Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in these texts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nordiclarp.org or any larp community at large.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nordiclarp.org or any larp community at large.
I’ve got a pretty lousy memory, but I remember a lot of firsts in my life.
I remember the first time I got a solo in a choir performance. I was so excited, I could hardly stand it. I remember going in to get fitted for my costume and the seamstress frowning. “She can’t be up front,” she said, “what’s that going to look like? Put her in the back row.” I didn’t realize then she meant because I was fatter than the other girls. I didn’t figure that out until a bully in my class made it abundantly, loudly clear at recess the very next day.
I remember trying out for the role of Ms. Hannigan in Annie. I told the drama teacher I wanted to be on Broadway when I got older. “You’ll need to lose weight for that,” she said, “being heavy doesn’t work on Broadway.” I didn’t learn until later she, herself overweight, had tried to be on Broadway once. Learned from experience, I guess.
I remember the first time I got up the nerve to ask a guy out in college. It was at a sorority party at a bar. He was a little drunk. We’d been hanging out for weeks. I’d been over his house, we’d talked video games, I thought he was wonderful. When I asked him, out in the rain, I’ll never forget what he said. “Sorry. But you know how some people don’t like some kinds of porn? I don’t like fat people porn.” I never spoke to him again.
I remember. I might not remember what I ate for lunch two days ago or where I left my bag some days, but I remember every damn comment. Every doctor who never took me seriously and told me I just needed to lose weight. I remember every comment, every time I got laughed at in the street. Stories like those are memories worn into my mind. I won’t forget them any time soon.
But there are good memories too.
I’m going to tell a story here about a poignant fat-related story. And then I’ll get to my point. I was at an event where a number of small larps were being showcased. I signed up for one game because it abstracted emotions and events using music, which I thought was cool. Little did I know until too late that the game was about relationships, people falling in and out of love. I panicked. I was afraid of seeing the disgust in someone’s eyes knowing they’d have to date a fat girl in character. I was so cautious and scared it almost made me leave the game. But I stuck it out. And in that game, a guy I didn’t know at all played my love interest with such care it made me glow. When he stood up and asked me to slow dance, I nearly burst into tears. It was all I was able to do not to step on his toes. I’d never slow danced with a man before. I’d never had the chance.
Larps have given me experiences that escaped me in my life because of a lot of social anxiety due to weight. I experienced what it was like to be a woman in a position of power, confident and powerful, when before I would hide. I got a chance to be on the arm of the most handsome men and women at a game. I’ve had the chance to play out love stories, stories of triumph. To lead battles and armies. To learn to be confident in my own skin.
Teaching at New World Magischola (photo, Learn Larp LLC)
To play a badass teacher at Wizard School (Photo: New World Magischola)
I’ve also had a guy at a convention game look at me and then go to a game organizer and say he needed to trade characters because “I would never date THAT.” He was meant to play my husband.
I’ve had a guy meant to be an enemy of mine in a game say, “I’d feel bad beating you up, I can run rings around your fat ass.”
I had a woman tell me I wasn’t allowed to play a sidhe in a Changeling: the Dreaming larp because “there aren’t any fat sidhe.” (Joke’s on her who helped put THAT change in the 20th-anniversary edition, but hey…)
I remember a lot of stories about what it’s like to be fat in this world. And to be fat in the larp world too. And I have only one thing to say about it after all these years:
I’m not too fat for your larp.
Shoshana Kessock (photo, Dystopia Rising: New Jersey)
Because screw you, I’m a goddamn badass. You heard me. Larp is a fantastic place, a blank canvas upon which to build whole new worlds, worlds where you decide the structures, the rules, the norms. And as the designers, writers, organizers, and producers of games, it is in your power to challenge the status quo of how fat people are treated in your games. You have the power to make the decisions about how people are treated in your community and in play based on the atmosphere you cultivate and the games you design. So why do so many games still have atmospheres where people who are fat are mistreated? Where being fat marginalizes the positions you’re allowed to have? Or the fun you’re allowed to enjoy?
The simple matter is being fatphobic and hurtful against fat people is the last socially accepted bigotry enacted by almost every single group anywhere. Otherwise progressive communities and marginalized populations will still turn inward on fat members and harass, shame, ostracize, or minimize them when they would never consider letting that treatment go unchallenged to their own group. We as a society celebrate striving for tolerance in much of our media, giving us feel-good messages about love and kindness and acceptance with one hand, and making awful fat jokes with the other. And this same process happens everywhere, in every subculture group. Including larp.
Shoshana Kessock (photo, Shoshana Kessock)
Don’t be that person. Just don’t.
The problem is universal and yet hits different groups disproportionately. For example, it’s no secret that fatphobia affects women disproportionately more than men (although mistreatment of fat men is absolutely a thing). Women are put under the lens, pulled apart by people of every gender for the way they look, and their fat pointed out at every turn. Yet in a medium where we create our worlds, why is this still the case? Because we bring our bigotries with us. And in a real world where we can’t imagine not picking everyone apart for that stray pound, why the hell would you not do it in your games?
Because it’s not right. And by continuing to do so, you’re creating hostile larp environments. Even if your game purports to be progressive, if you don’t consider fat bigotry in your events and designs, you’re not making progressive environments that are equal for all. You’ve failed in your inclusivity.
Here’s a handy dandy list of how you might mess up at including size discrimination in your larp. We’ll call it the “If You ________ Then Your Game Might Be Fatphobic.”
If you don’t have any fat people playing characters of social status or power.
If you don’t cast fat players in romantic roles.
If you design costume requirements for games which won’t allow fat people to participate comfortably (such as providing costumes for the event and make the sizes inaccessible to fat people).
If you use fatphobic language in your game descriptions of characters (associating fat with evil, slovenly, lazy, disgusting, etc.)
If you encourage social stratification based on appearance in your games.
If you do not use people of all sizes in your larp promotion, instead relying on people who represent only the status quo in your advertisements and documentation.
If you make being fat an accommodation one must ask for when participating rather than considering people of all sizes from the beginning.
If you allow fatphobic comments or mistreatment to continue on in your game, either from other players or from your staff. (Bonus points on this one if you accept “being fat is unhealthy” as an excuse).
If you adjust the power dynamic of a character being played by a fat player once they’ve been cast because they’re fat.
If you accept bullying in character based on someone being fat and accept that as just the status quo (bonus points if you make a whole game about this, or try to subvert it and fail miserably, such as in the jeepform game Fat Man Down, which attempted to showcase the problems of fatphobia and instead only highlighted and nigh glorified them in their mechanics of the game).
Okay. So here we are at the end of this rather scathing list. And you might be asking: so what do I do to make sure my game isn’t fatphobic? Well, take a look at that handy dandy list and don’t do those things. Work hard to make sure people who are plus size, people who are fat, are in positions of power. Fight back against fatphobic jokes. Make sure you recognize the power dynamics being played out against fat players and their characters and help adjust the narrative so they are not pushed out by those who equate fat with things like laziness, slovenliness, lack of power, etc. Do the work to represent the life of fat people accurately and do not focus your games on the life of fat people and their challenges unless you know just what you’re doing.
As for me, I know that the world isn’t going to change overnight. I’m aware that there are plenty of places which will never shift the way they think about fat bodies (the clothing industry, for example…) But I solidly believe with a little conscious work we can make larp spaces more accessible and friendly towards body types of all kinds. By making sure people of all sizes feel comfortable coming to your game, you’ll enrich your game by bringing new experiences and new voices into your space. And you’ll prove that you recognize that fat people need not and should not be erased from your stories.
Embrace a new way of thinking. Or join in fatphobia as a phenomenon. There is no middle ground. And if you’re about bringing fatphobia into your games, just tell me so. Because then you get from me what amounts to a rude gesture and language and certainly no attendance at your game. Because I don’t have time for you or your fatphobia. The larp world has plenty of spaces that aren’t you.
Cover photo: Shoshana Kessock (photo, Dystopia Rising: New Jersey).
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nordiclarp.org or any larp community at large.
If someone is unable to breathe, that is an emergency. After three minutes without air, there is risk of brain damage. After somewhere between six to eight minutes without air, the person will typically die if breathing is not restored.
That is why, when someone seems to be choking or having difficulties breathing at a larp, you should always assume the situation is real and go to their immediate aid. You have to act fast. With just three minutes to potential brain damage, there is no time to wait and figure out if the player is just acting or if it is the “real deal.” On top of that, someone having difficulties breathing cannot shout “Hold,” “Cut,” or anything else to show that it is a real emergency. Often, due to panic, the person who cannot breathe can’t use any non-verbal signals either.
Therefore, you should never, ever design larp mechanics that require participants to role-play that their characters have breathing difficulties or are, indeed, choking. In particular, you should never design plagues, poisons and other maladies which would affect a lot of characters and thus create spontaneous choking scenes.((A larp blog isn’t the best place to give medical advice, but there are lot of great first aid videos on the subject, made by professionals, which you could easily check out. For example, this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccr4lKZjHks))
When players expect to see other players role-playing characters with breathing difficulties, there is great risk that someone will mistake a real emergency for an in-character role-play, and not act on it. Especially, if everyone is pretending to wheeze and have a hard time inhaling. Having some sort of a non-verbal signal to show that you are okay can be good, but it actually only helps if you are okay. If no one rushes over to you in a real emergency because they assume you are role-playing, an okay-signal isn’t any help. As time is of the essence in such emergencies, even a delayed reaction can have serious consequences.
Role-playing heart attacks or strokes poses the same risks as role-playing breathing problems, as they, too, are time critical life-threatening emergencies. For that reason, I advise people to avoid role-playing them as well.
Of course, we can design larps in which characters get poisoned or fall ill. I just recommend that the designers choose symptoms that do not look exactly like a real emergency that must be resolved within minutes. For example, you can use vomiting, skin lesions, screaming in pain, writhing on the floor, bleeding from the eyes, numbness spreading in the body, or anything else you can come up with as long as it isn’t easily mistaken for a very common, time-critical emergency.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nordiclarp.org or any larp community at large.
This article presents a Series of Truths about harassment, missing stairs, and community safety that exist in larp communities around the world. Following each statement and explanation is a “Take Action” section, which provides a pledge of encouraged behavior that larpers can make to help stop harassment, abuse, and tolerating missing stairs in their communities.
To begin, let’s start with the definitions of the three concepts under discussion: harassment, missing stairs (aka broken stairs), and community safety.
Harassment: systematic and/or continued unwanted and annoying actions of one party or a group, including threats and demands based on racial prejudice, sexual objectification, advances or obscene remarks, or personal malice as an attempt to force someone to do something, to grant sexual favors, gain power, or cause someone to feel fearful or anxious. May be done in person, online, via text or email, or by proxy (by others).
In the case of larp or role-play, off-game feelings may bleed into the game, and a player may use their character, the game’s mechanics, or their friendship with the organizer or plot team to further off-game harassment in in-game situations. Example: player A is interested in player B off-game, and chooses to have player A’s character stalk, corner, and make rude advances to player B’s character during the game without player B’s consent or despite player B’s wishes.
Missing Stair (Broken Stair): A term coined in 2012 by Cliff Pervocracy that is used to describe a sexual predator who many people know cannot be trusted, but rather than shunning, they respond by trying to quietly warn others. Communities respond to a “missing stair” by worry, warning, watching, and working around, rather than taking action to “fix the stair” by removing the person from the community or scene. The term can also be used to talk about harassment and abuse in addition to predator behavior.
In the case of larp communities, a missing stair could be someone who uses their in-game or off-game power or social capital to coerce other players, especially new ones, to provide sexual favors in exchange for in- or off-game gain (similar to the concept of the Hollywood Casting Couch, whereby someone obtains a better role, plot, or esteem if they agree to give sexual favors to a person in charge). It may also be those players who troll for “new blood” on the scene, and experienced members of the scene attempt to warn those new players about the person(s) who see them as a conquest. The missing stair problem compounds as the larp scene internationalizes, is that missing stairs can move from one community to another, where no one in the new community is aware of their predatory, harassing, or abusive behavior, until someone gets hurt.
Community Safety: An umbrella term that means not only the physical safety of participants, but especially the sense of trust in fellow members of the community to behave responsibly, ethically, and consensually toward other community members. Community Safety is designed and created through community norms, conduct policies, workshops, mentoring systems, and other strategies to welcome participants, help them understand what behaviors are prohibited, tolerated, and encouraged in the community, and to regulate participant behavior when the norms or expected behaviors are breached. Community Safety is an ongoing and dynamic process among community members, organizers, and outsiders.
An example from a larp community is the creation of a Code of Conduct which explicitly bans harassment, abuse and predatory behavior, and requires mutual consent between two adults before a player-to-player interaction can occur. A player sexually assaults another player, and then is defensive when confronted about it, claiming the victim is exaggerating, or that it was an in-character interaction that wasn’t intended to be to the player. Unapologetic and unrepentant, the player is removed from the game for violating the community norms against sexual assault, obtaining consent, and learning from one’s mistakes. This action is taken to keep the community of trust for all participants and to remove the person who violates the social contract for play established in the community.
With those background definitions and examples established, here are the 19 Inconvenient and Uncomfortable Truths about Harassment, Missing Stairs, and Community Safety in our larp communities.
