World of Warcraft Movie for WoW Followers

I have been playing games ever since I was a kid and I struggled for many years with people who thought online games were brainless and action games made you chaotic. I considered this an opportunity to present some knowledge into what gaming really can involve - passion, camaraderie and experiences you can't get in real life. ~ Ben Dressler

Let's face the facts, the gamer lifestyle is one thing that not a lot of people have an understanding of /AFK The Movie looks at the life of a video gamer asked to give up the one thing he's ever enjoyed: World of Warcraft.

To the people who don't play video games, that is called quitting. For hard-core gamers and MMORPG players around the world, that's referred to as "Euthanasia."

The film examines what life is like stepping away from the computer keyboard, to cut off the sole thing you adore doing, simply because you realize that it controls all that you do. But, what is the little difference between loving video games and being addicted with them? Does it make a difference and should we even care?

The subject matter of /AFK The Movie covers World of Warcraft and also online gaming. But you do not need to know the difference between Horde and Alliance to connect with the movie. We're all addicted to something, be it cell phones, websites, video games, or sweets (or even a dangerous combination of all 4). Step "away from your cellular phone" for 1 day and find out how you respond. Is a cellphone that much different than a video game? Exactly why is one an addiction and the other one is simply a habit?

I spoke with Ben Dressler, the moviemaker who made /AFK come to life.

What was the process like creating the movie, and from his point of view, what message was it wanting to relay to gamers and those telling so-called "addicts" they must stop:

JHS: What inspired you to make the script? Did you feel like you liked to write something which could speak "for all WOW players?"

2 things. First of all, the feeling that no person had ever done this in the past. I believe it is truly unusual that you have a concept that's kind of unique and not actually out there. When I first saw Memento I was so blown away that after a long time of filmmaking, someone could still come up with something so inventive. And even though we were not the first to combine real live action and video game video clips, I don't know of any movie who achieved it to the extent that we did.

Second, I wanted to have a stand for video gaming. I have been playing games since I was a child and I struggled for many years with individuals who thought online games were brainless and action games made you violent. I considered this an opportunity to show some insight into what gaming can really cover - passion, companionship and experiences you cannot get in real life.

JHS: In your own point of view, why do people desire to put down the "gamer" lifestyle?

I actually believe that they just don't know much better. The main character in /AFK says at some point: It is not just me sitting in front of a coloured window." But that is precisely what individuals see every time they see someone "game." They don't see what you think, feel or even experience while you play. I have had a lot of individuals that observed me play WoW and believed it was really boring. But when I let them play for an hour or more, they would buy the game themselves. Thankfully, people who have gaming experience will grow into important positions such as journalism or politics. So eventually that inclination to look down on gamers will diminish from society, I'm very optimistic on that.

JHS: You mentioned you basically had no budget because you could not make some money from the film, What kind of restrictions did that put on you as a moviemaker?

Since I knew there would not be a budget from the beginning, I could focus on writing a script that would deal with not many characters as well as locations. We had five days of shooting for a 25 minute film with a very small crew. And since I didn't want to rush the actors very much, there was short amount of time left for the camera and lighting unit. We also couldn't afford to buy plenty of props so we needed to work with everything we got in our homes. The room of the main character is actually made of geek stuff from ten people combined.

It basically came down to pulling lots of favors and utilizing to the very best what was already there. I do think if you choose to work with that restriction, it will easily lead to new, creative ways of telling your story. Although I recently read that German filmmakers particularly get into Hollywood mainly because they can make low-cost movies that look like expensive movies. Well, that is flattering, isn't it?

JHS: What would you tell individuals who deal with people asking them to "quit video games."

It's really hard to give a general answer to that one because it depends on the situations. Normally I would recommend to try and make those people know very well what gaming means to you. Determine why they believe games are stupid and show that you understand them also and take their concerns seriously. Do not just plunge to retaliation mode. When I was in college, I used to talk to my parents about the games I was looking forward to play and what I found enjoyable about them. Usually I could get them to relate to that in some way.

JHS: According to the insufficient success of a few major motion pictures, it seams very challenging to take the concept of a video game and turn it into a movie - with few films making an effort to "get into" the life of BEING a gamer. What was your experience in this regard?

I think there are two kinds of game movies... Adaptations and Sci-Fi movies. Adaptations are nearly always awful OR just solid action movies with the game's name in the title... And so yeah, there's hardly any films about real gamers - to be honest I cannot name a single one. And I am somewhat in wonder about that!

