Nordic Larp

Tag: Talk

  • Solmukohta 2020 Futurespective: Sharon Underberg

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    Solmukohta 2020 Futurespective: Sharon Underberg

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    It’s a retrospective – from the year 2040! Six speakers tell us what’s happened in their world of larp “in the past 10 years”.

    Solmukohta 2020 Futurespective speakers: Erik Winther Paisley, Eleanor Saitta, Eirik Fatland, Johanna Koljonen, Sharon Underberg and Karolina Fedyk.

    Transcript

    Thanks for the invitation to speak about the state of larp from 2030 through the present. It’s really been an exciting time. Oh, and since it’s not very interesting watching my face as I speak, I’ll share some photos and drawings #of fellow larpers.

    I will admit I had my worries. I remember all the talks we had back when the term “older larpers” referred to players in their 40’s and 50’s. Many of us were juggling work and family responsibilities.

    We often had more money than the younger larpers, but less time. There were certainly trade offs–

    the more experienced players, especially those identifying as male, had a lot of social capital, and were often given leadership roles in larps.

    But back then, players identifying as female had a bit harder time–more likely to be typecast as mothers or witches, often defined by their relationships with other players.

    And already there was awareness of the physical challenges of aging.

    At that time in my life, I thought of the future with some trepidation. As we progressed from “older” to–I don’t know–”old”? Ancient?– a lot of things would change.

    I’d anticipated that those of us now in our 60s and 70’s would largely be retired, with more spare time but less spare cash.

    What many of us hopefully would have gained in wisdom and experience would be intermixed with losses–of partners, of mobility, of eyesight or hearing, other health challenges.

    I had hopes that assistive technology would ameliorate some of the physical challenges, but still–.I was acutely aware.

    Even without those losses, the old are often perceived differently by the young. As more frail, more needy, less authoritative, And no longer a peer. Imagine larping with someone like THAT?

    But things have turned out way better than I anticipated. One major factor, I think, is that there was a whole cohort of us who were aging at the same time, and many of those people were already pioneers and leaders in the larp community. .

    But even those of us who were just players put out the challenge to larp designers. First, give us physical designs that can accommodate our aging bodies, as well as our differently abled younger peers.

    A comfortable place to sleep, options for those with physical challenges.

    The changes in response to this didn’t happen all at once, nor did they happen universally.

    It took time, especially for younger designers and organizers, to really get what we were asking. To do more than pay lip service to the needs of older players.

    Some were unwilling or unable to make those changes, sometimes for reasons beyond their control.

    There are still ancient castles with winding stairs, still larps centered around physical combat, or running across difficult terrain,

    Not all larps are for everyone, but more and more I’ve seen that decision made consciously rather than by inadvertently excluding some players in the design process.

    And then there’s the expanding genre of virtual reality larps, where our physical abilities and appearances can morph at will. Talk about empowering….!

    But having the physical ability to participate in a larp was only a starting place. Far more important was full inclusion in the story without artificial limits based on age.

    This is what we demanded: Design interesting characters for those of us who are older–without the preconceptions and prejudices about what an older player can feel or do.

    Give us agency, give us passions and flaws and conflicts. And remember, there is no age limit on either romance or sexuality.

    At first it was the older and more experienced designers who responded to this, but once the younger designers saw this modeled, and saw the full breadth of character that someone with six or seven decades of life experience could achieve, many of them followed suit. Not all, but that’s okay.

    Because of course, not all larps are for everyone. As there are some designed for younger players, there have been more larps developed specifically for more mature players.

    Which only makes sense, because as we have aged, many of us have found ourselves interested in exploring new questions and aspects of larp.

    Personally I find myself alternating between escape-from-reality larping and those that explore some of the less comfortable aspects of aging, including memory loss, disability and death.

    Let me tell you about my last few larps.

    Bjarke Pedersen’s latest larp, The Number of the Beast, featured a satanic cult in which the members are powerless until they reach the age of 66 and 6 months. Taking place at a secluded manor house, the mysterious cult leader hosted a “coming of age” ritual for those finally attaining the ranks of elder. As you can imagine,decadence and madness ensued.

