Littered with inaccuracies, painfully superficial, or boring. Those are the words you could use with relation to nearly all video productions about competitive gaming. Mike Pasley's Frag does not go down the same path.

Frag is more a narrative than an explanation of what esports is. If you hope to see something like “here's CPL, here's WCG, here's ESL and here's the list of the games played,” then you don't want to watch the documentary. Of course, the basic history and outline of professional gaming is there, but it is marginal.

The film tells a story (Pasley's background is in storytelling) of the struggle of gamers to become professionals. The characters in the film are Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel, Rafik “LoSt_CaUzE” Bryant and Daniel “Sephi” Serna.

Instead of narrowing the focus of the film, this makes frag very broad and universal. Those players are archetypal figures. Their stories are much like the stories of any gamer that made it or any aspiring player in any country, in any game and any genre. Focusing on particular characters allowed Pasley to explain esports in a broad way while avoiding vagueness and boredom.

Frag gives the viewer an inside look at what it is like to be a pro gamer. It explains how difficult it is for youngsters around the world to fulfill the dream of becoming a great champion. It is not only a struggle against your rivals in the game, but also a struggle against parents that do not understand gaming, the society, and sometimes the business of esports as well.

The gaming world as it is showed in Frag is one ruled by money, ruthless businessmen and sponsors, where players very often get the short end of the stick. This part of the “evil” in gaming is personified by Angel Munoz, the president of the CPL. He is also a paradigm - for all organisations that are not fair to the gamer.

Through interviews with the members of the community, Frag portrays Munoz as a cold and untrustworthy businessman who got wealthy thanks to the CPL. It is ironic how a documentary crew that started out doing a film that was supposed to glorify the CPL ended up showing it as an evil empire.

While the true face (depending on the perspective, of course) of the CPL is shown, gamers themselves are also portrayed without being coated in sugar. They release the pressure of a tough tournament weekend by drinking, smoking, partying, sometimes by running around a hotel in a penis helmet or by frying their laptops with their own urine.

Is it done in a sensationalist manner? I do not think so. Partying and drugs have a marginal presence in the film. Mentioning them may do gaming no favours, but it is just how it is. Does it harm gaming? Did “Green Street Hooligans” harm football? Could someone get the wrong idea? Perhaps, but the people that saw it in Dallas did not.

I personally think that the film was accurate. From me it gets 9/10 for accuracy, but what else am I supposed to say if I am in the movie and talk about the things that appear on the screen? Should I disagree with myself? Fatal1ty said that Frag is fairly accurate but leaves to the imagination of the viewer.

I think the film was done in an innovative and interesting manner. It is not your typical documentary about the procreation of monkeys or a dead poet. It is entertaining all the way through and very funny at parts.

It amuses while still managing to capture and explain this extremely complex world. It was the first time that I saw esports on a screen and said: “Hey, this is what I do.”

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You can watch the SK Gaming interview with the film's director Mike Pasley right here.