Gamers is a 'movie' that shows how an RPG session can go. There are many parodies like this usually in spoken form so seeing it on a screen is a bit different. It is something that you can show at conventions, among gamer friends but is not intended for the general viewer. Gamers 2 is more of a movie but is still rather non-gamer unfriendly. Gamers 3 is an exception. It is still a movie from gamers for gamers but it is done in a way that general public can watch it as well. It gives insight to how a gamer geek community actually looks like...
I did not see a trailer nor read anything about Gamers 3 prior to seeing it so I thought that it would be continuing in the same spirit as the last movie(s) and that it would follow a Dungeons and Dragons (or Pathfinder) players playing their loved game. But that was not it (partly yes). The 'Hands of Fate' already suggested something different (and I thought 'card games') but I couldn't be sure what that would be until...
...I saw the first ten minutes. Natalie, a gamer girl enters a LGS and wants to enter a R9E CCG tournament. Cass wants to master the game so he could ask her for a date.
The story starts pretty simple - Cass wants to date Natalie and for that he can do thing A (master the game, thus prove himself) and get a thing B (have sex as reward). Natalie comes to the tournament so she can change the story in a game she loves - Romance of the Nine Empires. R9E, is a 15 years old game, that tells a story of 9 different "Empires". Each player chooses an Empire and usually sticks with it. The players can change the story in favor of their Empires if they win a storyline tournament (and they also get a card printed). And that is exactly what Natalie tries to do at this tournament where she meets Cass. It is not only about the story but also about what is going on in the metagame. The story aspect lovers want an original play style to be still alive (questing) but a new strategy that avoids the basic principles of the game (starvation) is taking over. That is where Cass comes in. He as a power gamer learns the game becomes pretty good at it and comes to GenCon to win the Worlds for Natalie. But all the storyline lovers count on him to save them from the dreaded starvation decks played by a fearsome cabal named The Legacy. (The Legacy players are a group of players that want the game to be 'another poker, another Magic' - they want a competitive game with cash prizes, they are not interested in the lore)
While all this is going on there is another story in an alternate world ... a fantasy story about princess Myriad that tries to save kingdom of Holden from a war against an army of undead. She can't stop the feeling that the events in Countermay repeat themselves. She finds later that her fate is controlled by something else ... something from outside her reality but she cannot quite grasp what that is.
This film actually has several messages and it shows them well (you'll find them) and I have to say that this movie made me think about more things as well.
As with any other Gamers - the movie is made by gamers for gamers. Everything is there, you can clearly see yourself - the gamer - in the movie. Talking about very very strange things public places (hydra genitalia), not being able to finish a campaign, hating the 'new' stuff that killed the old etc.
Even though you can think this is some kind of a love story it isn't. Both players are ... well ...'players' and gamers. The filmmakers are gamers and they did not spoil the movie with something like that. But watch it yourself.
I'm a girl (if you did not notice that before) and I've been playing these games quite a lot and I was often treated...as someone who does not belong there. When Natalie comes to the tournament and is harassed you may find this awkward but I know that feel. Probably all of us can. Cass also asks her why she cares when all those players are just teasing her and whatnot. We don't hear the answer in the movie I would not give one either. But later we hear Natalie share her frustration about the game. This clearly shows why she bears all that, because she loves the game.
It's been also about half a year from my last RPG session and quite a long time since I played my last game of Legend of the Five Rings. Our RPG group was incapable of meeting at one place at one certain date for a session and that meant the end of playing the game we all love or loved. As for the card game ... the community was divided in two. There were two groups - those who loved the storyline, the characters etc and those who simply played the game and enjoyed the mechanics (those where the 'competitive' players that did not really care about the story). I am part of the second group and always will but after seeing this movie I see it a bit differently too. I was one of the players playing a deck that provoked a very negative player experience making one of the other win conditions rather unplayable and I feel bad for it but I love the game very much and I would love to play it the best way one can.
With Gary's subplot we also get the message 'do not hate'. A fan of something does not necessarily need to hate something else (Chibi-chan destroying the Ninja Dragon Riders series). The same we see from Cass point of view. He always hated LARPers and card game players. But we are all gamers and we all come to conventions to have fun and enjoy what we like, there is no reason to hate.
What I like about Gamers 3 is the fact that it shows the fans and gamers in true light. There is a lot of jokes and hints that only gamers will understand, but general public can watch this. Yes, sure there is hyperbole one can say but it stays true. It shows the problems the communities have and just let's us think about them. The LARPers are shown as LARPers dress up and role play, that is something I would expect from gamers to do unlike showing something in a way that it looks pleasing and makes a point but hardly shows the reality as that is common in other movies (and usually sheds a negative light on gamers or the game itself).
After seeing Gamers 3 I was telling everyone about it. At that time I just told them to see it because it is another Gamers movie (even though being totally different) or because it shows how a Legend of the Five Rings community (and other communities) look like in reality. Nowadays though I recommend this movie for a different reason. It shows the problems there are in the fan community, it speaks to us and it shows us how we should behave and stand together. It also shows how I feel about certain card game now and why I want to quit it. Because I really feel like Natalie. I always kind of felt like this but it was only after truly playing Legend of the Five Rings that I realized that the way I want to play the game is very important for me. Without being able to play the decks I want I simply can't play the game.
If you haven't seen the movie yet go get it. 10USD is certainly worth it. It is something completely different from the previous two Gamers but it is still hilariously fun. It is a drama though (so you should keep that in mind) with a message even though you can just ignore it and enjoy all the comedy and fun (and the drama of course).
BTW the title of the movie also is well chosen and pretty much sums everything up.
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