If you have time to ask this question, you're doing it wrong

You're making me want one.

I definitely have considered the very same thing when I watched the film, but as Scott Johnson himself said (and I agree completely), the documentary subject wasn't "gamers", but "gamers who are so obsessed with the game that it takes over their lives". While some segments on the things you mentioned might have shown balance, I don't think that the directors were going for a full-on documentary of MMORPG players.

And, in some ways, I think they did give a glimpse of balance - many of the couples they did short segments with talked about balance.

But, I get what you're saying, and I understand your disappointment... I just think for what they were actually going for, they did a great job.

I'd been hearing about it for ages from podcasters like Starman and Renata of Worldofwarcast.com (they had a very brief cameo in the film), so was pretty excited to see it on Hulu.

But got to say I came away disappointed.

I thought it spent way too much time focusing on the obvious negative stereotypes -- the addicted gamer ruining his life and then picking up the pieces, the couple trying to transition from online romance to real life intimacy, the roommates struggling to move from their gaming-focused "frat" life to marriages and families.

Yes, I know people like that from WoW. But I would have been so much more interested in more of the positive stories the show only touched on briefly or ignored altogether like:

- The handicapped player who found new freedom and new friends online.
- The couples that met online and then thrived together.
- The positive sides of the larger community. We always talk about gold farmers -- what about addon developers (inc those that jump from personal hobby to paying career)? what about the blogging and podcasting community? I think someone like Scott Johnson would have been a great interview -- he's a good example of someone who enjoys the game, helped build one of the largest guilds around, but still balances a family and a lot of other interests.
- The hundreds of thousands of regular people that have fun, stay in touch with friends, and don't let games consume their lives. I know that's a lot less dramatic, but I think getting a glimpse of the incredible variety of people playing could really be interesting. What about older players? What about little kids? Best friends that live far away? What about professionals you wouldn't expect?

Overall, it was a decent documentary and worth watching. But I was hoping they'd stretch their imagination further than they did.

I'd say webmail popularity -- and by webmail I mostly mean Gmail these days -- relates to:

1. Zero cost. Good enough features. Winning combination for a lot of people.
2. Ubiquitous access. Easy to get to from anywhere and no worries about how to sync mail, contacts, calendars, etc. between multiple mail clients or equipment platforms.
3. Zero setup. Not intimidating for non-technical users to get started with. Corporate customers see similar advantages to not have to manage their own mail servers.
4. Essentially unlimited storage (well, close enough not to matter). For corporate customers who are have mail quotas, a 2nd Gmail acct with lots of space is very handy.

I work for a government organization and we're looking at Gmail as a potential replacement for our Notes email system. Companies can get Gmail as part of a larger Google Apps suite for about $50 a seat (educational institutions can get the same thing for free). Have talked to a lot of organizations that are making that jump. The biggest issues don't seem to be features, but security. I really like our Notes systems -- rock solid reliable, powerful mail client tools, handles synchronization of data really well and very secure -- but huge numbers of our employees are already using Gmail as their primary home acct and would love to see us jump over at work too.

I agree with your point that a desktop mail client is generally going to be more full-featured and faster than anything running on the web, but also think that you need a bit more technical knowledge to take advantage of that. The general trend seems to be towards cheap, web based solutions that require essentially zero setup or technical knowledge. For me it's just like the fact that I build my own PCs and know I can always put together a better, more easily upgradeable desktop than what's available from most big computer vendors. But most people don't - they'd rather go with a simpler solution that just works out of the box -- even if that means compromising some functionality.