1. Off-game Norms Seep into Our Games
Many people don’t want to think about this radical truth. People want to believe that games are fictional realms that exist separately from the cultures that exists in society. However, games are products of culture, and are played by people who bring their beliefs and norms into them. Unless we very consciously and actively design our games and our communities against these norms, they will be a significant part of our games and communities. Even with design and community norming, the effects of outside cultural norms are still felt. In international larps, we also have people from significantly different cultures meeting and playing together in intimate spaces. We must consider these inevitabilities in our design and do more than merely accept them. Games and gaming communities need to establish their own norms, and communicate, model, and enforce them.
Take action: I pledge to be aware of how off-game norms affect my design and play, and to actively steer against off-game norms that replicate oppression.
2. Harassment Is a Problem in Geek Culture. Harassment Is a Problem in Larp Communities
We may not like to admit it, especially if we were bullied or harassed for being geeks or nerds, but inside geek culture there exists ongoing harassment. We often excuse harassing behavior as being socially awkward, and we have empathy for those who appear to simply not know how to behave toward others, particularly those they may feel attracted to. Sometimes it is a case of education. Other times the disbelief and shock and saying they are unaware is part of a strategy to continue doing harm.
In addition, people are vulnerable at larps. Strong emotions, close proximity, the presence of alcohol, and the potential lack of authoritative oversight are factors that can increase harassment.
Take Action: I pledge to not harass others, to report harassment whenever I see it, and to stand up for those who have been harassed.
3. We Live in a Culture of Toxic Masculinity, Toxic Masculinity and Female Socialization Makes This More Difficult
Men are typically socialized in ways that make it difficult for them to understand that their own behavior may be problematic to others. Toxic masculinity requires that they defend themselves and not appear weak. It may also make it more difficult for them to speak up on behalf of women or victims of abusers, because of fear of losing credibility with their peers, who are also performing masculinity. Many men are taught that displays of dominance, aggression, and overt sexuality are appropriate displays of their virility, maleness, and desirability.
Asking men to examine or change those behaviors can be difficult and painful, particularly since doing so may play directly into a toxic narrative that they are no longer displaying strong, heroic, autonomous male-defined behavior. For many of us who are not prisoners of toxic masculinity, the call to speak up or to adjust behavior seems simple, but we need to recognize that these decisions are fraught within the performance of masculinity and that making these changes requires courage and comes at a cost. Until the masculine code itself is changed or thrown off, applauding the efforts of men who make changes and speak up will help them gain credibility that they may lose among male peers as well as encourage them to support calls to change behavior.
Women are also often socialized not to show sexual desire, or are slutshamed if they do. Therefore, they may be taught to say no, which encourages men to read no’s as yes’s. At the same time, a woman is also typically conditioned not to say no outright, because of pressure to let men down easy or not reject them harshly. This confusing language sends mixed signals and contributes to miscommunication as well as harassment and assault. Clear communication about consent helps break down this system, but that must be taught, modeled, expected, and enforced in communities.
I pledge to be aware of how men and women are socialized, and how these performances of gender can contribute to harassment and abuse. I pledge to resist toxic culture whenever I can.
4. Organizers Are Sometimes Complicit in the Harassment, Either Overtly or Covertly
Some organizers simply do not have the time nor the training to deal with the issues of harassment complaints. Many do not want to get in the middle of player disputes, and many feel both overwhelmed and ineffectual in dealing with the situations. Rather than getting embroiled in “drama” or trying to arbitrate a “he said/she said” dispute, many organizers simply fall back on involving the law as the only option. If a player feels they were wronged, then they are told to go to the police for recourse. However, going to the police can be incredibly difficult to do and may reinforce the trauma and contribute to victim blaming. Not only is going to the police the wrong option for many, it also is a convenient abdication for the organizers.
Larps are private functions and the organizers of those functions have not only the right but the duty to “police” their own function by setting the norms and expecting their guests to follow them. Many behaviors that are wrong, uncomfortable, and harassing may not rise to the level of criminal harassment, nor should an organizer attempt to make the hard choice of going through a formal criminal complaint for someone else. Furthermore, we only contribute to an overly legalistic and litigious society if the only recourse is to involve the police.
Take Action: As an organizer, I pledge my commitment against harassment and abuse in my communities, to learn how to deal with it effectively, and to actively implement policies to prevent it and address it.
Take Action:As a player, I will hold larp organizers responsible for dealing with issues of harassment and abuse in their communities.
5. The Composition of an Organizer Team Matters
Who is on the organizer team of your larp always matters, but the team composition has particular relevance in matters of community safety. If an organizer is known to have crossed boundaries before, used their position of power to gain sexual attention or favors, or harbored or turned a blind eye when players or friends have displayed abusive or harassing behaviors, then a member of your community will not feel able to come forward to the organizers on these matters. If your organizing team is composed entirely of men, people of all genders may not feel comfortable reporting abuse and assault. This sad fact isn’t a personal impression of specific men, but relates to social norms, gender performance, and toxic masculinity.
At the same time, women should not be responsible for handling all “emotional” or “safety” issues that arise. The responsibility for safety should be shared among all organizers and community members. We should not delegate safety to one person, least of all a woman who can then be “thrown under the bus” for speaking out about safety while the men gather and state that “those women” have to be placated, so simply do this for now, and then let’s continue as before. Ideally, an organizer team and/or safety committee will have a cross-section of different genders, sexualities, races, religions, classes, etc. Special attention should be paid to how these intersectionalities affect both the incidences of reporting and the responses.
Take Action:As an organizer, I pledge to be sensitive to the composition of the organizer team, and to strive for diversity among the leaders of the larp community. I pledge to hold other members of the organizer team accountable for their behavior. I pledge not to collaborate with organizers who use their power to harass or abuse others, or who continue to tolerate abusers and harassers in their communities.
Take Action:As a player, I pledge to hold organizer teams accountable for a lack of diversity and for a lack of designated safety policies, mechanics, and committees.
6. Some Games Lead Themselves to Harassment More Easily, by Design
Games with mechanics like seduction, presence, or power can incentivize harassing behaviors that may cross the line from consent by the character to unwanted advances by the player. Games without Codes of Conduct, safety mechanics, or that have a culture of hard core (in which speaking up about feelings, harassment, or individual needs can be frowned upon) can also be more accessible to predatory or harassing behavior. Furthermore, larps that allow alcohol during the event or after-party have increased risks. Manystudies have shown a correlation between the presence of alcohol and increased sexual harassment and assault for both psychological and pharmacological reasons. Organizers or players in games like these should be aware of the greater risk and consider taking steps to mitigate it.
Take Action:I pledge to be more aware and considerate of how a game’s design may encourage harassment and abuse and to steer away from those behaviors even if they are incentivized in the game.
The alibi of roleplay separates a player from a character, and sets up a social contract whereby two or more characters may interact consensually through acting or roleplay. It is understood that the feelings, behaviors, vocal accent, affectations, etc. are not “real” but are being portrayed as character performance. Predators, however, see alibi as a legitimized way to push and breech boundaries, being able to claim afterward that it was simply in the course of roleplay. Whether roleplaying or not, if a person does something repeatedly and nonconsensually that makes another person uncomfortable or in danger, that is harassment or assault. When someone approached about their behavior uses the alibi of roleplay as an alibi for their behavior, it is cause for concern. People who are not trying to harm others tend to be reflective, upset, and apologetic if they are confronted about having done something that another person disliked enough to report. These same traits are seldom demonstrated by those who either have intentional motives, or who realize they have been caught. These people tend to deflect, defend, re-accuse the victim, split hairs, display shock and outrage at having been suspected, and to fall back on the alibi of roleplay: “that wasn’t me, that was my character.”
Take Action:I pledge not to use my character to cause another player to feel off-game uncomfortable.
8. False Reports Are Very Very Rare
Severalstudies of false accusations to reporting agencies have shown the percentage of false accusations to be 7% or less. Think about that for a moment: 93% or more of accusations are in fact founded. Not only does the law require giving the benefit of the doubt to the accuser in each case, but the evidence backs up the fact that the vast majority of people do not make false allegations.
A fear of false allegations is perpetuated by those who want to keep decision makers so worried about making the mistake of sanctioning an innocent person that they take no action at all when facts may be disputed. In addition, the rhetoric behind false accusations is a classic blame-shifting technique, to garner empathy for the accused and to distract the focus of an investigation or conversation. Furthermore, the accused may also attempt to create solidarity with a false “what if” scenario? It goes like this: “Hey, you’re a person who is like me. You’re (tall, white, handsome, charismatic, a good roleplayer, etc.). This situation of a false accusation and being treated poorly by the organizers can just as easily happen to you. This community is unsafe for people like us.” Once again, this is a tactic to distract from the issue at hand: that the community is unsafe for others who have come forward with accusations, and to make the “real” or “true” victim those who have been falsely accused and have been aggrieved by the organizers’ actions to remedy it. Because the fear of false accusations can be very real, especially the more it is repeated, a predator can tend to garner some measure of support from others by using this tactic.
Take Action:I pledge to believe people who come forward with stories of being harassed or abused. I pledge to give the benefit of the doubt to the victim and to act in good faith on their report.
9. Fear of Reporting and Fear of Reprisal Are Real
It is very difficult to report harassment or assault. There is tremendous social pressure not to do so, especially in insular communities such as larp groups, or even geek culture as a whole. Many vulnerable players do not want to “rock the boat” or “cause problems.” Some blame themselves when they have been victimized. Some are afraid of being made fun of for appearing weak, or not able to handle it themselves. Many fear that they will be the target of gossip, or be ostracized by the organizers or other members of the community. In some cases, especially if the person they are accusing is someone with a great deal of social capital, they are afraid of blowback or further harassment. Studies have shown that the way people react to someone who comes forward with reports of abuse or harassment has an impact on their recovery from the trauma.
Some people with a history of harassment are also known to retaliate against those who speak up against them or those who support the person or people who came forward. That retaliation can be during the game, on social media, in off-game social interactions, or a combination. Some game organizers or storytellers have been known to actively punish people they dislike by keeping plot from them, sending negative plot after them, or adjudicating against their character, sometimes even to the point of killing a character. It is difficult to speak up. Believe and support those who do and have empathy for those who have not because they made a calculation that it was not worth the likely hits to their safety, sanity, or social circles.
Take Action: I pledge to support those who wish to report abuse or harassment, and to actively resist those who would attempt to retaliate against them.
10. Your Experience Is Not Everyone’s Experience
If your only interactions with the accused have been positive, or at least not-problematic, learning of an accusation or action taken against that person will cause you to experience cognitive dissonance. Your own experience doesn’t match up to the reports of another person’s experience. You may feel incredulous, in shock, or even betrayed. You may find it especially difficult to process or believe that:
Your opinion of the accused could be wrong or in need of revision;
The accused could be multi-faceted and display one type of behavior to one person and a different type to another;
That you could have misjudged the accused’s character, or
That you could have been, or continue to be in danger.
People tend to defend their own experience, and to want to believe any plausible explanation other than that they may be wrong. It is somehow far easier to believe that until-now reasonable organizers have suddenly become overzealous and discriminatory than to believe that they made a necessary decision based on credible information. Steadfastly holding to your own preconception and blaming the organizers or the victims relieves the cognitive dissonance but does not require reflection, examination, or trust. Accepting that you may have made an error of judgment is not only difficult, but requires further action to relieve the feeling of betrayal and hurt. It is far easier for someone to believe your personal experience than the experience of another, and far easier for you to dismiss experiences that do not negatively affect you, especially if that gives you a net positive gain from the accused or from the community.
When you hold your own experience as more “true” or “real” than those who have come forward with reports, it continues to harm those who were already harmed. By insisting that your experience is the only possible one, you discount or negate the victim’s experience, and contribute to their fears of reprisal and the exaggerations of false allegations.
Take Action:I pledge to accept that my personal experience is not universal, and to understand and accept another’s experience as true and valid, even if it contradicts my own experience.
11. There Is Some Information You Will Never Know
Much to an organizer’s dismay, the information they will have to act on will likely be imperfect. This is the same as in workplace harassment situations, which dictate that in cases of confusion, one must believe the accuser and act upon that information. Organizers should consider the reports they receive, corroborate them with other evidence from other players, from feedback surveys, from facts in the report, from their own conversation with the accused, from their own knowledge of and history with the accuser and accused, and their general experience dealing with these situations. They may consult with others for advice, and rely on policies in place, but the decision is ultimately that of the organizer(s). Unless it is a situation where an organizer witnessed something first-hand, the wish for more information will always be present, since the desire to make the right call is so strong.
Players or potential players of the larp who learn about an action taken against someone, are likely going to want more information than the organizer can or will provide. You will have a strong desire to know for sure, in order to both deal with your own cognitive dissonance but also to make a judgement about the organizers’ actions. Players must accept that they will not likely get the information they seek, due to privacy concerns for the accused, but especially due to confidentiality for those making the reports. Organizers have both a legal and a moral responsibility to maintain confidentiality, since those who made a report can become the target of ostracization or retaliation.
