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The Guild Counsel: A color-blind world
A couple of interesting points came out of last week's review of The Raid, and I'm going to use them as a springboard for this week's column. There were two topics that dominated the discussion: one was Edward Castronova's analogy of raiding as sport and the downing of the Lich King as a World Cup Championship victory. The other was about the use of inappropriate language in game, including some racist and sexist remarks. In this week's Guild Counsel, we'll look at soccer and sexism, and we'll see why Castronova was worth hearing out and why there's a big difference between what players say and what they do.
The Guild Counsel: Why The Raid is worth seeing
Over the weekend, Gary Gannon from Gamebreaker.TV hosted a unique event in the world of MMOs: a film premiere, complete with fancy suits and ties and even an afterparty (albeit in the form of a chat room). The film is The Raid, which followed the World of Warcraft guild Double Dragons as it worked through the raid content from Wrath of the Lich King. There has been a lot of feedback from those who saw the premiere, but it's been decidedly mixed so far. Furthermore, viewers had such strong reactions to certain parts of the documentary that director Kevin Michael Johnson made a post on the site to try to address some of the criticism. But is the mixed review simply the cynical gamer at his best, or is it legit? In this week's Guild Counsel, we'll take a closer look at The Raid, and I'll explain why I think it's definitely worth seeing.
Catch The Raid's world premiere for free
Hot on the heels of 2009's Second Skin, MMO players are once again the subject of an in-depth documentary about their lives and playing styles as Gamebreaker.TV is hosting the world premiere of The Raid for all to enjoy. Directed by gamer Kevin Johnson, The Raid follows a guild of World of Warcraft players who tackle some of the toughest challenges of the game and open up about what being a raider means to them. The 20-minute runtime examines what drives players to the raiding scene and introduces outsiders to the collaboration and competition that goes on during these events. The primary focus, however, is on the social aspect of raiding and how it binds a group of people together for a single purpose. You can catch the documentary after the jump until Wednesday evening at 10 p.m. EDT. Please note that the film starts around the 26-minute mark if you don't want to sit through the pre-show interviews. Give it a watch and let us know what you think -- did The Raid hit the spot or miss its target?
"The Raid" movie documentary examines WoW raiding
If there's anything I've learned over the years as a gamer, it's to approach films and TV shows about games or gaming with extreme caution. Be it cinematic game-to-film monstrosities like the Street Fighter movie or sensationalist "documentary" garbage like the fifth estate's Top Gun, there always seems to be a disconnect between the people operating the camera and the subjects they're trying to portray. World of Warcraft in particular has received plenty of positive and negative attention, but in recent years, there has been an increasing movement among geeky creatives to try their hand at explaining the game and the phenomenon of its popularity through all sorts of projects. The Raid is one of those projects. The Raid is a short, 20-minute documentary that sets out to understand not World of Warcraft itself but raiding in the game. What raiding is, how it's different than in other single- or multi-player games, and what makes it so compelling are all touched on by the documentary. Some of the topics might seem rudimentary to actual raiders, but that's because the target audience of the film isn't raiders but rather their friends, family, and any other outsiders who struggle to understand what it is that we're doing within the game. That doesn't mean actual players won't have a reason to watch the documentary, though; raiders will easily be able to connect with the narrative of the film and the players featured in it.