But it's hard, and I do think that the people who make it need to know video games as completely as films....My point is that to truly learn from Video Games as a medium, filmmakers have to understand how a game tells its story, what can be translated and what things can not.

JHS: What does WOW provide that hardly any other game on the face of the earth offers?

In all honesty - there are a couple of games on earth I have not played yet! However, I think that WoW did and does an incredible job at making hardcore gaming available to lots of individuals. Way back in EverQuest days, MMORPGs were a very exclusive genre that even most gamers did not know or care about. These days you will raid with people who wouldn't even look at themselves a genuine gamer. And yeah, maybe that is a bit of pioneer work that no other game can repeat again.

Diablo 3 Ponders A PC Console Gaming Port

As could be anticipated, the interview retained the minimum degree of hype the game needs to be able to both not be ignored about, and likewise not be so expected that our gamer brains burst as though we just experienced the plot of Groundhog's Day on Christmas Eve. Plenty of intriguing items were pointed out, yet mostly about how they perceived Diablo was going to become more Diablo-y as well as awesome-r. Just what really captured my attention was something which was glossed over at the conclusion of the article.

AG: What are the chances we'll actually see Diablo III on consoles in the near future?

KM: We're definitely looking into it. We're seriously considering it. I would say that the whole system specs thing is one of the cool things about Blizzard. You're always hearing in interviews with us about the death of the PC gaming.

This is interesting to us since, for one, we were just going over the possible "Death of the PC" just the other week. Yet, two, since it's been awhile since we have experienced Blizzard port a game over into a gaming console, and now they're contemplating it.

The implications of this working with Battle.Net makes it appear to be it would be somewhat hard, particularly if they do not intend to get into games consoles as a staple product. Nonetheless, if they too feel the decline of PC gaming, Diablo would be a superb game title, and maybe their last franchise title, to use to take Battle.Net into the gaming console sector.

As a quick aside, Blizzard has not really experienced the pangs that many developers most likely may with the whole "drop of the PC" deal. This would be because, for me, they did the intelligent thing and developed video games for both of the leading operating systems available, instead of a mass of other developers.

What numerous individuals might be disregarding in all of this is that Blizzard in fact unveiled console video games before Warcraft ever took them to a new level of developer. The game titles were rather well done and successful to boot. Lost Vikings and Rock and Roll Racing come to mind.

As a developer, Blizzard generally only releases games of high quality, despite the amount of time and money put into it. Starcraft: Ghost, an FPS type game, was never released for this exact reason. I'm personally anticipating seeing the way they integrate Battle.Net into the console experience.

How to Find a Sponsor for Gaming

Gaming has come a long way over the past few years. Before it used to be a hobby frowned upon by parents, and the opposite sex, but now one can make a lucrative career out of it. It's grown so much large companies are even realizing the marketing potential, and have began sponsoring tournaments, events and individual gamers.

It's best to keep in mind, companies don't just hand out money, like candy on Halloween. Companies need to feel like they're getting something in return for sponsoring you. You need to approach companies that have some sort of relation to the video-gaming industry, or more specifically, whose target market is the gaming industry. But also on a more positive note, companies can be very interested in sponsoring gamers, and there are ones that are actually looking to sponsor you, which may seem hard to believe, so that shows how important it is to stand out from the rest.

There are a couple routes you can take when considering sponsorship.

1) Proactively attracting a sponsor is the route where one uses their sales skills to convince a company to sponsor them. This way can be easy or hard, depending on the individual's persistence and ability to convince a company that they're worthy of sponsorship.
Typically this route consists of either writing and mailing sponsorship letters directly to the company, or contacting the Marketing department of a company and making the pitch.

2) Marketing one's self is another method, which usually has the company approaching you, to represent them. This way is the easiest route because one doesn't have to do any work, but it takes a long time to build-up the notoriety and popularity in the industry for a company to approach someone. This can be done for example by making it to the top of the industry by being the best at a particular game title, or this can be done by paying a fee. Some relatively new management agencies in the video gaming community such as United Gamer Management, are offering promoting and marketing services to teams and gamers. This can help save time and used as supporting evidence to "wow" a sponsor.

3) Another method of obtaining sponsors is by working with an agent or manager. Similar to how a professional sports agent or manager obtains sponsors for their clients, the gaming industry is starting to see growth in this area too. If your fortunate enough to have an agent or manager to represent you and do the work for you, this is probably the best and easiest way to obtain sponsors. In return, the agent or manager takes roughly a 15-20% commission fee for their service. These sorts of agencies can easily be found by a good search for terms such as "professional gamer agency" or "eSports agency".

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