the fact that they are gamers worked to their advantage. They asked questions that only gamers would ask. Suppose Barbara Walters interviewed me, say ABC produced it and the documentary came out high quality- would I really be able to say what I felt, would she be able to ask the appropriate questions that us here in OLGA would like addressed. I dont think so.
As a matter of fact, I kept re-iterating during the interview how I do not blame Everquest. I did however confirm that people like me, found Everquest to be the perfect escape...with details and details (they just literally let me talk and talk)...and that I found online games as a growing pleasure that addictive people will take advantage of. And that there is a need for immediate attention to the people, it has fallen in the same category as drinking and gambling. I allowed my two kids to be interviewed as well, and nothing else came out of them but descriptions of how I pretty much neglected them during my EQ gaming.
Soprena made valid points. Im just saying at this point, my desire to make known the horrible side of moms and dad playing eq outweigh the risk of Andy and Nina playing the interview for any bias that may have.
Of course I shared my concerns with Andy and Nina, and they did stress that their documentary was conceived from their experience as gamers, that they awed at the way RPGs work, and how they can easily see how someone can get "addicted" to it. They also emphasized that in no way will they play this documentary irresponsibly- they are not making it to arrive to a conclusion. On the contrary, there will be no conclusion in their work, as they will leave it to the viewers to draw their own conclusion. Good journalists are rare these days. Good journalists are objective. The journalists we see on tv, are influenced by ratings, by their advertisors, by the majority of their viewers, by whoever they work for (ABC is clear as day fascist, and FOX is conservative), so their work is always contaminated. Nina and Andy already declared that they are using their own money, that they are the only ones involved here. So, its safe to assume, at least from my own judgment, they will do JUST that- be objective.
I hope they get this film together fast, before someone else does. They surely tapped onto something that is new and spreading like a curse (online gaming).
Anyway, if any of you would like to participate in this but have questions, send an email to Nina and Andy. Give this a chance. I found it as some form of catharsis. Hell, maybe Ill even find my closure here. But naturally, one man's chicken salad is another man's chicken @#%$.
So Im just giving you readers my experience and my humble opinion on it.
Suree
Edited by: tie22dna at: 3/10/03 11:24:33 pm