I know it's a day late - but a lot has been going on, and being a leap year, it isn't really Friday yet... is it?

This week I got an opportunity for an email interview with Second Skin's Director, Juan Carlos Piñeiro Escoriaza.

[Stypica]: I will limit myself to a few questions since a lot of what I wanted to ask is already present in existing interviews.

Looking at the number of views the trailer has on youtube, and the buzz on the web, there are many people looking forward to seeing your movie. Has the amount of interest surprised you?

[Juan Carlos Piñeiro Escoriaza]: The buzz on this movie is definitely getting a little crazy, and we're just three guys living in NYC scraping by. So it has been surprising in our day-to-day life that people are reacting to it as strongly as they are, and in such numbers. At the same time we knew from the moment we started the project that MMOs were a subject that was on people's minds all over the world. It's a type of social interaction that is only going to get more prevalent and embedded in our society. In that sense I think we knew that there was a curiosity out there, and people wanted a flick about it.

[St]: Why do you think so many people are drawn to the subject matter?

[JC]: In an MMO you can be whoever you want to be. That is an incredibly attractive proposition that isn't possible in one's daily life. The level of anonymity in being someone else online most times allows you to be more truthful about who you actually are. People want to be more than what they are, and MMOs are a place where that can be explored.

[St]: I have seen this similar love/hate relationship before in IRC channels, and now in MMO games. From what you've seen, are some people just inclined to behave certain ways given the means, or does the medium draw out those behaviors?

[JC]: A medium is a conduit towards experiencing something, and it's easy to place the blame on things that can't talk back to you. As humans we have a very difficult time admitting our problems, and one way we vent is to escape. One of the reason mediums like MMOs get a bad rap is because this need to get away becomes obsessive for some people. For the majority of people MMOs are a hobby like any other, but it's true that some people step in too deep. It's at those times that a support structure should be put into place for people who need help. I think these games are extremely attractive social spaces, and we need to keep a close eye on how we deal with these emerging technologies in the future.

[St]: Do you think the MMOs are learning to exploit this more? If so, how? If not, why?

[JC]: We met with a lot of developers over the course of making this film, and I never got a sense that they were trying to 'exploit' the gamer populace. Developers are trying to make MMOs more entertaining all the time. It's the natural progression of any medium. People want to innovate in whatever field they are in. It's why MMOs came into existence in the first place. I do believe these games will become more engrossing as time goes on, but there is no sinister plot out there. Bottom line is that gaming companies have to make money, and that means making the best possible game they can make. As a society growing up in a continually more futuristic landscape we're very scared of the idea that one day there will be something that we just can't put down. Today it is MMOs, and tomorrow it will be something else. In a sense I think that fear is exactly the reason why it won't happen.

[St]: What sort of responsibility do you feel the game developers have for the secondary effects of the worlds they create?

[JC]: From what I've seen developers try to take the effects of their games in stride. MMOs are just like a society, and in a large group of people you have both positive and negative results. From people who met online and then got married to gigantic guilds who are like families to those people that have a negative experience, it really does run the gamut. The people that I have met didn't have big heads about the good they were doing nor were they extremely sympathetic to game addiction.

[St]: Do you have any other projects in mind for the future?

[JC]: We are a budding film company, and we are really excited to make more flicks. We have been developing another idea for a few months that we think could knock people's socks off. Unfortunately, I'm really not at liberty to describe it in too much detail just yet.

[St]: Thanks a lot for tackling a topic that is close to many a gamer's heart!

[JC]: We're gamers. It takes one to know one, you know? I can't wait to play SSBB!

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