Take Action:I pledge to protect the privacy of those who have come forward with stories of abuse or harassment and not to engage in public speculation that may compromise the victim’s safety or well-being.
A larp organizer is not a judge or an attorney. Bringing forward a report of harassment, abuse, or assault does not mean that the accusation must be “proven” “beyond a reasonable doubt.” A larp organizer is the host of a private function, and can remove anyone at any time for any reason. In many places, a staff member of a larp is employed or volunteers at-will, meaning they may be fired or removed at the discretion of the organization, who does not have to provide a reason. Victims should not fall into the trap of feeling that since something cannot be proven without a reasonable doubt, they should not bother to come forward. Likewise, organizers should not feel that because something can never be determined with absolute certainty they should take no action at all. The existence of another possible explanation does not make the action taken by the organizers wrong. As an organizer, it is easy to become paralyzed by the fear of making a mistake, or the worry about the fallout your action will have on the community. Abusers and predators will try to call for the standard of beyond a reasonable doubt as a way to deflect the focus from themselves and create the paralyzing or contentious situations that they can exploit.
Take Action: I pledge to accept decisions that are made by organizers and not to contribute to a culture of victim blaming or inaction by demanding irrefutable proof of allegations.
13. Some People Cannot Be Reformed
We all want to believe in the human capacity for change. We all want to believe that someone who does harm would change if they could. It is much easier for us to rationalize harassing and abusive behavior to think that the person simply needed to understand or be given an opportunity to grow and do better. In addition, many of us in the gaming or larping communities were made fun of, ostracized, or bullied in our youth or in our daily lives, and we do not want to do that to another. This creates a Geek Fallacy: that to be inclusive you must include everyone, even those whose behavior is ongoing and harmful. This is patently false.
Inclusivity does not mean harming the community for the sake of including a single person, or a small group. Consider this: we would feel less shame in removing someone who punched another or who stole from the community than we would removing someone who has engaged in stalking, verbal harassment, inappropriate touching, or repeated intimidation. Some of these missing stairs have years, even two decades of reports against them. That confluence of information is important. If these behaviors have lasted this long, and continue to be reported, that is strong evidence of an unwillingness or inability to be reformed. Multiple reports about the same person over time creates a pattern of behavior that is a red flag to be addressed.
Take Action: I pledge to recognize when a person does not want to, or is not able to change their behavior, to set a hard boundary of acceptable behavior, and to take action to remove them from the group when that standard is not met.
14. The Right of the Community to Be Unharmed Outweighs the Right of One Person to Play
No one wants to ban someone. No one wants to believe that a person they have known and maybe even trusted is harmful. Everyone wants to give second and third and fourth chances. Everyone hopes that the person has finally learned their lesson. However, we can easily fall into a trap of appeasement, giving more concessions to the predator or abuser in order to keep them from doing more harm. The problem with appeasement, as nations in Europe learned leading to World War II as one example, is that the person (or nation) being appeased gains more and more power, and those appeasing lose theirs. In addition, the longer a behavior goes on, the more normalized it gets, and the harder it is to change.
Ultimately, you have to decide who is more important: the one person whom a lot of people may like, who may be a great role player, who may be an integral part of the group, or those who have been harmed by that one person in the past, along with all those who are at risk for further harm by this person’s continued presence. Removing a person is hard. Letting them stay to harm others continues to enable them, devalues others, and makes you complicit in the future harm.
Take Action:I pledge to value the safety of the community over an individual who has done harm.
15. Lip Service Is Not Enough
Saying you are going to do something is not the same as doing something. Listening to and even hearing the complaints of others is a step, but it leaves the problem in place. Policies which clearly state that this larp community will not tolerate sexual harassment are not enough if the organizers do not enforce those policies. Applying policies variably if someone has more social capital is also a form of lip service. Furthermore, it is far too easy for organizers and community members to excuse problematic behavior as merely a product of culture. Larp communities must state the behavior expected, make it known that participants are responsible for complying, and then act if those expected behaviors are ignored. The excuse that they didn’t understand the local culture needs to stop. The culture needs to be defined, communicated, expected, and regulated.
Take Action:I pledge to set the behavior standard, model and teach it to community members, to hold everyone in the community accountable for meeting the expected behaviors, and to take meaningful action when the standards are violated.
16. Missing Stairs Resist Fixing and Have Supporters
The way someone has become a missing or broken stair is by being very, very good at diverting attention from the need to have the stair fixed (e.g. have action, especially banning, taken against them). When confronted with an allegation or concern, the missing stair often responds by giving something to the community — a prop, scene, volunteer time, or duty. This is a way to distract from the concern you have brought forward, attempt to ostensibly make amends, but it does not actually address the behaviors you raised. It sets up a false equivalence whereby they make themselves even more entrenched and valued in the community, social capital they will call on should you take action regarding allegations or concerns . Missing Stairs not only choose victims, they also choose allies to defend them staunchly when accused. They tend to be polarizing figures whom people either love or hate, depending on what behavior of theirs you have encountered and what role you play in their narrative.
When you remove a broken stair, your community will suffer initially. There will be shock and outrage. There may be some defectors, who find it easier to believe that the organizers have lost their minds than that their friend is in any way culpable. People may form splinter groups, and discuss on backchannels. It is important to the Missing Stair that they appear to have been unfairly attacked, so that they may marshal their armies of defenders.
Take Action:I pledge my strength, solidarity, and support to the organizers and community when an action must be taken against a person who has harassed or abused a community member.
17. By Taking Action, You Will Become a Target
It is critical to the narrative of a missing stair that they are blameless, and the target of persecution. They will almost always state that they would have been happy to have changed their behavior if they had only known. They may try to state that they were never informed of wrongdoing, knowing that the organizers will not be able to give proof as they are protecting the privacy of those who came forward. They will complain that the decisionmakers were too harsh, they will state that the community is actually not safe for cis/het/white/males or some combination. They may call you a feminazi. They may tell others not to go to your games because you are aggressive and overzealous in your harassment policy. They will cite their own awesomeness as proof of your persecution. They will position you as hurting the community and position themselves as defenders of it. They will seek attention for the pain you have caused them. They may make accusations about you personally, or claim that you harassed them with your decision. They may make a public spectacle on social media. They may cost you players, money, and mental health. It is their goal to make this so difficult that you will wish you hadn’t taken the decision and that maybe others would think twice before doing so in the future.
Take Action:I will support organizers who have taken tough action against predators to keep their communities safe. I will stand up for them against persecution and retaliation.
18. The Charismatic Predators Are the Hardest Ones
They are very, very good at what they do. They are also very good at roleplaying. These things go hand-in-hand. They groom supporters. They make people feel special. They put themselves at the core of many scenes and draw attention to themselves. They show everyone how concerned they are about others. They may even stand up for others in a public demonstration of their graciousness. Then, the choose their targets, those who are vulnerable, or new, or don’t have a strong support system, or lack confidence, or are overly tired, or whom they have given a lot of alcohol. And those people see a different side. A charismatic predator can quickly switch from magnanimous to abrasive, from encouraging to abusive, from safe to unsafe, from protecting boundaries to aggressively crossing them, from being a friend to using their power for their own gain, from building someone up to tearing them down, from friendly to shaming and manipulative, from consensual to coercive. If a person who has been victimized by a charismatic predator’s abusive side then speaks up about it, their story and personal experience will be counter to so many others’ experiences that they will be often be discredited. It’s insidious. And it is very real. Nonetheless, no matter how charismatic, handsome, popular, or great at roleplay a person is, no one has the right to buy themselves access to victims for predatory behavior, abuse, harassment, or assault.
Take Action:I pledge to pay attention to the inconsistent and manipulative behaviors that charismatic predators display, and to recognize that wildly different reports of a person’s behavior among a group is a sign of something wrong.
19. This Isn’t over, It Is a Recurrent Ongoing Problem
I am disheartened that I continue to hear stories from people within geek communities around the world who share these problems. It isn’t one community, it isn’t one type of geek, it isn’t a particular region or country. It’s everywhere. Geek culture is rife with it. It may be because the norms inside of geek culture strive to be inclusive. Acceptable behavior tends to be a wider spectrum, and while that can be liberating, it can also open avenues for predation and abuse. Whatever the reason for it, we have to acknowledge the elephant in the room: harassment, abuse, and missing stairs are a problem in larp communities and the large geek culture.
Take Action:I pledge to continue to work to make our communities safe from predators and abusers, and to support others who are committed to this goal.
This is a real problem. There is no easy solution. There is no single solution. But there are solutions. First we have to acknowledge the problem and commit to working together to fix it. Let’s take that first step, and then talk about solutions. And then not just talk. But do it. The follow-up article to this piece will contain some suggested things to look for and actions to take.
Each larp community is different and will take a localized approach to this problem. This is encouraged! But the baseline that predators should not be given harbor in a larp community must remain if we value the safety and trust of our players, and wish to open our communities to more diverse participants.
Abbey, Antonia, Zawacki, Tina, Buck, Philip O., Clinton, A. Monique, and Pam McAuslan, May-June 2004. Sexual assault and alcohol consumption: what do we know about their relationship and what types of research are still needed? Aggression and Violent Behavior. Vol. 9, Issue 3. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359178903000119
Dunmore, Emma, Clark, David M. and Anke Ehlers. 2001. A prospective investigation of the role of cognitive factors in persistent Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after physical or sexual assault. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39.
Lisak, D, Gardinier, L, Nicksa, SC, and AM Cote, Dec. 16, 2010. False allegations of sexual assault: an analysis of ten years of reported cases. Violence Against Women. Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage Publications. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1077801210387747
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nordiclarp.org or any larp community at large.
First thing I will address is the point of freedom for a murder mystery larp.
First of all I would look at the design and see how I could work around it. I would argue it is to fragile a larp design if it can fall about from characters making change. The best mystery larp I ever played was “Sankt Elisabeth,” which was a haunted hospital, where we had to explore the rooms for clues and hints. The main antagonist of the larp was revealed through the larp and not through the background story of the characters. The stuff you shouldn’t change was the actual clues in the hospital. The characters all had relations to people who had died at the haunted hospital, but these relations was build up through play with NPC ghosts of former patients. The true brilliance came from the design being so steady, I and another player was 45 minutes late to the larp and got a shorter briefing and got introduced later to the larp, but it didn’t effect the experience that much, because we still got to explore through the hospital to find clues and meet up old patients.
Had we had super tightly written characters, with a near scripts like part of story bits we needed to reveal from our backstory to the other characters, all sorts of things could have gone wrong and often does in horror/psychological thriller larps.
Long answer short: Challenge yourself as a designer and work around it. Make a horror larp, not horror movie.
Martine Svanevik points out there are two solutions if there are not carefully crafted character plots. Either independent plots with no direct ties to characters or a transparent design, so everyone can share and follow the changes they do. I had a great conversation about the claiming that transparent design leaves no room for surprise in the larp with a Russian larp designer Di Villiers about this at GNiales. It is all about getting that “aha! moment”—which for Svanevik and Di Villiers is when a intricate string of neatly folded surprises are revealed. But the “aha! moment” also happens in a very open transparent larp. In a open design larp you put out lots of ideas and plan with your co-players, when suddenly you create the great larp moments, you only put out as dreams, not by a well planned and playout script, but by everyone coming together and playing each other up to reach those strong immersive moments we all play larp for. The payoff for feeling that you as a player achieved greatness is just as rewarding if not more as getting it served on a silver platter.
“Reacting dynamically to unexpected events” I would say is quite an romanticisation of railroaded larps. While I will acknowledge that it is a goal that is often achieved, I also often end up in a situation where it feels to be constructed or that I can see it coming before it happens. With a more natural story developed through play during the larp, you actually have no idea where the larp will take you. But with a railroaded experience—and especially if you know the creators—you start to realise the patterns, even more so if you are also a designer yourself.
Then Svanevik brings up: “players have a tendency to repeat the same tropes.” This I believe to be a very valid critique. Because it is very true that with little external control, we will end up falling back to default ideas and positions, pursue the story we think we want, rather than the story someone else might have in store for us. So if you design your larp with much player freedom in mind or you play a larp like this, be aware of the tropes and challenge yourself to rethink your ideas and not go with the first and the best thing that pops into mind. And as organisers help player creativity along, through workshops, preparing for the larp, teach them something new about society, culture or play styles, so they get new impressions they can get inspired by.
As a larp designer you should help your players see the potential of your larp and together go beyond and above, what would be possible if only one part did all the creative work.
Ludography
Kaoskompaniet., Sankt Elisabeth. Kaoskompaniet. Denmark: 2013.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nordiclarp.org or any larp community at large.
I agree with many of the suggestions Charles B. Nielsen makes in Loyalty to Character. It is true that larps do not follow a script, that even if you write a character for a certain player, that player may pull out at the last minute. What sounds like fun play for a character writer may not be fun for the person playing the part, and any game may take an unexpected turn. As a larp designer, it is therefore tempting to go down Nielsen’s route, to say: “your character is your own, make of it what you will.” But does this approach make for a better larp? Or a better experience for the players?
