Nordic Larp

Author: Erin Marsh

  • Accessibility in Online Larp

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    Accessibility in Online Larp

    By

    Erin Marsh

    With the pandemic preventing us from larping in the flesh, more and more designers have been running games online. These experiences are not only highly immersive and engaging, but also have the tremendous potential to make games accessible for a wider variety of players who may be excluded from mainstream, face-to-face larps.

    For example, the larp TANKERS by Sarah Cook is designed to be played while blindfolded and lying down – much easier for someone with chronic fatigue or migraines to engage with than an in-person game. Similarly, Plug In by Stephen Duxbury – as reimagined by Wrenna Robson and Nat Saunders – is played in real time completely via text, making it ideal for those of us who struggle with speech.

    As the Bobbit Worm team, we’ve designed and run three online larps so far (The Nautical Trench, T67 Survival Night, and UPLOAD) and are working on a fourth. When we started running immersive games and larps online, it became clear that new and exciting accessibility challenges were emerging, despite the benefits of this medium. Although you won’t have to deal with a venue made entirely out of stairs, you may be adding a typing element that’s a nightmare for dyslexic participants.

    In this article, we want to outline some of the methods we have included in our games to help make them more accessible.

    Hazel and Erin sharing post-game icecreams (photo, Hazel Dixon)
    Hazel and Erin sharing post-game icecreams (photo, Hazel Dixon)

    Pre-Game

    When running a game online, it’s still important to treat the physical and emotional wellbeing of your players with care. You should take responsibility for this the same way as you would for a game in a physical space – ask players about their disabilities, triggers, and what accommodations would help them to access your game, and make sure to keep that information somewhere secure but easily accessed. We find this blog post on Access: Larp on how to ask and how to tell to be quite useful.

    However, using online platforms adds a layer of complexity. Make sure to clearly inform your players of how to use the technology you’ve chosen. It’s a great idea to include optional software testing beforehand, for anyone who is unsure or worried about using the tech involved in the game. Whilst playing the game, always have a way for players to contact you on a different platform – such as by email or over the phone – so that if they have technical issues they can still contact you to let you know.

    If the game involves documents or files, these should be accessible in multiple formats should a player require them. For example, make sure to prepare transcripts of audio/video files, provide image descriptions, and remember that screenshots and some ways of formatting text files aren’t accessible to everyone.

    Text-based considerations

    When you’re including text-based elements in your game – whether that’s doing the game entirely via text or allowing players to message each other during your game – bear in mind that players may have problems processing text quickly, typing quickly or typing accurately.

    We’ve found that a lot of people are anxious about taking part in games with typing elements, because they perceive themselves as having bad typing, or have disabilities such as chronic hand pain that make it difficult for them to type quickly. We mention in our code of conduct that no one should comment on or shame other players for incorrect grammar/spelling or slow response times.

    In addition, if you are letting players upload videos or gifs, remind them to avoid uploading images that flash more than once per second, as these can trigger migraines or epileptic seizures.

    Video-based considerations

    Video calls, while a great substitute for being in a physical space together, can present their own specific accessibility challenges. For example, deaf people and autistic folks with auditory processing issues may find it difficult to participate if they can’t lip read or see the facial expressions of others; so making sure players have their video switched on and the camera facing them can help them to access video communications.

    It’s important to keep in mind a few simple ways to keep video calls a welcoming space for everyone: background noise and feedback can be reduced by wearing headphones or using push to talk; hand gestures and other forms of body language can be made more visible with careful camera framing; players can avoid talking over each other by staying conscious of whether anyone is trying to speak. All of these can mitigate common issues if you bear them in mind, although it’s likely that you won’t be able to keep on top of them all the time. In general, aim for pairing a visual or auditory cue with something else. The word cut can be used in conjunction with crossing your arms across your chest, for example. Leave the option open for players to message each other if they need to communicate and calibrate or to post messages in an open channel.

    In a lot of physically co-located games, we end up with natural breaks in action that allow us to collect ourselves and be alone to a certain extent. When it comes to online games, there is more of a feeling of being “always on” that can be overwhelming for some. You can help with this by managing the spaces in your platform. We try to ensure that we have enough separate rooms so people can split off into groups of 2–4 if they need to. As well as this, you can utilise an off game channel to allow players to take a break in a quieter space, and by making sure to stress that anyone is free to leave the space at any time for any reason.

    Another consideration is that some video conferencing software, such as Google Meet, will allow you to have automatic live captioning which you may find helpful for people with auditory processing problems. Zoom has now added closed captioning which you can integrate with third-party captioning software and you can find out more about this process on the Zoom Help Centre.

    Conclusion

    Different games will have different requirements, and it’s important to both consider what you’re trying to do with your game and to work with the players to provide them with the best experience you can. We still have a lot of work to do and a lot of unanswered questions, such as how to make our games easier to play on an unstable internet connection and how to replace some of the physical cues that aren’t easy to communicate over video. Even so, we want to dare you to dream big on accessibility. Immersive experiences are pretty damn cool, and we want as many people as possible to have the opportunity to experience that.

