Uncovering the ‘Second Skin’

There is a virtual world out there filled with fantasy, magic and mystery, and millions of people are addicted to living in it. Valley Stream resident Victor Pineiro documented this phenomenon in his movie, “Second Skin” which premiered in theaters last March and was voted the No. 4 documentary of 2008 by the movie-review Web Site, Ain’t It Cool News.

“We gave it that name because we wanted to explore the identities of people in this second world,” Pineiro said of his movie title. “People put on this different identity in this online world and explore different personalities. All of them have a so-called second skin.”

According to Pineiro, “Second Skin” takes an intimate look at three sets of computer gamers whose lives have been transformed by online virtual worlds. An emerging genre of computer software called Massively Multiplayer Online, he said, allows millions of uses to interact simultaneously in virtual spaces. Of the 50 million players worldwide, 50 percent consider themselves addicted, he said.

Pineiro explained that he got the idea for the movie a few years ago from his work buddy, Ben. Ben played a game called Star Wars Galaxy, Pineiro said, and got addicted to it pretty quickly. Ben started to miss work, he said, and often would run home — 15 blocks — during his lunch break to play in the online world. What Pineiro learned was that Ben was the mayor of this online community, and would receive hundreds of calls and text messages from other gamers who lived in the virtual world. “He explained to us how important he was in the game and how many people needed him,” Pineiro said.

Once Ben’s addiction to online gaming worlds sparked the idea for the documentary, Pineiro said, him, his brother Juan Carlos and friend Peter Brauer began searching for gamers they could profile. “We interviewed about a 100 people,” Pineiro said. “Most of them didn’t have the level of success they wanted in real life, so they jump into this world to be successful in some way.”