Story Behind the "Duct-Taped Gamer" Is Coming to Life in New Documentary

It’s a Friday evening in 2003, your middle school friends have just overtaken your parents’ basement for a Counter-Strike LAN party. Pizzas have been ordered, 2L sodas have been purchased, and your Wi-Fi router is pumping out a measly 980kbps download speed. This story rings true for many in our generation, but for Drew Purvis, it was slightly different. Instead of taking to a normative chair, Purvis decided to duck tape himself to a duct of a darkly-lit room, ergonomically hanging as he shot up Ts and CTs while crushing slices of Hungry Howie’s pepperoni pizza. Captured by his friend and LAN-goer Brian Schaeffer, Purvis has since become one of the gaming community’s most legendary memes.

While Kotaku dived into the photo’s story back in 2017, unearthing Purvis’ identity and sharing a bit about the photo’s inception, it seems some of the story is still left to be told. As the rather outlandish trailer above shares, the story of the viral “Duct-Taped Gamer” is worth an entire documentary. Hilariously paired alongside Star Wars monologues and soundtracks, the trailer promises to unveil “the true story behind one of the internet’s most famous photos.”

Created by the same group of super nerds that took the iconic photo, Internet Legends: Duct-Taped Gamer “takes back to a moment in time – March 29, 2003, in a basement in Mason, Michigan.” Within the documentary, audiences will be introduced to “the friends involved in this prank and learn more about the photo’s history and mystery.” Currently, no official release date has been revealed for the film, but expect it to arrive sooner rather than later.

For more gaming news, Rockstar Games is teasing a new title.