From a designer’s perspective, this open approach to character writing seems to work best for loosely designed, sandbox style games. When you have a specific story in mind, with a set of characters and relations, every player cannot change as much of their character as they want. Take a murder mystery, for example. In order for the drama to be intense, each character must have a connection to the victim and a reason to want them dead. The players may not know who the victim will be before the game starts, so if you allow each of them to change whichever part of their character they want, the mystery may fall to pieces on day one.
There is beauty in a carefully crafted plot where snippets from a character description comes into play during a game, where each character plays a small part in a larger story. Although most larps do not—and arguably should not—run on rails, there is a particular joy in being surprised at a twist in a story you did not know you were an integral part of. Giving players complete control over the characters requires game designers to either craft plots that are independent from characters—which is a great loss, if you ask me—or to design games that are played with open cards so that every player knows the ramifications of any change they make. This second approach removes the opportunity to surprise players by in-game turns of events. By releasing control of character creation, the designers leave it to players to build their own stories, plots and relation networks to a much larger degree than in a more tightly designed game. This will naturally favour those players who enjoy and are adept at building and sustaining such networks and who enjoy building their own stories, rather than reacting dynamically to unexpected events.
In addition, it is a known truth that left to our own devices, players have a tendency to repeat the same tropes. A player with a penchant for drama will almost always end up bleeding, broken and crying alone in the dark. A player who loves experiencing the rise to power might turn even a mild-mannered romantic into a power-hungry, machiavellian mastermind. I’m not saying that this doesn’t happen when players are asked to play parts as written, or even that changing characters is a bad thing, but complete freedom means that there’s no external push to try something new. Larping offers such opportunities to try on new roles and experiences, but sometimes you need to be offered a part you did not know you would enjoy playing in order to experience it.
If you always get to build your character, you might subconsciously end up playing the same game over and over.
I’m not against character steering. Sometimes it is necessary to step out of a game and change direction. The shortfalls in Nielsen’s approach is that it limits the types of stories game designers can tell, and that it removes the external push for players to try something new. In Nielsen’s games, I suspect many of the players will end up telling the same story over and over and, more importantly, that the stories they tell will be player-written and player-controlled.
Nielsen is right when he writes that “the idea to take a character sheet and change as much of it as you want is alien to many larpers and it requires a shift in both player mentality, and in larp design.” I am just not sure if this shift is the right choice for every player and every game. Any larp designer wanting to employ Nielsen’s character design needs to be aware of the knock on limitations in terms of the game they can write, and any player going to such a game needs to be aware that by owning their character’s past, they also need to own that character’s future.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nordiclarp.org or any larp community at large.
Ask not what you can do for your character, ask what your character can do for you?
The Problem
I have worked with character creation for many years and making characters fit both the larp and the players at the same time has always been a struggle. The player of the character might change, new ideas for relations pop up down the road, how the player understands the character might be completely different than what you had thought. The larp is most likely going to develop in a direction you were not able to predict, because that is what larps do. They do not follow a script, they adapt, they bend, twist and turn. Some smaller, heavily scripted larps, might have a certain amount of control over the characters and players, but the bigger the larp, the less you can predict or control the course of the action. So instead of insisting to try and keep tabs on everything, work with the character as a starting point, not a script for a character you need to play out like in a theatre. It is your character and your experience that matters.
Some larps introduce workshop-created characters to get the player involved at an early stage in and allow designers and players to collaborate to create a shared vision of the character and that solves many problems. I think an easier solution is a change in player mentality. With both College of Wizardry (Nielsen, Dembinski and Raasted, 2014-) and Fairweather Manor (Boruta, Raasted and Nielsen et al., 2015) we tried to communicate that characters were meant to serve as inspiration for the players, not a chain around their necks. We told players explicitly that they were free to change what needed to be changed so the character could fit the experience they as players sought from the larp. Obviously while still being mindful of others and communicating with their co-players. But the idea to take a character sheet and change as much of it as you want is alien to many larpers and it requires a shift in both player mentality, and in larp design. In this article, I’ve outlined my thoughts on how you as a player should approach your characters, not to tell the story the organisers envisaged, but to make the characters your own and through that create the most amount of game.
You Are Not an Actor
Larp is not acting, there is not a tightly written script you have to read out aloud where every part of your character’s journey is dependent on you staying entirely true to your character. Larps are (mostly) dynamic and flexible, stories and actions are (mostly) improvised. For your character to always function in this exercise of mass improvisation, your character needs to be flexible as well.
We Wrote the Character for You!
Now, when I advise you to only stick to the character for as long as it works, it is not because I want you to disregard the tireless work of character writers, but because the designers wrote the character for you to have a good experience. Be aware of when it stops working, when you start crying not due to: “talking about your sister’s suicide while peeling potatoes in the mud”((Knudepunkt TV video (Thank you Karolina and Stina): A journey in to Swedish larping”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyrLndFJBfs)) but because you as a player feel stuck. You have very likely been there yourself; the character just did not make sense, either for you or with the direction that the larp had taken your character. Realise and adapt.
When I sat in the organiser room of CoW and Fairweather Manor, I met players crying their eyes out because they didn’t know what to do, they were simply unable to act out their character and have a good experience at the same time. This is a moment to “CUT,” “BRAKE,” and “STOP.” Take a deep breath and sit down, and ask yourself: “What do I as a player want to experience at this larp, why did I come here in the first place?” When you have figured that out, try figuring out how to get there.
My advice is always to consider this before going to a larp. Spend time acknowledging why you want to play a specific larp and a specific type of character, to adapt your expectations to when you meet the larp. If you do not know what you want, then try something you would find enjoyable in other larps—being it eating cakes or drowning people in a lake (I’m not here to judge). Do it. Just do it. After you have done it as your character, try and rationalise why: “I just did this, what the fuck just happened?.” This also happens in the real world, sometimes we just do something stupid we never wanted to do, and then afterwards we try to rationalise it. It works perfectly fine in real life, so it can in larp too. Real people don’t consider everything they do: they do stuff. Often it takes a while before they realise why they did it. This is a perfect excuse to change directions for your character at a larp. Use it.
Contradictions Are Interesting
You see it all the time in real life, and in fiction. When someone contradicts their own beliefs or actions, it can make for interesting storytelling. So whenever you ask yourself: “What would my character do?,” also ask: “What would my character never do?” Then ask yourself as a player, what would be the most interesting story? The protective knight that lost his temper and beat up the beggar on the street, the thief that returned the stolen goods, the doctor who ended up killing his patient, the enemies who suddenly became best friends? Sometimes playing against stereotypes can provide better stories and more intense experiences than playing a character as written.
Just like Falling in Love
Think of it as falling in love. Sometimes we just do stupid shit for love. That is your motivation. Now ask yourself, what or who is it that your character loves? Then do that stupid unthinkable thing to get closer to it. “My character do not fall in love,” well maybe you just did anyway? Or maybe you did something stupid to protect someone? Love is the perfect illogical explanation for lots of potential play. Again, obviously be mindful of your co-players, never use spontaneous love as an excuse to stalk someone you as a player like out-of-character. Use it to start new interaction and if you feel stuck with no direction for your character.
“I Suddenly Remember All about This Trauma from My Past?”
Remember your 1-10 pages of character is not a full life story. People who have written diaries as teenagers has hundreds of pages of dribble and if you read it all, there would still be more teenage angst to go. Maybe there was something that wasn’t mentioned in your character? Like in real life, you also suddenly remember something from your past, that gets triggered. This could also happen to your character. Be creative and don’t panic, there is almost always a way to get a back into a larp and mold a poor experience into a great experience. I have dozens of boring or just poor larp experiences, where I went out-of-character and went for a walk to reconsider my options, sometimes asking real life friends at the larp for help. If they are your friends, they would prefer you tell them of your struggles, than just try and brush it off, even if you interrupt five minutes of their weekend larp. Who knows, maybe they are also confused and together you can solve each other’s lackluster experience.
Sharing Is Caring
This brings us to yet another approach. Instead of thinking about what you as a player want, think about what you could do to enhance the experience of others. If someone else looks bored, try to play with them. It might so happen that they then do the same for you when you get bored. Maybe someone is trying to keep a secret? Expose it to everyone, see what happens. Maybe someone else wants to be beaten or wants to win, let them, others will mimic your collaborative play. Look outwards and become a playmaker for others. The best stories are created together and sometimes you can get a great experience yourself by delivering one for someone else. Maybe you can deliver someone’s poems or collect their taxes, maybe someone is sitting with to much to do and you can lift part of that burden. You might break ranks a bit or upset norms in the setting, but if someone is struggling with their position anyway, their experience might already suck, so breaking a bit of the immersion of hierarchy is often the lesser of two evils.
Reinventing the Wheel
I am not trying to reinvent the wheel, steering was a term introduced a few years ago at Knudepunkt. I strongly recommend you read: The Art of Steering by Markus Montola, Eleanor Saitta and Jaakko Stenros (2015). What I advocate is to actively steer your character. Take charge of your experience. It is even more important today, where you have likely gone to a larp in a foreign country that cost a fortune. Try one or more of the techniques I suggested above and if you’re in doubt, always come and ask the organisers, they might not know everything, but they could have a good idea on how you could adapt your character.
Going Out-of-character
There is a lot of debate about whether or not it is okay to leave character. In the 90s’, it was clearly considered the biggest achievement to stay in character as long as humanly possible. Today, things are changing, while immersion is still an important goal, we want to be more aware about consent and opting in / opting out. For you to be able to play with informed consent and be able to opt out, you need to on some level to feel comfortable with stepping out-of-character and asking your co-players “is this okay?” as well as saying: “NO!” (or “Yellow Penguin,” if that is the agreed safeword).
Nordic larps often have safewords as a default, and creating comfortable off-game awareness can be done in different ways, which I am not going to go into in this article. What I can say is that when it works, it is usually quite easy to fall back into character, surprisingly easy in fact, at least in my experience, whenever someone takes you off-game. We always think that immersion is slowly being built up. I would argue it can be kickstarted. Think of when you watch a powerful movie, some movies take you right into the action with a single chord or one camera shot. I have experienced the same in larp. If you have doubts, go off-game and ask, and then agree on a way to reboot the scene and do it.
Kickstarting Immersion
There are many techniques you can use to kickstart immersion, most of which are inspired by methods from theatre and may require a bit of practice. At Fairweather Manor, playing the role of the butler required the player—Daniel Sundström— to go into the off-game room to get updates about the programme for the larp. Each time Sundström entered, he would do a specific modern hand gesture (Going out-of-character) and when stepping back into the larp he would stand up straight and take a deep breath as if he was about to jump into a swimming pool (Going into character.) What he did was giving physical signals to his body, when going from off to in-game. I recommend you find a distinct physical trait for your character, which you stop doing if you go out-of-character and restart doing as you try to immerse yourself. It can be a specific voice, a way to fold your hands, a tipping with your fingers, favouring one leg—you see it in movies all the time, the really immersive character have these physical traits that completely changes the actor.
The Actor Daniel Day-Lewis is famous for the way he changes his physicality. If you watch a few of his movies in a row, you will notice that he almost always changes his jaw position when he acts to helps with accents and changing his facial structure. I’m not saying you need to be an Oscar level performer to larp, but let yourself be inspired by it.
Generally what you want is very clear physical behaviour transformation and have some odd physical action while going out-of-character, making it clear for your mind and body, that you are leaving the magic circle.
Another approach is setting a scene. Every player involved should agree, off-game, on who starts the conversation and then you jump in. It is best to pick a scene that is powerful and can get your adrenaline going, like a fight, running or going onto stage to perform. Demanding immediate action from your character turns the focus away from your “off-game self,” you focus on the task instead of your own thoughts. Basically, you want to distract your mind, it is a bit like trying to fall asleep, if you think too much about it, it only becomes harder.
Lastly, music. If you are running a black box larp I strongly recommend using music or lights to signal immersion. Just like in a movie, using our senses can trigger us to get into character, out-of-character, or evoke emotional responses which are often a great distraction from off-game thoughts. This is also why black box larps can be so powerful in just one hour of play. It can get as intense in one hour as a weekend in a castle. Because just like a castle evokes emotional responses by having the smell, the feel and the look right—a well designed black box larp can play with your senses to empower immersion.
We Can Negotiate Violence, Why Not Characters?
At the Swedish boarding school larp about bullying, Lindängen (Elofsson and Lundkvist, 2016), my biggest regret was the scene I did not cut. It was a scene where one character was group pressured into slapping another character. It was a powerful scene, but the player doing the slapping was only giving “fake slaps” as the crowd shouted: “Hit harder,” “hit harder.” I could see the group pressure bleeding over from the character to the player as well. Fortunately, the player stood firm and did not escalate, but after the scene ended I realised that I should have said cut, stopped the scene and let us find a way to play up the intensity of the fake beating rather than playing it down.
We make these realisations when it comes to scenes being too violent or intimate, and we agree to change them without blinking. We should give our characters the same courtesy. If something isn’t working, go off and agree with your co-players or organisers how to improve it. Worst case, you ruin one good scene but you save an entire larp experience.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nordiclarp.org or any larp community at large.
Why Larp with History?
Human history as a setting for larp goes back to the earliest days of the form – even to before larp was identified as a special kind of activity in its own right, in the committee games and fictionalized simulations that preceded the larp that we know today.
