In the world of gaming, speedrunning is one sub-section of gaming culture that has carved its own path from a small cult following to large scale events. Speedruns date as far back as the 80’s, with the earliest examples having people recording their attempts on VHS tape and uploading these to sites like Speed Demos Archive in the early days. The fastest runs exploit the code of the game, utilizing glitches, hacking the format of the file and sequence breaking, in order to skip ahead and complete the game in record time. Discovering these secrets through online forums and chatrooms was how Narcissa Wright became a legend in the gaming world.
For a moment in time Narcissa Wright held the record for speedrunning The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Break the Game follows her journey on Twitch, and the ups and downs of a streamer whose online persona is hard to separate from their personal life.
When first introduced to Narcissa we are exactly where most of the documentary takes place; on stream in her room. The viewer count is low, and you can see the effect this has on our gamer reading every comment as if these are people in the room with her. At this moment Narcissa’s days of speed running are behind her, that is until the trailer for the new Legend of Zelda Game drops. With Breath of the Wild’s impending release Narcissa decides to embark on her speedrunning journey once again.
The film begins to explore the euphoric sensation of going viral and the crash that comes when the chat is full of people who hide behind their online persona and spread hate. Since Narcissa has come out as trans in 2015 she’s struggled with online harassment and lost thousands of followers. It’s clear that this has taken a toll on her mental health and distorted the experience of gaming. The documentary’s unflinching lens into the chronically online streamer shows how unglamorous this life is. Beyond just self-isolating, gaming is a second life to her, where the dopamine of interaction keeps Narcissa logged in even when she should log off. This obsession was at the core of Jane M. Wagner’s documentary, where the lesson is simple. There is much more life outside of the stream.
“It’s like level one… where you grew up. Green fields, grass and trees” - Narcissa Wright.
Should libraries and educators use Break the Game to discuss trans identity?
While the experience of being trans is not the focus of the story, there are very humanizing and honest moments within Break the Game that could lead to interesting discussion around trans identities. Something that I always consider when watching films is how certain stories over analyze and fixate on the minority aspect of a character (or person) instead of allowing them to tell their story without this aspect of their identity being on display. A large portion of the documentary includes a fellow Twitch streamer, D_Gurl (Alex Eastly) who connects with Narcissa online, eventually making it out the chat and visiting her IRL. The two begin a romance that is integral to the story, and quite wholesome, full of the ups and downs of any couple who meet online first.
Is this documentary appropriate for public or community screenings?
The film itself is a rollercoaster ride of emotion. Narcissa is trying to find purpose and balance throughout, and openly struggling with her mental health. At a certain point she does call a suicide hotline live on stream where the comments share little empathy for her situation. The chat is cruel and at times intentionally rage-baiting Narcissa. The film is brutally honest and the only way I could see this being discussed is if these triggering situations come with a pre-screening disclaimer (which does exist at the beginning of the film as well).
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