    Ludography

    Bobbit Worm Games, T67:// Survival Night (2020)
    Bobbit Worm Games, The Nautical Trench (2020)
    Bobbit Worm Games, UPLOAD (2020)
    Cook, Sarah, Tankers (2020)
    Duxbury, Stephen, reimagined by Wrenna Robson and Nat Saunders, Plug In (2020)

    Credits

    Article republished from blog post here:
    https://bobbitwormgames.wixsite.com/bobbitwormgames/post/accessibility-in-online-games
    Originally edited by Rowan Pierce. You can contact them at @NotWrittenHere on Twitter or at rpiercefreelancing@gmail.com

    Cover photo: Online activity, by Soumil Kumar on Pexels

    Editing on NordicLarp.org by: Elina Gouliou and Mo Holkar

  • Characterization in a Hurry: From Laban to Larp

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    Characterization in a Hurry: From Laban to Larp

    By

    Erin Marsh

    [This article is also available in Spanish, at: http://vivologia.es/caracterizacion-de-laban-al-larp/
    Thank you to Vivologia for translating it!]

    The Laban efforts((Schiffman, J. 2001. “THE CRAFT: Mechanics of Movement – Laban Theory can help actors suit the action to the word.” Available online: https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/craft-mechanics-movement-laban-theory-can-help-actors-suit-50428/ [accessed 16 October 2019].)) are a method of describing movement used by primarily dancers, but also actors when working on the early stages of characterisation. They are essentially eight “personalities” of movement which you can use to easily distinguish different roles from each other. Laban efforts are a particularly useful way of creating a distinct character quickly and can also be used in larping, especially if you know you’re going to be interacting with the same players multiple times under different guises, or if you’re in a group of similar non-player characters (NPCs) that you still want to appear distinct from each other.

    Dancing dervishes (photo, revac film's&photography from Pexels
    Dancing dervishes (photo, revac film’s&photography from Pexels)

    Everybody finds different techniques work for them, but this is one that I find particularly helpful in a larp setting, so maybe you will too. Also, I only know Laban from other people passing it onto me. I don’t understand it in detail, but I know enough to dabble. If what you read here interests you, it’s definitely worth doing some more research.

    The simple version of the efforts is that there are essentially different pairs of words that describe movement. And if you take one word in each pair, you end up with a combination that can be given a name to describe that style of movement. The pairs I like to work with are:

    Heavy      Light

    Sudden      Sustained

    Direct      Indirect

    Bound      Unbound

    Let’s go through each pair. When you’re building a character, it can help to choose these aspects one by one and try out that kind of movement before adding the next bit. Otherwise, the movements are quite a lot to think about at once.

    Heavy vs. Light is probably the simplest choice. Does the character seem to have their focus downwards (heavy) or upwards (light)? Do they leave an impact on the world around them (heavy) or do they barely seem to touch it (light)?

    Sudden vs. Sustained. This is sometimes also known as fast vs. slow, but it doesn’t really describe speed; all the efforts should be able to be performed at all speeds. I prefer to think of it like the character’s visual attention span. Do they perfectly complete every action before moving onto the next (sustained) or do they react instinctively and without thought (sudden)? To me, there’s a certain elegance to sustained movement and an idea of fast-paced thought with sudden movement.

    Direct vs. Indirect is the pair I find hardest. Does the character move in straight lines (direct) or curves and spirals (indirect)? Do they find distractions on the way to their goal (indirect) or do they ignore everything else but their objective until they have reached it (direct)?

    Bound vs. Unbound. Sometimes this pair is omitted, as it is kind of an optional extra called “flow,” but it’s my personal favourite pair. Flow describes the manner in which a movement is performed and, to me, this is often the aspect that makes a character come alive. A bound character will have very closed body language with a lot of tension present in their body. An unbound character is free, with an open and generally more relaxed body.

    Five women lying on the ground (Photo, Skitterphoto from Pexels)
    Five women lying on the ground (Photo, Skitterphoto from Pexels)

    Laban described eight efforts corresponding to choices made between the above pairs. The efforts each describe a movement which is characteristic of the three factors chosen. For example a heavy, direct and sudden movement is described as ‘punching’. This doesn’t mean that a character who moves with that effort will constantly hit others, but keeping the idea of the ‘punch’ in mind, is a simple way to reduce its three components down into something more instinctively performed: it is simpler to think about walking in a way that is similar to a punch than it is to walk in a way that is heavy, direct and sudden.

    If you try them out with their name in mind, you’ll see that each effort almost seems to have its own personality. At that point, you can see how giving one of the efforts to a role can be such a quick step to characterization.

    So, give it a try. Walk around as a Flicker or a Presser and see how different it feels to your normal way of moving. Try to think of the kind of character it evokes. And just have fun – larp is a hobby, not a job. I’d never recommend doing this for every single character you play, that just sounds exhausting. But if it seems to work for you, then why not try playing your next character or NPC with a Laban effort and see how it feels?

    Cover photo: Red human face monument (photo, Mike from Pexels)

    Content editing: Elina Gouliou