Metagame is an upcoming documentary, set to explore competitive gaming and what it means to dedicate your life to it.
The world of competitive gaming is one that talked about so infrequently that it could be mistaken for a world of fantasy. In a new documentary previewed at the MAGfest convention the life, struggles and inspiration of the best in the business is explored.
From the looks of the trailer the film predominately follows gamers known as Mango, Armada, and Dr. PP, in snippets of interviews you see them discuss how they got into gaming and how it effects their everyday life, conversation starters that are sure fire ways to delve into deeper issues and stigmas that surround the competitions. One interviewee opens up about his struggle with depression while another inspires with a declaration to continually work hard and fight for what he wants.
Amid the interviews we see crowd footage from events, the enthusiasm rivalling that of a world cup game as well as some history into the emergence of these competitions and the game. The crowd goes wild for specific moves, cheering and chanting for their favourite players, mirroring those who follow professional athletes. The film should analyse why the two are regarded so differently and if mindsets are expected to change now that technology is at the forefront of society.
Following on from a well regarded documentary series of the same nature (Smash Brothers), film maker, producer and player Travis “Samox” Beauchamp reached out through a 2014 kick starter campaign to fund the new project. Raising almost $10,000 above the desired budget the film’s main goal is to work to defy the stigmas that currently surround the industry. An accessible documentary, the aim was to have it ‘play in theatres’, focused more on the human side of the competition rather than the technical nature of the activity.
The documentary will be released some time later this year, potentially reinventing the way that the competitions are viewed and entertaining those game enough to watch it.