What makes history so appealing?
The richness, range, and depth of the real historical tapestry is such as to make it inexhaustibly appealing as a source of larp material. From Ancient Egypt (Queen of Denial, Barnard and Holkar, 2014) to medieval Britain (The Lists of Avalon, Barnard, Jones and Jones, 2011) to the Industrial Revolution (Railways and Respectability, Barnard and Dall et al., 2007) to the Korean War (M*A*S*H: Brothers in Arms, Barnard and Dall et al., 2013), there’s something for everyone. And provided you avoid exoticization and respect the people involved, the whole spectrum is available to you.
Familiarity to participants is another advantage: they may already be familiar with the chosen historical milieu, or, if not, they can easily make themselves familiar by using readily-available reference materials. Compare the difficulty of communicating familiarity with a fictional setting whose details are only available in the minds of the designers.
Historical settings lend themselves readily to parallels and lessons related to life today, for the more instructive school of larp design. For example, the 1970s Berlin of “Heroes” (Holkar, 2016) studies attitudes towards the demonized Other, and how similarities, once exposed, may resonate more strongly than differences. The distance of the setting helps to make clear the significance of the themes in our own world.
And there’s no denying the emotional power and resonance of larping historical events — perhaps those in which one’s own ancestors, or national predecessors, might have been involved.
But a larp design that draws upon history has, perhaps, first to consider the limitations and biases of our societal defaults of historical understanding and analysis.
The Problem with History
We must recognise that our knowledge of history is filtered by the (necessarily limited) information that we have about it. We may have access to written accounts from the period: but who wrote them, and why? We may have artefacts, structures, and other physical remains: but who has interpreted them to us? What assumptions did those interpreters make?
Fairweather Manor is an example of a larp based upon historical fiction that explores the dynamics between characters of different classes and genders. Photo courtesy of Dziobak Larp Studios.
To generalise: surviving historical texts were largely written by educated and wealthy men. And these texts, and non-textual historical remains, have also until recently largely been discussed by educated and wealthy men. Even if the author of your direct source is not in that category, you have to ask: who then were that author’s sources and to what extent did they question them? So, for example, Georgette Heyer wrote a feminized take on the British Regency period((Georgette Heyer, Regency Buck (London: William Heinemann, 1935).)) in which women have a greater focus than in historical accounts of the period. But she restricted her scope to the same narrow upper section of society that had been depicted by Jane Austen; she also restricted her research largely to the use of materials left by educated and wealthy men and to the study of decor and costume, rather than establishing what might have been going on in the world outside those stately imagined drawing-rooms. Whether, as an educated and wealthy woman herself, Heyer had any interest in the lives of the poor and underprivileged of that period, we do not know, but she certainly didn’t write about them. If you draw your larp-design inspiration from historical fiction rather than directly from history, you run the risk of inadvertently being on the wrong end of a filter of this type.
Other Histories
The study of women’s history, and people’s history (ordinary people, as distinct from those in power), gives new and fascinating perspectives on familiar historical settings.
“Other” history is of its nature a kind of revisionism: it asserts that traditional historical accounts are partial and/or incomplete. Women’s history draws attention to the roles of women throughout history; it studies the lives and works of individual women, and groups of women, “of note” and otherwise; it examines the effects of historical events on women; and so on. It necessarily questions the privileged values assigned by traditional history to the lives and activities of men. It may also identify situations where women’s actual contributions have been neglected or belittled, at the time or subsequently.
In the same way, a people’s history, also known as a “history from below”, approach to historiography looks at historical events and developments from the point of view of ordinary people rather than leaders. It proactively focuses on the lives of the poor, the dispossessed, and those who in general have no access to power. And it seeks to demonstrate how historical changes that we traditionally ascribe to “great men” are often more the product of inexorable social forces rising from below.
Female characters in Winson Green Prison, a larp about women fighting for the right to vote. Photo by Vicki Pipe for the run at The Smoke Festival 2017.
In A People’s History of the United States,((Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (New York: Harper & Row, 1980).)) Howard Zinn (1980) says:
The history of any country, presented as the history of a family, conceals fierce conflicts of interest (sometimes exploding, most often repressed) between conquerors and conquered, masters and slaves, capitalists and workers, dominators and dominated in race and sex. And in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, as Albert Camus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioners.
In larp, even more than in history, positive portrayals of characters are important — because they must be playable. Endowing your female and poor characters with affordances that may not have been demonstrated in the traditional historical record is going to make them more interesting to play, as well as serving the political end of representation. For sure, larp the executioners. They’ll be interesting to play — but the victims don’t have to be just oppression-fodder.
A straightforward example of this kind of “other” history in larp is Winson Green Prison (Sandquist and Göthberg, 2016). It portrays “the women who fought for the equal right to vote, and the men who loved them” — people who at the time were weak, oppressed and despised by society, but who have been vindicated by history. Their struggles are moving and affecting, but we know that they were in the right and that their descendants will see them as heroes. This makes for a good playable mix of struggle and satisfaction.
Historical Responsibility in Larp
Brudpris (2014-, Norway) is a larp that explores the dynamics of a patriarchal society. (Post-game, Photo by Anna-Karin Linder Krauklis)
When looking at and working with historical events and settings via the medium of larp, designers may feel that they owe a responsibility to the people of those times to represent them fairly: to not skew or downplay the depictions of those who have been neglected or diminished by traditional historical accounts. This is not always easy, but it’s a worthwhile use of time. As well as helping to make your design more responsible and understanding, it will also help to make it more interesting and original. There have been countless historical larps in which powerful people make key decisions while lesser folk fill in the background around them; how much fresher and more entertaining would it be to find stories in which women, or ordinary common people can take focus? For example, Dulce et decorum est… (Rider Hill, 2012) depicts a noble family and their influential friends, engaging in political discussion around a dinner table in an English country house in the runup to World War II: a solid and well-proven style of larp setting. Meanwhile Love Letter (Curd, Gammans, McCormick and Perry, 2015) examines the lives of a group of ordinary English village dwellers as the same war impacts upon them — the effects on those who fight, and those who are left behind — caused by the decisions of remote politicians to whom the larp makes no direct reference. Both are successful designs in their own terms, but one is doing something much more unusual than the other.
St Croix (Stamnestrø and Voje, 2015) opens the question of how a power disparity between characters — in this case, slaves and slave-owners — can generate good play for both parties. Slaves have authority over very little, not even their own bodies: how do you empower those players in the larp? What affordances do they have available? Brudpris (Linder and Dahlberg, 2015) partly answered this question by giving its oppressed female characters an unhistorical sexual dominance, so those players were able to compensate, during sexual encounters, for lack of agency in other areas of play.
Beyond the Barricades (Wei and Göthberg, 2015) brings vividly to life the Parisian revolution of 1832. The sides are clear, but one’s relationship to the people alongside whom one stands might not be — especially when unity starts to break down. This design allows for a nuanced approach to social class, and to the development of trust.
War Birds ((Moyra Turkington, Ann Kristine Eriksen, and Kira Magrann, et al, War Birds (Toronto, Canada: Unruly Designs, 2016).)) is a collection of six freeforms and larps looking at the war experiences of women; as aviators, refugees, internees, partisans, drivers, or factory workers. It ably demonstrates the range and variety of play experience that can be generated from examining a straightforward other-historical premise.
Moyra Turkington talks, at Living Games Conference 2016, about the genesis of War Birds: following “redlinked” stories in Wikipedia to see the unwritten history of women’s wartime contributions.
The Myth of Authenticity
One argument sometimes given for the dominance of wealthy males in historical larps is that this exercise of privilege is authentic for the period being depicted, and that to show otherwise would be a falsity.
Quite apart from the question of whether the “facts” about the period upon which this view is based are correct or not — as discussed earlier, the filter over historical materials is a highly selective one — it can be argued that the whole notion of authenticity is specious. It’s impossible to larp “the 16th century” from the point of view of the 21st century; all you can ever do is larp an approach to the 16th century, which emerges from the context in which you’re designing.
Our contemporary view of the 16th century is very different from that of historians of fifty years ago; and in fifty years time it will be different again. And as an artistic creator rather than a simulator, a larp designer will draw out themes and messages that resonate particularly strongly with their own contemporary audience. Just as performances of the play Hamlet take on new directions and resonances depending on the political and social currents of the time when they’re being performed, so too do runs of the larp Inside Hamlet (Krauklis and Ericsson et al., 2000; Ericsson et al., 2015).
Deliberate inauthenticity — for example, giving women more prominent and higher-status roles — should not be seen as a betrayal of historical truth. Rather, it can allow a designer to recontextualise history more effectively for their audience. For example, Oss imellom (Hatlestrand and Edland, 2015) includes working-class homosexuals in a middle-class-based organisation that historically would have excluded them, so as better to present the variety of homosexual experience in 1950s Norway. To skew your design in this way, against the power balance of the traditional historical message, is to raise up living underprivileged people against those dead people who have been privileged by the conventional narrative.
The Mixing Desk of Larp design tool features a Loyalty to World slider, where designers can adjust according to playability vs. plausibility. Developed for the Larpwriter Summer School.
Media and Message
It may be that, actually, designing larp directly from the historical record is not your approach. Rather, you might be designing to convey the flavour of media works (books, films) set in that period. A larp set in the Old West is perhaps more likely to be responding to a particular subgenre of Western movie than to the actual history of the period. And a larp set at the 17th-century court of Louis XIV is almost certain to be drawing more heavily on the (19th-century) Musketeers novels of Alexandre Dumas than on documents of the period.
This is no bad thing — resonance with your intended players is more likely to be found within media with which they’re familiar — but it’s another filter to be aware of. Reading Dumas, one would think that all warrior men are strong and masculine, while women are weak, passive, or conniving. However, we know from the existence of historical figures such as La Maupin, Philippe of Orleans, and the Chevalier d’Eon that the 17th-century French court was a much more genderqueer world than the 19th-century novelist was happy to admit; we know that the cowboys of the real Old West were often black, and sometimes women. By looking into history as well as your entertainment-media sources, you can broaden your representation without moving too far away from the material with which your players are familiar. And you should be honest with yourself, and with your players, about whether your game is aiming primarily to be history-based or fiction-based.
The Czech Hell on Wheels is a Western genre larp adapted from the fictional television show. Photo by Potkani.
Techniques for Representation
Look beneath the surface – Seek out “other” histories as well as mainstream ones. By now, women’s and people’s history are well enough established that a wide range of historical periods have been covered by these approaches.
Look at the sources – Take in actual history, as well as media depictions of the period. You may find that the way the history has been portrayed on the page or on screen is quite different from modern historians’ understanding of it.
Ask the logical questions – If women aren’t mentioned in the orthodox account, why might that be? Where were they, and what were they doing? What place did poorer people have in the economy?
Turn the familiar face of history around – For example, war histories often focus on men who are away fighting, or on the portrayal of the victors as uncontested heroes. How about those family members who stayed at home? – what can you find out about them, that could make for interesting larp?((Heroes of the Hearth (Stiainín Jackson, in Seven Wonders (London: Pelgrane Press, 2015) is a tabletop RPG that looks at this situation.)) How about the experiences of those who were defeated?
Turn over stones – Why are some periods of history frequently visited by larp, and others neglected? Whose stories are still out there, waiting for a larp designer to pick them up and reflect them as something wonderful?
Challenge your own assumptions – However well you think you know the period, you may without realizing it be stuck in a skewed account given by a partial historian or fiction writer. Find another source, and see if it backs up or counters your belief.
Don’t be afraid of inauthenticity – If you feel you need to, you should deliberately adjust the historical “truths” to better make the range of stories that you seek. It’s larp, not re-enactment.
Check in – If you are yourself wealthy and/or educated and/or male, make sure that you’re not inadvertently carrying your own society’s tacit assumptions into the design. Involve people from other groups in your work. Build more balanced perspectives by working together.
The Ends of History
A historical setting for a larp can be a wonderful thing, but it can also be a painful and betraying thing. You can make sure that you’re giving your design ideas, and the play aspirations of your larpers, the maximum opportunity to express themselves by engaging with history critically, by putting in the exploratory work around it, and by looking for stories that haven’t been told.
When it all comes together just right, you can be sure that your larp design and its enaction will earn their own places in the history of the artform. Take a look at Just a Little Lovin’ (Edland and Grasmo, 2011), the story of an assortment of people with little in common apart from their relentless othering by the media and those in power, finding community together, turning suffering into love. Their stories are respectfully told, solidly researched, and thoroughly contextualised. A larp like this brings its history to raging, pounding life — and makes its messages speak to our hearts and to our minds.
Thanks to Liz Lovegrove and Becky Annison for their help and ideas during the writing of this article.
Ludography
Nickey Barnard, Philippa Dall, and Jerry Elsmore, et al. Railways and Respectability. Retford, UK: UK Freeforms, 2007.
Nickey Barnard, Philippa Dall, and Tony Mitton, et al. M*A*S*H: Brothers in Arms. Hoburne, UK: Consequences, 2013.
Nickey Barnard and Mo Holkar. Queen of Denial. Hoburne, UK: Consequences, 2014.
