Darkon (2006)
Starring Skip Lipman, Kenyon Wells, Daniel McArthur, Rebecca Thurmond, James Iddings, Gary Black, Domenic Prince, Andrew Mattingly, Frank Kanach, Leah Kanach
Directed by Andrew Neel & Luke Meyer
Expectations: I expect to get a few laughs, like a Christopher Guest movie.
Darkon does the seemingly impossible, making dudes playing with foam weapons in the park seem somewhat noble. At the end of the day they’re still über nerds stressing over the political struggles of the world in their minds, but I was not prepared for the level of self-awareness that many of the players exhibit. The game becomes a coping mechanism for their struggles in the real world, an outlet for their frustrations and desires. Some players note how the game helped them become better real world people because they were able to try out something other than themselves for a while, and learn from their in-game character. It allows them to look at themselves from an objective viewpoint and note how they’d like to incorporate an aspect of their character into their real life. This is obviously a bit convoluted, but whatever works for personal growth.