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"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.
WoW Moviewatch: Vials of Eternity
This raid movie is so well crafted, I don't even know where to begin. Take the excellent "story behind the story" video Legend of Stalvan and mash it up with the elegant, well-edited and highly entertaining Serpentshrine Caverns raid video and throw in moments of bizarre humor plus the most memorable rendition of an 80s emo tune ever to be sung a capella over Teamspeak and you have this machinima masterpiece. Guild Numen of the UK Silvermoon server have unequivocally set the bar for raid videos.Don't be put off by its twenty minute plus run time. It's worth every moment of your time. Highlights after the jump.