Nickey Barnard, Helen Jones, and Martin Jones. The Lists of Avalon. Hoburne, UK: Consequences, 2011.
Natalie Curd, Roger Gammans and Elyssia McCormick, et al. Love Letter. Hoburne, UK: Consequences, 2015.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nordiclarp.org or any larp community at large.
The first time I remember encountering someone who was disabled in a larp was during my long-ago days of playing Changeling: the Dreaming. My fellow players and I were waiting for the game to begin and a new player arrived wearing dark glasses and carrying a white cane. We were waiting outside the game space at the top of a staircase and were jostling one another quite a lot, so I became concerned by the person’s proximity to the edge of the stairs. I stood up from a bench and asked the person quietly if they’d like to sit down. “The stairs are very close behind you,” I said. The new player looked at me, puzzled. “I can see that,” they said. When I blinked at them in surprise, the player’s face lit up and they lifted their glasses to wink at me. “The costume works!” they said. “At least I’m believable. Gotta play up that flaw if I want the points.” The player in question wasn’t disabled at all. To quote the old saying, they just played one on TV. Or in this case, in a larp.
It would be years before I larped with someone who was visually impaired and became acutely aware of the difficulties they faced when interacting with larps due to their disability. Yet in those years, I met people with various physical and psychological differences who encountered challenges when larping due to a lack of accommodation for their disabilities. I was also acutely aware that, much like other forms of entertainment, larp was a rather ableist((Ableism: discrimination and social prejudice against people with disabilities. Ableism characterises persons as defined by their disabilities and as inferior to the non-disabled.)) space, erasing disabled players by creating obstacles for inclusion that kept them out. While conversations about inclusivity in regards to many forms of identity rose to the forefront of thought in the larp community, the issue of disability visibility seemed to remain one of the last unexplored countries.
For a long time I was a larper standing outside of the issue, looking in. Then the issue became far more personal. At the time of the writing of this article, I’ve been larping for eleven years. In that time I’ve gone from an able-bodied young woman with an invisible disability((Bipolar disorder.)) to a woman using a wheelchair to get around. This evolution has given me a different perception, perhaps, than most and opened my eyes to the pitfalls one can stumble into when designing larps: namely the exclusion of the disabled due to lack of consideration for accommodation. As a heavily physical-based activity game and art form, larp requires players to inhabit their character roles with their bodies, experiencing the game space through their five senses and interacting with the environment and other players with their own bodies as their character’s avatar. Larps can be challenging to players physically and psychologically based on the creator’s design, even for those who are able-bodied. Imagine then the challenge presented to those who are disabled if the game is designed with only able-bodied players in mind as their prime customers and patrons.
If those who are differently abled are not taken into consideration during the very first stages of a larp’s creation, designers may inadvertently set up obstacles which block disabled players from engaging with the game. Furthermore, I’ll go so far as to posit another argument: by not taking disabled players into account and allowing them to be under-represented or misrepresented through play, then the game in question and whatever narrative it crafts becomes inherently ableist.
The Design Challenge
Larp design is a complex and ever-shifting ludic space, requiring consideration of many different factors. Designers engage in discussions of narrative construction, community building, environmental design, sociological and psychological interaction and game design when producing any larp, whether they’re aware they’re doing so or not. Larp design is a hybrid discipline, one part improvisational acting, one part theatre production, one part playwriting, and one part game design. Yet at its very heart, larp is an attempt to bring to life imagined worlds with characters being physically inhabited by the players.
No matter the complexity of the physical design, from the stripped-down aesthetics of black box theatre games to the blockbuster nordic games set in castles or the combat-intensive live “boffer” games set out in forests around the world, there is one basic design principle of larps: players move and interact with the game space with their own bodies. And in that single conceit, designers are presented with an obstacle in how to allow people of different abilities to interact with the physical aspects of their game. How they tackle that challenge then determines whether or not their game is accessible to a wider range of players.
It’s important at this juncture to address and acknowledge the difficulty of this particular design challenge. The term disabled is very broad and encompasses a myriad of people whose physical or psychological states put them outside of what society considers the healthy, able-bodied norm. Therefore, speaking about making accommodation for those who are differently abled in a larp means acknowledging that a creator will be designing towards an ever-moving target. The paradigms may need to shift when a new player with specific accommodation needs wants to participate in their games. However, the very first step in heading towards more accessibility in games is to start by acknowledging one base truth: larps are not just made for the able-bodied. Just because the design challenge is difficult does not mean it should not be tackled. If a game wants to truly call itself inclusive and welcome all kinds of players, disability inclusion must be part of the discussion right alongside discussions about the participation of all genders, sexualities, races, religions, classes, etc. To be truly intersectional and inclusive, ableism cannot be forgotten as a potential venue for discrimination through design.
Thankfully, larp designers have the opportunity when creating new larps to approach each game as a blank slate, utilising that mindfulness about inclusivity to create spaces capable of accommodating disability needs. They only need to choose to do so from the beginning.
Larping in Czocha Castle for College of Wizardry 1 as a wheelchair-using player. (Photo by: Christina Molbech)
The Cornerstones of Disability: Considerate Design
There are many areas a designer ought to consider from the beginning if they wish their games to be more accessible. They include:
The role of the disabled in the game’s world building and narrative
The question of how disabled and abled characters will be played, by whom, and how they are portrayed
Physical design of your game space and its availability for accessibility and/or disability accommodation
Consideration for equal treatment out-of-character within your player community.
While this is by no means an exhaustive list of considerations, I believe they cover a range of basic areas a designer might consider to broaden those able to access their games. Let’s break them down and look at their unique challenges.
The Role of the Disabled in the Game’s World Building and Narrative
While this might seem like a simple idea, it is often difficult to recognise where narratives skew towards ableism, perhaps even without meaning to do so. For example, most post-apocalyptic narratives make it clear that those who are disabled would have a difficult time surviving in a world without basic social services and modern technology. Those narratives can default to erasing disabled persons without much of a thought in pursuit of “authenticity to genre.” That same argument is often used when representing those with disabilities in historical games, or medieval fantasy games, as the idea of someone with disabilities succeeding, thriving, or even achieving positions of power challenges the idea that games set in historical periods must be (needlessly) appropriate to every inch of perceived historical correctness.
Games which choose to marginalise the roles the disabled have in the visible narrative then set the tone for how those characters who are differently abled will be treated, and can even translate into how players who are differently abled feel welcome within a space. Additionally, erasing disabled characters due to “magical cures” such as biotechnology, advanced medical science, and sorcery in a game’s narrative also signals that your setting assumes everyone who is disabled should be “cured,” signalling a need to erase disabled stories from that setting and your game. Examples of such settings are cyberpunk futures where technology can cure disabilities, magical settings like College of Wizardry (Nielsen, Dembinski and Raasted et al., 2014-) and New World Magischola (Brown and Morrow et al., 2016) where magic can cure nearly every ailment or injury.
How Disabled and Abled Characters Will Be Played, by Whom and How They Are Portrayed
As mentioned in the story at the very beginning of this article, able-bodied players may opt to play disabled characters in a game. Some larps even incentivise such play by offering mechanical advantages for including a disability in the character. One example of this is White Wolf’s games like Vampire: the Masquerade (Rein-Hagen, 1991), whose system allows disabilities, both physical and psychological, to be taken as flaws on a character sheet. Ostensibly this design choice was meant to motivate people to create more nuanced and interesting characters for the game by representing a world inhabited not only by able-bodied people and monsters but also the disabled. Most of the time, however, I saw it used as a cheap and easy way to gain additional points to buy up mechanically advantageous things on a character’s sheet, since for every point of flaws you took, you received freebie points to spend elsewhere. This process of mechanising a disability in exchange for positive rewards elsewhere provides a problematic view of being rewarded for taking on the “burden” of playing someone disabled, labelling a disability a flaw with all its associated negative connotations.
Similarly, by including disabilities as a mechanical flaw or as an in-character effect gained during play, there is a greater chance a player may be presented with a disability they’ll try to or be required to play without understanding the best way to do so. Games that use mental illness as part of their punitive mechanics will afflict players with “insanity” such as in the Cthulhu Live (McLaughlin, 1997) system, or else give people a derangement as the results of play such as in the Dystopia Rising (Pucci, 2009-) system, without giving them much context or preparation for role-playing what amounts to a psychological disability. Without time to research and understand the illness they’re being asked to portray, players may default to naturally offensive and harmful stereotypes, making the play space a hostile place for people who actually have those disabilities. The opposite side of this question includes whether or not disabled players will be able to play non-disabled characters. In games which rely on more “what you see is what you get” or 360 degree immersion play, organisers often require players to do whatever it is their character would do, including all physical activities. Allowing disabled players to play non-disabled characters, essentially asking others to ignore their adaptive devices during play, is a form of making accommodation during a larp, bending the rules of the full immersion for the sake of making all roles in the game accessible.
Physical Design of Your Game Space and It’s Availability for Accessibility and/or Disability Accommodation
This aspect of designing towards inclusivity involves the design of the actual space and materials to make a game accessible for all, and it is perhaps one of the most difficult and controversial topics when dealing with disability advocacy in larp. Unless you are talking about black box or theatre style games, larps rely heavily on environmental design or utilising already created appropriate venues to host their games so as to create immersion for players. However, often when seeking out genre, theme or mood appropriate venues, designers don’t realise or even ignore the fundamental accessibility issues a venue might have. When choosing the beautiful Czocha Castle as the setting for the blockbuster College of Wizardry games, the organisers discovered a glorious location full of secret passages, lush forests, and amazing rooms ready to become classrooms in a magical school. What the castle did not have, however, was basic disability access, a fact which did not escape me upon my attendance. This limited my interactions with the game, keeping me from attending classes held in the perilously high astronomy tower or down in the steps into the murky dungeon.
Even games that try their hardest to provide accommodation can end up falling short, such as in the case of the 2016 New World Magischola games in the United States. While the game was hosted by a presumably ADA((Physical accomodations and accessibility as described in the Americans with Disability Act of 1990.)) accessible campus in the University of Richmond, the game locations were scattered so far across the campus itself that those who were disabled found it difficult to interact with game events going on at far flung locations, especially at night. Other games which are designed for gruelling conditions as part of the experience, like the Swedish Hinterland (Nyman, Utbult and Stormark et al., 2015), are additionally problematic in that they present physical challenges meant to test even the hardiest of able bodied players and therefore exclude disabled players almost by design, in favour of supporting the taxing gameplay part of the experience. This important obstacle to accessibility ought to be weighed against a location’s appropriateness for play, if the designers want to see their game available for all comers to play.
The Consideration for Equal Treatment Out-of-character Within Your Player Community
This last element is less of a physical design challenge or game mechanic design question, but rather requires game creators to take a closer look at how those who are differently abled are considered within the community. It’s no secret that the disabled face discrimination from the general world. Even well-intentioned people can express demeaning and belittling treatment of the disabled, unsure of how to engage with their differences and needs for accommodation despite the best of intentions. The disabled are often seen as less capable or even worthy of doing things people take for granted, such as opening up businesses, holding positions of leadership, or even having stable relationships and raising children.
When a player who is differently abled is part of a larp community, an organiser must consider whether that player is facing similar discriminatory treatment from fellow players. While it is not an organiser’s job necessarily to police their community, the tacit social contract of a larp as a communal storytelling experience requires players to feel welcome and heard so they can participate wholeheartedly in safety and trust. Should a player be treated differently based on their disability, the responsibility falls on the organisers to address the situation, as would be the case with any instances of discrimination affecting their community.
These cornerstones of thoughtful accessibility design are best deployed from the beginning of a game’s creation, as the accommodations they may require become more difficult when trying to retroactively fit them in after the entire game has been put together. Indeed, tackling accessibility issues only after discovering a disabled player wants to attend requires far more work as a designer must scramble to find a way to shoehorn those accommodations into a space that might not have that capability. While the intention to find accommodation later is noble, it is often not the most e cient and may end with frustrated designers and players both, should the attempts towards accommodation after-the-fact fail. Designers should also be mindful to check back to these design considerations throughout the process and even during gameplay to make sure they are still in place and functional.
Staff and players of Time Travelers After Hours, a Phoenix Outlaw freeform larp, DexCon 2016. (Photo by: Nicolas Hornyak)
The False Dichotomy of “Going Elsewhere”
Considering accessibility accommodations as an afterthought also often ends up with designers simply acknowledging their design cannot support those with disabilities, leading to my least favourite theory regarding the including of disabled persons in larp: the separate yet equal argument. In response to discussing accessibility in games, I’ve often heard people simply shrug and say “not every game is for every person.” They say not everyone likes every game, or is suited to every game, and therefore those disabled players who cannot be included due to lack of accommodation can simply go to another game or seek another role in the game if that will allow for better accessibility. This argument contests that this problem happens even to able-bodied people who must choose based on their tastes what games to attend. This is a false dichotomy.
Able bodied larpers who choose either to attend or not attend a game based on its content or any other myriad of factors are not physically barred from doing so. They are not kept out by virtue of a space not being capable of physically allowing them entrance. The important word to factor in here is choice. Those players are choosing not to go to a game based on their tastes and preferences, opting out because they have an option at all. If a game is not physically accessible to disabled players for one reason or another, designers have taken away a player’s agency to opt in or out and instead set up obstacles to act as gatekeepers that bar players from even making that choice.
