The meme bearing the famous "duct-taped gamer" is getting its own documentary, titled Internet Legends: Duct-Taped Gamer, with all of the persons who were directly involved having vowed to tell all. The photo surfaced back in 2003 and took the internet by storm, also prompting a myriad of questions. Prior to that, likely no one had thought it possible to play a videogame while suspended from a ceiling, which is why the photo commanded so much attention. Of course, it was quite hilarious anyone would even think to have themselves hang from tape, so that accounted for a lot of what made the duct-taped gamer one of the most popular memes in gaming history.
This all stemmed from a worldwide obsession with Counter-Strike. Back then CS 1.3 was popular and it was later followed up by CS 1.6, which introduced various enhancements to the previous version. The original installment of the game was nothing short of pervasive. But gaming has since become accepted as a viable form of employment and isn't frowned upon by parents as much; it might even become an Olympic event in the not-too-distant future. Counter-Strike was the cause of many LAN parties and the pertinent one, undoubtedly the most famous of them all, is set to be the subject of a retelling 17 years later.
A trailer for the upcoming documentary was released on YouTube by trknowles over the weekend, teasing interviews from the individuals present on that fabled day from 2003. Internet Legends: Duct-Taped Gamer will feature all of the people who were in the room at the time, including the man all of this is centered around. Drew Purvis is the person who hung from the ceiling in the photo and he will be spilling the details behind his taking over the internet during the early 2000s. The guy who did the taping will be telling his story too, as he looks to deliver insight on how they actually kept Purvis attached to the ceiling.
The trailer, shown above, is narrated by Mark Hamill (sort of - using audio from his time as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars). It doesn't give up a whole lot, but promises plenty of insight into the meme as it shows off the members of that famous LAN party in yearbook photos before Purvis introduces himself as "the guy that's duct-taped to the ceiling" and reveals there were 100 boxes of pizza from Hungry Howie's at the party. It probably wouldn't hurt to know that Hamill does not hate gaming, although he doesn't play a lot, and is possibly appreciative of his voice being used for the above trailer.
The photo in question predates the social media era but still managed to go viral, not least because of its uniqueness. It also came out during a period before broadband would complement multiplayer gaming and make friends cramping up for a gaming session unnecessary. Meanwhile, Counter-Strike has hardly waned in popularity and remains one of the leading esports titles after emerging as one of the pillars of the industry. It may be more rare for youngsters to congregate in basements and wolf down pizza while playing video games, but the documentary Internet Legends: Duct-Taped Gamer should serve as a fun reminder of this particular era in gaming, as well as an answer to the questions so many people were dying to ask back in the day.
Source: trknowles/YouTube