What is the world coming to?

Two of the folks who worked on Best Worst Movie, are currently working on a film called Zero Charisma, about an old school dyed-in-the-wool dungeon master who loses his grip on things with a neo-nerd hipster douchebag joins his game.

They've got a trailer up on their fundraising page, and it honestly looks surprisingly good.  It feels real, rather than lame-ass insulting stereotype humor like all the shit that's gone before it (I swear if I hear the phrase "I'm attacking the darkness" one more time, I'll fucking snap).

I'm intrigued.  This might be the first film about roleplaying I actually manage to watch all the way through without walking out.

It does look awesome; a gaming comedy that actually looks funny, who'd have thought?

I will be watching this.

I enjoyed The Gamers: The Dorkness Rising, well enough.  But I haven't lost the ability to laugh at myself or the hobbies I love.

Neither have I, but I didn't find either of the two movies funny. Just a lot of dork pseudo-humor, that are funny in the way the antics of that guy you hang out with are funny, but not really universal. They had their moments of going beyond that, though.

The Fear of Girls series, on the other hand, was great.

Edit: I guess the reason I said it "actually looked funny" was because I can't watch most gaming comedy with my wife. She doesn't game, and doesn't find "gamer humor" funny, and to be honest, neither do I. That's not to say that I don't find the subject matter funny, it's just that most gamers aren't actually as funny as they think. These movies tend to be labors of love by gamers; who though they tend to think they're funnier or wittier than average don't have more of a chance at being funny than the average nerd.  

On a side note, I also liked Role Models.

Will have to check this one out.

That does look funny, but it really doesn't look terribly different in tone than the Gamers.

Maybe not that different from the Gamers sequel, but I see a lot more of "Clerks" in that preview than I did in the Gamers. It looks like a low budget movie with unknowns, but what seems like a solid and compelling plot.

Judging by the preview, I can't see many normal people (ie. non-nerd/non-geek) being interested in this movie.  Perhaps too D&D/rpg specific, for normal people to understand the egocentric nature of DMing and the various nerd/geek-isms specific to rpg games.

Quote from: ggroy;457607Judging by the preview, I can't see many normal people (ie. non-nerd/non-geek) being interested in this movie.  Perhaps too D&D/rpg specific, for normal people to understand the egocentric nature of DMing and the various nerd/geek-isms specific to rpg games.

...and thats the problem.

Too many of these 'gamer movies' make fun or mock people that are basically similiar to our friends or loved ones - but they go too far with the putdown aspect of it all (kind of like the 1st season of "Big Bang Theory" before they decided to LIKE their characters)

I'd love to see a movie that reflected the gamers I actually see week to week - mostly normal people that enjoy RPGs.

Maybe someone could do one that contrasts a 'good/normal' RPG group vs. a group thats not quite 'all there'.


- Ed C.

I don't really see it as a problem at all. If your friends are like that, they are worthy of some mockery.
However, I doubt your friends are really like that.

One thing that this movie and gamers both touch upon is the state of continual underemployment in which many gamers exist. The thing is, though, is that I don't think gaming or geek culture obsession are the root of this.

And, as I've said before, gamers have nothing on grad students when it comes to mock worthy behavior.

Quote from: Aos;457614And, as I've said before, gamers have nothing on grad students when it comes to mock worthy behavior.

An even more weird and boring movie, would be one which describes the daily work of an engineer or mathematician in detail.  A non-mathematician and/or non-engineer would not probably understand the point.

Quote from: ggroy;457618An even more weird and boring movie, would be one which describes the daily work of an engineer or mathematician in detail.  A non-mathematician and/or non-engineer would not probably understand the point.

I see your mathematician and raise you a group of  archaeologists doing lithic tool analysis.

Quote from: Aos;457620I see your mathematician and raise you a group of  archaeologists doing lithic tool analysis.

With archaeologists, there's something interesting going on that non-archaeologists can understand and appreciate.  (Even within the confines of a one hour documentary).

The daily work of many mathematicians and engineers, is actually very mundane and boring to outsiders.  Numerous dead ends and failures, for every one success.  Even having eureka moments is not easy for non-mathematicians or non-engineers to understand and appreciate.

If the FBI and crime fighting stuff was removed entirely from the tv show Numb3rs, it would be a weird show to non-mathematicians.  It would probably be like watching the lectures of a boring math professor.

I think this movie might be able to appeal to non-gamers. I liked the movies 8-Mile and The Wrestler, but I don't like Rap or Pro wrestling. I think there's a type of movie viewer who just likes watching other people in their native environments, doing what they love.

Quote from: ggroy;457627With archaeologists, there's something interesting going on that non-archaeologists can understand and appreciate.  (Even within the confines of a one hour documentary).

The daily work of many mathematicians and engineers, is actually very mundane and boring to outsiders.  Numerous dead ends and failures, for every one success.  Even having eureka moments is not easy for non-mathematicians or non-engineers to understand and appreciate.

If the FBI and crime fighting stuff was removed entirely from the tv show Numb3rs, it would be a weird show to non-mathematicians.  It would probably be like watching the lectures of a boring math professor.

Well sure, but you could make a one hour documentary about some engineering project that would be very interesting.  Just as you could shoot literally hours and hours* of footage of technicians cleaning bones with an old toothbrush, or arguing over weather or not a nearly invisible mark on a rock has any significance, or looking at endless reams of flawed statistical data regarding the frequency of a certain kind of fish bones in a midden, or digging in a field for eight or ten hours for days on end without finding dick. Rinse and repeat (literally).  
Sure, occasionally we get to ride on the back of an elephant and mow down nazis with a machine gun, but that hardly ever happens before lunch.

* in one day.