It’s that distinction that created the need for laws around the world protecting the rights of disabled people to interact with society on all levels in an equal matter to those who are able bodied. Ability-based discrimination has been a historically contentious topic, as those who are disabled either visibly or invisibly have fought for recognition as equal members of society all over the world. In the United States for example, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990), which expanded on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include anti-discrimination protections for the disabled, was not put into place until 1990. The ADA as it is known not only protects the disabled against discrimination but requires employers “to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities, and imposes requirements on public accommodations.” This included provisions that businesses and public spaces would be required to make their facilities and events accessible to those with disabilities.
The ADA later provided the inspiration for countries around the world to adopt similar protections. Since 2000, 181 countries have signed disability protections into law, while in 2006 the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD, 2006) was adopted by the United Nations and ratified by 157 countries, offering additional protections for 650 million people with disabilities worldwide (Shapiro, 2015). By requiring businesses, venues, and locations to create accommodations for those who are disabled by law, the governments of those countries with equal rights laws recognise that physical design of spaces and events can be discriminatory if they aren’t accessible and require organisers to take that into consideration by law.
Yet certain activities have remained segregated, especially recreational activities which require physical activity such as sports, dance, and theatre. The separate-yet-equal idea has remained the cornerstone of this segregation, allowing for the creation of dance companies, sports events, and theatre troupes for example made up of only disabled persons participating and competing with and against one another. The notion goes that if an activity is based on physical interaction as the primary mode of engagement, and a disabled person is differently equipped to engage with that activity, rather than providing accommodation, a separate space should be provided for them to interact. While the concept of larps only for the disabled may intrigue from an artistic perspective, if only to see what might be created by people with those unique life experiences, it cannot be the hallmark of the entire larp world. To say that “maybe this game just isn’t for you” to a potential disabled player when facing the need for accommodation is based on the same principle and passes the buck away from that designer’s game to some other, theoretical game out there which may better have access.
In short, “not for you” as a response is an excuse and misses the point entirely. The player in question doesn’t want to go somewhere else. They want to attend that game and be a part of their chosen community, and should be freely allowed to, given all other things being equal between them and an able-bodied player. The disabled person should not have to find another game, shuffled along, because considerations haven’t been made to keep a space from being discriminatory. As the laws of so many countries point out, the need to consider accommodation falls on the shoulders of designers and organisers, not the disabled person. And if only the designers had done so at the beginning, perhaps those uncomfortable and potentially discriminatory conversations might not have had to happen at all.
A Two-way Conversation
Of course, it seems easy to say all of this on paper. I acknowledge as of the writing of this article that figuring out the ways to balance aesthetic and artistic choices in larps and accessibility is a difficult design problem. Nor is there anyone out to impose mandates that each game must be accessible in all ways, barring what is required by law in the larp’s home country. And while it might be an intriguing mental exercise to go down the “freedom of creation” versus inclusivity accommodation mode of thinking, that conversation has been tread in regards to intersectional inclusivity ad nauseum. It is an understood right of creators to make artistic choices for their games, and should they choose not to build towards inclusivity, that is their right. However, when a game designer chooses to consider accessibility for the differently abled, especially from the beginning, they are signalling to their player base that they consider their space a welcoming one for people of all kinds, even if it makes them a little more work to design around obstacles. Designing towards accessibility is a signpost that a larp creator considers the health and well-being of their players as important as well, and can create a deeper bond of trust between organisers and players in regards to game safety.
The final piece to the design challenge regarding accessibility, however, is communication. As mentioned above, though the term disabled indicates the need for accommodation to assist the individual with accessing a space or event, each disabled person’s needs might be specialised. Not every wheelchair user needs the same level of accommodation, nor do all those with specific psychological needs require the same response. While designers may create spaces for accommodation in the game, it is often necessary for those who are disabled to speak up and request additional accommodation or else adjustments to what is in place to suit their specific needs. While it can be difficult to self-advocate for one’s needs, it is imperative to have a process in place before or at a larp for these conversations to take place. Should someone feel uncomfortable stating their need for accommodation, an advocate such as a friend or fellow larper might be a good ally to seek out to help communicate with the organisers. This process can be as simple as organisers making it overtly clear they are open to having these discussions, or for a larger game to have a particular staff member acting as accessibility liaison. Each process can be tailored to the size, length and scope of the game in question, but all serve to make the process of creating these accommodations smoother and less contentious.
One other note to bear in mind when considering disability conversations is the notion of trust and belief. It is important when an organiser is approached by someone asking for accommodation to show that they not only hear the person, but that they believe them. Since many disabilities, such as chronic illness, injury, or mental illness, are largely invisible disabilities, they are often questioned by people who cannot see an assistive device as evidence of a disability. Refrains like “you don’t look sick” or “can’t you just deal with it?” are typical. Requiring a disabled person to present evidence of their disability to receive accommodation is difficult and often embarrassing for the disabled person. For communication and trust to be fostered in a healthy environment, the disabled person must feel the organiser is receptive to their issues. Should an organiser feel they don’t have the perspective to understand the needs of their disabled players, seeking out resources from articles, organisations, or even disability advocates within the gaming community can help to create better dialogues going forward.
While individual conversations on the local larp level are the bedrock on which change will come, communication in regards to accessibility needs to be fostered on an even larger scale. Conversations regarding how to create better games, better mechanics, and better communities are sweeping across the larp world, spread by the Internet and fantastic convention and conference spaces. One of those conversations going forward in terms of inclusivity in gaming communities must include further discussion of accessibility for the disabled. Our communities are in a period of sharing for the betterment of all, learning from one another in an age of what larp designer and creator Josh Harrison has coined fourth wave larp design. It is imperative for our communities to continue these conversations so better tools and best practices discovered by individual games can be shared, improved upon, and reshaped through communal iteration.
It’s towards that spirit of communal iteration that I put forth the challenge to designers to come up with new mechanics for players with disabilities to use, new ideas for interaction in our games outside of the able-bodied norms. New mechanics, such as the Avatar mechanic brainstormed by myself and Lizzie Stark (2014), in which a player with mobility issues may have a surrogate step in during play to perform physical actions that player cannot, is an example of how two designers coming together can create a new mechanic for the game design toolbox. Collaboration will be the means by which more of these ideas become about in the future.
Additionally, iterating on already established norms will expand and improve institutions already in place. To that end, I am suggesting an amendment to the Mixing Desk of Larp (Andresen, Nielsen and Stenros et al., 2016), that oh-so useful tool spread from the Larpwriter Summer school and now used to create games across the world. While there are thirteen slots for faders, used to plan and illustrate the various decisions made during the planning process of a larp, the last one is left blank and marked “Your Fader Here.” This space is left for designers to include their own fader, something not covered among the twelve other ingredients the Mixing Desk suggests goes into designing a larp. While it would be convenient to say accessibility is a good option for including into the “Your Fader Here” spot, I would suggest something even stronger. For a game to truly tackle accessibility and make it as much of a priority for larps as the other ingredients so important to design, a fourteenth fader slot marked Accessibility should go up on the Mixing Desk alongside that write-in category. This would signal a tacit shift in thinking, enshrining the idea that accessibility is not and should not be a sometimes consideration if designers wish to see our community tackle ableism in our design spaces. By adjusting this already understood and widely used mechanic, we as a community would be indicating how important accessibility truly is for the larp world at large.
And make no mistake, it is an important part of the future of inclusivity in the larp world. Without considering accessibility for differently abled larpers, our community neglects a fundamental demographic and shuts out a plethora of voices who could contribute to making our storytelling communities even brighter. When a differently abled person cannot even attend an event, we lose vital voices whose presence could enhance and innovate, add and amplify the able-bodied community. All that is needed to make sure their voices can add to the collective artistic space is consideration for their needs at the forefront of design by the (mostly) ablebodied constituency of larp creators. Accessibility in design cannot be an afterthought but should live alongside questions of theme and player motivation as a reminder that larp is and should remain a space equally available for all as we go forward into designing the games of our future.
The United States: Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 And Revised ADA Regulations Implementing Title II and Title III (USA 1990), https://www.ada.gov/2010_regs.htm.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nordiclarp.org or any larp community at large.
Sex! Isn’t it great? And a significant and thought-provoking part of human experience. Interesting because of the effects it has on people; dramatic because of the emotional stories that can be woven around it; fun because it’s (usually) enjoyable, and we’re all grown-ups here, aren’t we?
Larping succubi. Photo by flickr user danielle_blue
If you’re designing a larp about any aspect of human experience that’s not entirely abstract, and you’re working in anything like the Nordic tradition((It’s different in the US and UK traditions: and maybe in other countries as well, we don’t know.)), there’s a good chance that you’ll be thinking about the possibility for characters to engage in sexual activity of some sort. And, because this is a larp rather than a sex holiday, you’ll be thinking about what sort of technique(s) to use to represent different types of activity. Even in the most permissive of larp cultures, fully-indexical wysiwyg((What You See Is What You Get – ie. direct representation.)) dkwddk((Du Kannst Was Du Darstellen Kannst – ie. direct action.)) sex would generally be thought of as a bit extreme.
So, then, there’s a whole spectrum of different techniques and meta-techniques available out there, in extant successful larps, for representing sexual activity – from flirtation up to various different modes of coition.
Meta or Not?
A brief digression. There’s a distinction here between diegetic representational techniques – where the players are doing something that is actually how their characters engage in sexual activity, but which has been designed to be different from the way normal humans do – and meta-techniques – which are in some way abstracted representations of sexual activity. So for example if you use Ars amandi as a way of representing your characters engaging in sexual intercourse, that’s a meta-technique. But if caressing each other’s arms and shoulders is actually how these characters have sex – as in Mellan himmel och hav – then that’s a diegetic technique. Your choice which you want to use! From the point of view of this argument, it doesn’t matter much: holding someone’s hand is holding someone’s hand, whether it’s diegetic or not.
Okay Then, Back to the Spectrum
We are going to argue that the most important thing about how you’re going to represent sex is: how sexy do you want it to be? So, as Kat Jones described in a talk((Jones, K. C. 2016. ‘Touching on Taboos: Exploring Sexuality and Intimacy Through Larp’, keynote address at Living Games Conference 2016. https://youtu.be/Whk-gsw3zFk [accessed 26 July 2016].)) at Living Games Conference, it might involve two players dropping out of the larp together for 15 minutes and killing time somehow in a part of the play space where the other players can’t see them: when they rejoin the larp, it is considered that they have had sex (in some way that’s unimportant to define in detail). That’s at the ‘not very sexy’ end of the spectrum.
Slightly sexier: the players sit aside together and agree, out-of-character, what sexual activity their characters are going to engage in. This is then decreed to have happened, without any attempt at actually representing it.
Slightly sexier still: the players hold hands and gaze into each other’s eyes while doing the above.
More sexy: they stroke each other’s arms and shoulders, or other not-generally-thought-of-as-erogenous zones, either schematically (me caressing you like this represents this particular sexual act) or just generally.
Also more sexy (in some ways but not in others): players agree on the sexual activity that’s going to happen, then play it out using a prop wooden phallus rather than making any actual sexual contact.
Potentially much more sexy: players use a red–yellow–green safety system, whereby they can represent any level of sexual activity by making ever closer and more involving physical contact, until one of them decides that’s enough.
Perhaps you’re thinking here “Hold on a minute – holding hands, gazing into eyes, stroking arms and shoulders, that’s not sexy!” Well… maybe it hasn’t been for you, with the people who you’ve so far done that with in larp. But think: if you’re doing that with your real-life partner, then it’s a level of foreplay. Some people who you larp with, you will find attractive, whether you want to or not: or they may find you attractive. In that situation, there are no non-erogenous zones.
From the 2014 run of Just a Little Lovin’. Photo by the organizers, from a talk at Prolog 2015.
But Why Would You Actually Want It to Be Sexy?
Well, here are a few of the possible reasons:
More immersive: the closer that player actions can be to character actions – ie. the less abstract the representation – the less it breaks immersion. If your character is doing something sexy (or painful, or joyful, or angry, or whatever) then having something close to the same experience yourself as a player will help you feel your character’s feelings more closely and intensely.
More aesthetically satisfying: using a non-sexy technique to represent sex is generally pretty clumsy. It involves people dropping out of the game, it may involve elision of time, it may involve people coming back into the game not looking anything like they’ve just been having sex… and so on. If you pride yourself on the representation level of your larp, non-sexy sex is understandably unappealing.
More convincing and authentic: if your body is feeling genuine sexiness-related hormones and endorphins coursing around it, you’ll find it easier and more natural to relate to the person who is causing those as your sexual partner in the larp.
More ‘hardcore’: if you’re aiming for representation of ‘unfun’ sexual activity, involving suffering, coercion and other grimness, then using authentically sex-related physicality can sometimes make it more impactful than abstraction could.
More fun: what’s not to like about sexiness? People enjoy it! We are all adults here, and it’s not doing anyone any harm, as long as it’s all fully consented.
So What’s Wrong with That, Then?
