...and what amazed me was how much I got into what was going on.

I should admit some bias -- I'm a huge fan of fantasy and science fiction, and though I haven't tossed a 12-sided die in nearly 15 years, I do play a few online RPGs casually. But the level of geekdom to which the participants in Darkon have ascended is far beyond any lengths I have ever gone - or would be willing to go.

Nevertheless, the documentary goes a good way toward painting these folks as nothing more than real people with an unusual hobby. Just like a weekend baseball league or a dart team, they're dedicated to their teammates, competitive with other groups, and have found a way to de-stress that allows them to sanely carry out their daily grind

Hey, not to be be contentious or to put down the fact that you are pretty open to the whole conecpt of Darkon, I do find it interesting that you so casually write how you play several internet rpgs and somehow those rpgs do not equate to Darkon or other larps, and they are somehow less geeky. Yet the only real difference in geekiness (that I see) is the level anonimity. Online, you can do just about anything, negatively or positively, and never really have it reflect upon yourself. In Darkon you yourself must still be able to accomplish what you intend to do (admittedly the magic involved requires imagination, but I play Darkon to fight and to watch the politics unfold) and not only are you physically attempting to do something, you have the possibility of several hundred people watching you as you do it.
In both sets of recreation you are playing at being someone you are not but in one you are sitting at a computer being shown what you look like, how things look around you, and what others are doing, in the other you have to learn how to work leather, pound cold steel into plate armor, how to move in a melee without being snuck upon from behind, how to take a hit.
In the end, think about what you actually do for play and look at this article again. Take up that dice again and get more social, look at the character that you play on the net and how much time you spend on the net, then go pick up a sword and shield and beat the crap out of someone for a tenth of that time and see how much better you'll feel about yourself.

Iskander of Mordom

Sorry -- I should have made my point more clearly. I was actually applauding the heights of geekdom to which the participants of Darkon have risen, not treating it with disdain.

You folks -- and other LARPers -- have a level of commitment
to the craft of it that I've seen in other areas I actually have been involved in -- most notably in the theater, which is what LARP essentially is. It's Cowboys and Indians with a costume budget, and that ain't a bad thing at all. My point was that I wouldn't have the kind of passion or commitment for it.

I just watched this movie based on Hendrix's review. This closest I ever get to fantasy or SF is when I watch "Battlestar Galactica," and the movie really made me respect the imagination of these guys. Also, the filmmakers did a good job of making you buy into Darkon's internal logic. Great doc.