Esc.(ape) Online

“EVE Online million dollar battle: Twitch streams for tonight’s war” -- The Express, Jan 23rd “Fans uncover new characters hidden in code for upcoming MMORPG expansion” -- The Mirror, Jan 26th “Online community raises $119k in memory of departed Developer” -- Gamasutra / TechInvestors, Jan 22nd “12,000 gamers struggle through biggest online battle” -- Neowin, Jan 27th Familiar, aren’t you? Spied the headlines? Maybe even know one personally? - ‘Gamers’ who invest countless hours - even years - in their Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game of choice. Their online battles, resource-wars, stings, counter-stings: a fully functional economy based on industry, espionage, firepower and betrayal - virtual assets stolen, lost, traded, or destroyed. This very week saw EVE Online tout a single battle with losses totalling 560 billion in-game ISK; nearly $1m in real-world currency! This prominent hardcore are merely the tip of an online iceberg, though. Huge numbers also come from a mainstream audience pool; turning to these online fantasies for entertainment. And understandably so. MMORPGs offer the unrivalled freedoms of excitement, creativity, exploration… friendships. Community. Ever-changing, ever-evolving, adult sandpits on a spectacular scale. Why not escape online, just for a while? Away from drudgeries of routine, and ineffable current geopolitical turmoil. What may surprise, however, is that in practice these MMORPGs turn out to be far from utopian in nature. Into this sandbox we - as humans – evidently bring our flaws, faults, and demons with us. Toxicity ensues, with cyber-bullying rife. Many games exhibit targeted abuse towards non-native English speakers, and practically all demonstrate unchecked levels of misogyny. Despite indications for a balanced male:female ratio amongst online gamers, two-thirds of female players have received such harassment - forcing many to play under male avatars to avoid the vitriol. “Esc.(ape) Online” takes us inside this complicated, exciting, phenomena; where everyone projects only how they wish to be perceived. Digging below that facade, a study in humanity straddling both the real and virtual worlds. It crosses genres in its mix of real-world stakes and sci-fi drama. The pilot intends to establish the key players - our small band of independent gamers, the series’ ‘big-bad’ (one of the military forces) - and the dual-universe setting. It does so whilst also posing as an effective action-adventure standalone piece: NORTH, an insecure leader, blinded by a lingering grudge, endangers his team - overextending them in a heist which quickly goes south. Our team ultimately escape by the skin of their teeth, shepherded through by the genuine, charismatic, leadership - and flying skills - of their ‘lieutenant’ KIERAN: a natural *pilot*. With that premise now established, subsequent episodes move on to address the real heart of the project! The initial series follows this contrast in North and Kieran’s leadership styles to its logical conclusion. North fixates on a private revenge against an ex-comrade turned dictatorial ruler… to the detriment of everyone and everything around him; in-game and out. He ultimately ends up deserted, out of work, broke, with nothing but a pyrrhic online victory to show for his trouble. The audience alone really understanding the full extent of his loss. North’s dark decline as the series progresses is counterpointed by the burgeoning relationship between Kieran and North’s other Lieutenant, Kestry. Of course, that in itself has complications. A relationship based on in-game personas. Though the audience is deliberately strung along for a while, with some light misdirection in the real-world scenes, Kieran’s secret is ultimately revealed… he’s a she: Ciaran, one of those very gamers who hides her gender online for fear of harassment. This revelation sets the audience’s minds racing, of course - what about the Kestry-Kieran relationship everyone has become so invested in? Kestry’s feelings are genuine, but she has no idea about Ciaran’s identity secret. How can it resolve? It’s OK, though. North’s poor leadership lands the entire group in mortal danger almost immediately following. To save the others, facilitating their safe passage away, Kieran sacrifices his / her self - the character permanently killed off from the game. Kestry - and the audience - are devastated by the loss. Kestry goes so far as to consider tracking Kieran down offline somehow, knowing that would be a violation of trust - even if it were possible. Surprisingly, though, Kieran - or rather Ciaran - returns in a daring season finale; swooping in to save her comrades once again. Stronger as an individual in this 2.0, proud female warrior: much more akin to her real-life alter-ego in that respect. This return, and the details of North’s latest, final, folly wraps up that arc. Cumuppences are served. Kestry quits the game, no longer needing it in her life. But starts a real-world relationship with Ciaran instead. The subservient, downtrodden, team-member comes into his (actually, their) own. The team’s bully becomes the dogsbody, etc, etc.. Of course, with Esc.(ape) Online straddling the dual-world setting, nothing presented in-game is entirely as it first appears: this theme being a constant through the first series as it chronicles the fall of North. The ensemble all have hidden aspects to their characters; not least what it is that drives each from the real-world into their online fantasy - secrets they try to hide, at times even from themselves. More time is spent in the real-world, and the character’s offline interactions, as the series unfolds. Doing so permits these layers of character, their contradictions and conflicts, to come to the fore. One such notable journey is the corruption of a young cadet in the ‘evil’ online Federate Union. In the real world, a staunch, almost radical, Progressive activist and vegan. Her rise in the FU, and gradual corruption, eventually sets her up as the very human face of the ‘bad guys’ for series two. And just as well, because in the closing moments, the final disclosure, it’s revealed that North’s arch-enemy - the dictatorial leader of the Federate Union - is, in real-life, actually a well-balanced, charitable family man: blowing off some cerebral steam in what is, from his perspective, just a game. The supposed feud which has consumed – and ultimately devastated - North so completely? No more than a misreading on his part… of a long-forgotten event.