Maybe nothing! But we would like to suggest that sexy sex in larp may not always be an unalloyed good thing. Not because we are repressed and joyless Puritans((Mo was brought up that way, it’s true, but he’s been doing a fairly good job of shaking it off.)) – but because we think there’s a need to be thoughtful about what you’re asking of participants, which isn’t always being addressed.
Touchy Culture
As larp becomes more international, larpers from a wide range of different cultures are becoming involved. We wonder if there is sometimes an unexamined assumption that being comfortable with touch, and happy to accept it as without actual sexual meaning – as is common in some European cultures – is in some significant way more progressive and enlightened than the caution around touch that’s present in other cultures. And that accordingly, players from those other cultures – or players who don’t identify with that aspect of their home culture – should learn to power through their discomfort; or else should just be prepared to exclude themselves from larps that are going to involve touch?
Now if your larp is entirely designed around skin-on-skin contact, that’s one thing. But not many are… Much more common is that a player could comfortably go through a whole larp avoiding skin-on-skin contact, other than when it comes to use of a sex technique or meta-technique.
Larp Is Not a Bubble
Participants in larp also have an existence outside it, which will include loved ones of one kind or another – including sexual partners. Now, of course, there are many scenarios where partners are entirely happy with people engaging in sexytimes activity with others while on larp, for example:
There is no partner.
Relationship is an open one.
Partner is happy with ‘what happens on larp, stays on larp’.
Partner doesn’t want to know what happens on larp.
Partner thinks they know what happens on larp, but doesn’t actually know everything.
Partner has discussed boundaries for how sexy/unsexy a range of larp activity they are OK with.
And then for younger players, these considerations may also apply to parents/guardians. It’s not enough to expect players to say to their significant others, when asked why exactly it is that they were smooching away like that at the weekend, “You don’t get it! It’s larp!”
Communication
Suppose that you’re in the ‘have discussed boundaries’ category. When you sign up for a larp, is it always made clear whether the sex techniques involved might transgress those boundaries? Organizers are impressively organized about communicating practical details of larps, these days, but something like “this larp will be using Ars amandi as a sex meta-technique” is not always seen in advance of signup. Should it be? – is that as important as letting prospective players know that the larp will be eg. physically arduous?
From an ars amandi workshop. Still from a video by Harrison Greene.
As a designer you want your players to be engaging with and exploring their relationship to the issues that your larp is bringing up; not spending emotion and energy on negotiating around the borders of their partner’s preferred physical boundaries.
Exclusion
We go to great lengths to make our hobby welcoming and inclusive for everyone who wants to participate. It feels wrong for people who don’t want to play out sexy sex mechanics to be the one group that it’s OK to exclude.
So who are we talking about as being excluded here?
People who for cultural reasons are uncomfortable with touching those with whom they aren’t actually intimate.
People whose relationships have boundaries that don’t include sexy doings with others; or who haven’t fully discussed where such boundaries might be.
People who, perhaps because of trauma, are psychologically uncomfortable with physical intimacy in general.
People who find intimacy highly emotionally affecting, and so are wary of engaging in it.
People who just don’t want to be doing that sort of thing in their larp, for whatever reason.
(Of course, you will probably have opt-outs available, intended to allow players to halt sexual activity before their boundaries are reached. But opting-out isn’t always easy or possible, in the heat of the moment: and discomfort, of participants or their partners, may also be caused by what other players are doing around them.)
Now without those people present, you’ll still have a great selection of larpers. But is there a danger that they will fall into a relatively narrow psycho-social description? – even a stereotype?
The Down-low
We are not saying that representing sex in larp is a bad thing – far from it. But we are saying that it should always be a considered ingredient – like all design decisions, it would benefit from a debate and some questioning and not just be accepted as a default. Does your larp need to allow for sexual activity between characters? – if yes, then the next question is, how should that be represented in a way that supports the design needs and the larp aesthetic? And part of that question is: how sexy does it need to be?
We feel that there are likely to be a range of answers to that question: and that, while for many larps, a high-sexiness technique or meta-technique will be entirely appropriate; for others, a low-sexiness one will be more applicable. And we also feel that, no matter how you turn and twist it, some methods are more inclusive than others. Sometimes at the cost of narrative effects; and sometimes at the cost of players.
Cover photo: From the 2014 run of Just a Little Lovin’ (photo by the organizers, from a talk at Prolog 2015).
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nordiclarp.org or any larp community at large.
“Nordic larp is like porn. I know it when I see it.”((Adaptation of a quote by United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart (1964) ))
Ten years ago, when first attending the Knutpunkt conference in Norway, I was humbled by stories about Hamlet, 1942 and other great games. Here, there were people actually stretching the definition of what “larp” means. It was an awesome, mind blowing experience for sure. There were a lot of talks about the larps that were influenced by the KP tradition and vice versa. There was no good term for these games, so usually the rather cumbersome “games in the KP/SK tradition” was used.
When in 2010, Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola published the book Nordic Larp documenting 30 larps belonging to this tradition, they effectively coined the term. It had been used before, but never with such a brand recognition. Still, there was no clear definition what “Nordic larp” actually means. In discussions, one of the main points is if the term is meant geographically or not. The Nordic Larp Wiki greets its visitors with the following words:
“Nordic-style larp, or Nordic Larp, is a term used to describe a tradition of larp game design that emerged in the Nordic countries.”
So far, so good. Is it a geographical description then? “Nordic” seems to imply this and the Nordic Larp Wiki certainly defines it this way:
In 2012, Juhana Pettersson writes in States of Play (already subtitled as “Nordic Larp around the world”):
“Nordic Larp is not the same as the larps played in the Nordic countries. Indeed, most Nordic larps are not part of the Nordic Larp design movement. This leads to the bizarre situation where the Nordic Larp movement can enter into dialogue with Finnish larp the same way it can be in dialogue with Russian larp.
“Nowadays, the truly new stuff comes from all those Italians, Germans and Americans who have taken some of the ideas of Nordic Larp and made them part of their own artistic practice. Thankfully, instead of just assimilating stuff from us, they’re sending ideas back, becoming the new creative frontier of Nordic Larp.”
So the definition from the Wiki is not very useful since there are:
Larps in this tradition which are not from Nordic countries;
Larps in Nordic countries not belonging to this tradition.
So why is it still called Nordic? What’s so Nordic about Nordic larp? Maybe it is the origin of the movement. In his Nordic Larp Talk 2013, Jaakko Stenros tries to define “a” Nordic larp this way:
“A larp that is influenced by the Nordic larp tradition or contributes to the ongoing Nordic larp discourse. This definition may seem disappointing, or even like a cop-out.”((‘What does Nordic Larp mean?’, Jaakko Stenros, Nordic Larp Talks 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL_qvBaxV5k))
Not only a cop-out, but also recursive. Thus it is not very helpful if we want to get closer to the actual meaning of the term. Furthermore he continues:
“Nordic larp is not a set of instructions. It is not even a coherent design philosophy. It is a movement.”
Well, well – it’s also not a coherent design philosophy. At least that definition empowers anybody to define their own style as Nordic. And where is the nodal point of this movement? It is, in fact, the Nodal Point conference – Knudepunkt/ Knutepunkt/Knutpunkt/Solmukohta.
Next, there is Jaakko Stenros’ version of a brand definition for the “Nordic larp tradition”:
“A tradition that views larp as a valid form of expression, worthy of debate, analysis and continuous experimentation, which emerged around the Knutepunkt convention.”
We are back to the KP/SK tradition. Not much Nordic left here though, because this tradition (r)evolves around the conferences and for at least ten years they have certainly not been entirely Nordic (in geographical terms) anymore and not the creative frontier (according to Juhana Pettersson above). Somehow we are getting nowhere.
Let’s try a different approach. The book The Foundation Stone of Nordic Larp((The Foundation Stone of Nordic Larp, 2014, Edited by Eleanor Saitta, Marie Holm-Andersen & Jon Back)) was written to give a sort of “kickstart” into the Nordic larp tradition, collecting important articles from the now 20+ books published around the Knudepunkt conference. It describes Nordic larp this way:
“The Nordic larp community differs from larp culture in other places. […] And yes, that’s right, there are other kinds of larps played in Scandinavia; the Nordic larp community is a specific and by now reasonably well-defined subset.”
So, first sentence: kind of geographic. Let’s imagine the movement is what the author implies as a “place”, because the last sentence of the paragraph is clear about the term being non-geographic. Let’s try to define the term in other ways. Also from the above paragraph:
“It spends more time telling stories that emphasize naturalistic emotion, it emphasizes collective, rather than competitive storytelling, and it takes its stories fairly seriously much of the time […]”
Jaakko Stenros’ Nordic Larp Talk also mentions some of these characteristics:
“It typically values thematic coherence, continuous illusion, action and immersion, while keeping the larp co-creative and its production noncommercial. Workshops and debriefs are common.”
These are characteristics which undoubtedly are part of the tradition we are talking about. The Nordic Larp Wiki supports this approach as well:
“[…]Here are a few examples of aims and ideals that are typical for this unique gaming scene:”
If we accept the Nordic Larp wiki as a PR instrument, this is certainly cool, but as a reference about what Nordic larp actually means, this is maybe slightly too much self-adulation. Let’s have a closer look at these characteristics and ideals:
“Immersion. Nordic larpers want to feel like they are “really there”. This includes creating a truly convincing illusion of physically being in a medieval village/on a spaceship/WWII bunker, playing a character that is very close to your own physical appearance, as well as focusing on getting under the character’s skin to ‘feel their feelings’. Dreaming in character at night is seen by some nordic larpers as a sign of an appropriate level of immersion.”
Not only is this definition of immersion mixing in 360° for good measure, the sentence about the “truly convincing illusion of physically being [there]” is also not very Nordic (at least from my personal experience) even though some games are now trying to do exactly that. The second part talking more about actual immersion could be considered very Nordic, if you like.
“Collaboration. Nordic-style larp is about creating an exciting and emotionally affecting story together, not measuring your strength. There is no winning, and many players intentionally let their characters fail in their objectives to create more interesting stories.”
This might actually be one of the better indicators for a “Nordic larp”, but then, there’s plenty of examples from other game traditions where this is used as well – but maybe not the other way around. Maybe it is required, but not sufficient?
“Artistic vision. Many Nordic games are intended as more than entertainment – they make artistic or even political statements. The goal in these games is to affect the players long term, to perhaps change the way they see themselves or how they act in society.”
Artistic vision is hard to define, as is a political statement, but there’s certainly a divide between pure “entertainment” and “serious” games. But then, aren’t the ones without a political statement artistic in their own unique way? And what about the Nordic games which are not intended as more than entertainment?
There’s certainly a lot of elements which are considered part of this tradition, but are they unique? Is “bleed”, “immersion”, “alibi” really Nordic? Are pre-game workshops, 360°, black box and debriefings? Furthermore, what is often described as “Nordic larp”, evolves with every game and every discussion about this tradition. Fifteen years ago, no game would use bleed or alibi or 360° in their descriptions (since the terms didn’t really exist) and even mechanisms, but still they were and are considered part of this tradition.
One could argue the way Merleau-Ponty does and say that while many of these are often present, none needs to be to make it a Nordic larp. The question cannot be solved this way.
Furthermore, when we used black-box-style mechanisms in 2000-2003 in the Insomnia series of games in Germany, were they “Nordic”? Did the workshops, debriefings, game acts and use of “cut”, “brems” and “escalate” mechanisms for The Living Dead (2010) make it “Nordic”?
There’s a simple answer: no. But the reason for that is not that they were not played in the Nordic countries or organized by people from there. The simple reason is that they did not add to the discourse, in one case because we hadn’t heard about KP yet, in the other case because we didn’t bother to do so.
This needs to change. I don’t think it actually matters where ideas were first tried out and who made it popular, but we need to tell people what we do and show it to them in a meaningful way if we want to be part of the movement.
“In the end, while we may rage and debate whether Nordic larp actually isn’t all that special, reality is that it is. And let’s use that for our advantage instead of trying to nitpick.”((Claus Raasted, January 14 2015 in a private conversation on Facebook))
– Claus Raasted
Conclusion
I truly believe there is something special about the kind of games we create. I also do think that creating a term like “Nordic Larp” was a masterstroke of Knudepunkt/ Knutepunkt/Knutpunkt/Solmukohta propaganda.
And this is what I’m going to do((And maybe edit that page in the Nordic Larp Wiki and remove that ridiculous geographic reference.)): Nordic larp. No matter where I am or where I come from. It’s where I’ve been heading all my larping life and I don’t really care how we call it as long as we know what it means. I believe we do.
Because if we can’t agree upon what Nordic larp means, others will form their own slightly worrying conclusions:
“Meanwhile, in Europe, some people were already making a living from LARPing and stretching its art in interesting directions. Claus Raasted [sic], for example, fused parlor roleplay with very serious topics, such as acting out couples’ therapy to pretend to grieve for a dead child. The genre spread through the region and became known as Nordic LARP.”((Olivia Simone, tabletmag.com, Sep 2 2014 getting more facts wrong than right in this “definition” of the term.))
Nobody really can tell you what Nordic larp actually is, but who cares as long as Claus Raasted is the godfather of Nordic LARP?
