I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this. I've tried Second Life, and I'm just not social enough to really enjoy it. Since most of the fun happens as a result of interactions, I didn't have much to do. With no goals, it wasn't engaging for me. NPR loved doing stories about it. Their fascination with the relationship of in-game currencies to real-world currencies seems kind of silly.
But this movie remained really fascinating, and it actually got steadily more interesting as the story wore on. The approach is almost eerily evenhanded. When you see the housewife and her Second Life beau meet at the airport, you feel a little dirty, like you're party to her infidelity. They don't mention that the other guy is married as well, at least they don't mention it for a long time. When they do, it's implied that they've been separated for some time.
For as much wild, crazy sexuality as I've heard about on Second Life, there's very little addressed in this movie. There is one sex scene, but it's treated kind of gently.
The couple is easily the most engaging, because it's easy to agree with them, but something about the situation makes the viewer wary. And it isn't just the idea that they met in Second Life. It's hard to make a villain of someone who remains entirely anonymous in the movie - her husband. We hear a tiny bit of his voice at one point, distorted, but he doesn't seem mean or anything. In fact, she seems to have felt a little ashamed by his entrance.
The designer is fascinating, because it's some of the more solid, less emotional parts of the documentary. She sells products in Second Life, and converts that currency into US dollars. And she was doing pretty well, at least at her peak. It isn't clear if her business has turned around. She was involved in a lawsuit over a person exploiting a game weakness and duplicating her products, and reselling them. By flooding the market with duplicates, her original sales were hurt.
The last story is really strange. The guy playing as the little girl. It's implied that he doesn't do anything even vaguely sexual. His avatar is dressed in a fairly Lolita-like outfit occasionally. But he plays the role as a young girl, and hangs out with friends. He dances. Most of the story is about a sense of self discovery.
The couple, and the guy playing as the girl both have endings that really are wonderful cappers for the movie.
Despite how passionate I am about games, and how much I enjoyed Star Wars Galaxies back when it was decent, I don't feel like this gave me any particular feelings about Second Life.
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