    Mythical Fools premiered Navarca, a larp taking place on a generation ship where the inhabitants have lost all knowledge of how to maintain the ship. The lights have been gradually going out, and the larp begins as they are about to be left in total darkness. I played Shim, an elder and hereditary ”Pusher-of-the-keys” who evolved from traditionalist to heretic.

    The latest College of Wizardry spinoff, Squaring Seven, takes place in a world where you only gain magic once your seventh child has given birth to their seventh child. During that last pregnancy, the incipient Witchards come together at college to learn about the skills they are about to acquire.. The larp prides itself on being equally accessible as even younger players are allowed to play the students and professors despite the age discrepancy.

    Kathy Amende’s latest larp, Retreat, is an intimate parlor larp for 6 characters, in which each character starts with fully fleshed memories, skills and complex relationships with the other players. Through a randomized process, memories and skills are gradually lost, affecting some characters more than others. The powerful evolution of interaction was particularly moving–I’m still processing and dealing with significant bleed..

    Meanwhile, Ryan Hart’s latest in his cyberpunk series, Touchstone, uses VR mixed with live action. In a future in which half of humanity has been uploaded to the Cathedral, a giant computer, there are conflicts for rights between the virtual and physical worlds.I greatly enjoyed playing EIGHTBALL, avatar of a powerful Master of Loci who had claimed the Cathedral itself.

    On the post apocalyptic front, Chaos League’s Many Mothers was an ecological fable played out in the Sahara Desert. The matriarchal inhabitants of the last oasis are forced to make difficult decisions when their ecosystem is found to be shrinking. Who will stay and who will leave to join the roving motorcycle gangs warring for dominance in the desert?

    I was privileged to attend the 20th anniversary rerun of The Rites of Spring, run by an experienced team led by John Shockley. This folk horror larp took place on a remote island off the English coast, where ancient traditions become horrifyingly real both for islanders and visitors. As one of the elders, our roles were central to the plot.

    And one more. Avalon Larp Studio’s latest, The Immortal Dilemma, was a thought provoking political larp based on Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. In the land of Luggnagg, the Struldbrugs are born with a red mark above one eye which indicates they have the blessing–or curse–of living forever, but without the gift of eternal youth. The players are some of the first cohort of struldbruggs, who have been alive and in power long enough that they now own and control everything. Having come to realize that their descendants are suffering under their regime, the Struldbrugs are meeting as a congress to make a consequential decision: either keeping the status quo or giving up all legal rights once they turn 80,remaining powerless for all of their subsequent days. Would removing themselves from society be the solution to give their descendants a chance to have a future of their own? Is it too much of a sacrifice to spend eternity without power or possessions?

    So in summary it’s been an amazing ten years of larp, and especially as we age, larp has progressed right with us and given us more and more opportunities. Please, as we come into the future, remember those who are older are the ones who make magic.

    This was part of the Solmukohta 2020 online program. https://solmukohta.eu/

  • Solmukohta 2020: Kaisa Kangas – Seaside Prison – Designing Larp for Wider Cultural Audiences

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    Solmukohta 2020: Kaisa Kangas – Seaside Prison – Designing Larp for Wider Cultural Audiences

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    Seaside Prison is a blackbox larp financially supported by Finnish Cultural Foundation, about life in Gaza. Lately, art and entertainment in general have been going towards interactive and immersive dimensions, and there has been interest towards the larp toolbox among, for example, performance artists. However, wider cultural audiences often find traditional larps hard to approach since they take a lot of time and require preparation. One of the ideas behind Seaside Prison is to create a package that is easier to approach. The larp is run in a theatre environment and employs sound, light, and video projection. Could this be a joint future for larp and theatre? In this talk we discuss how the larp was created, its aims, and the possible futures for larp in the culture establishment.

    Q&A from the Original Viewing at Solmukohta 2020 Online Event

    Anon 1: Theater as a familiar environment: So true! But does it involves expectations of stage-acting?

    Kaisa Kangas No, we do not advertise it in that way, and we have workshop where we go into what larp is 🙂

     

    Anon 2: Though the building itself carries its own expectations – some people will go to a theatre simply expecting to sit and watch, and even if they know it’s a larp, they have to be onboarded in a way that takes into account the theatre environment’s expectations.

    Kaisa Kangas Sure!

    Kaisa Kangas But we don’t really have a stage or seats for audience, we start the workshop with people walking around. And advertise it as larp. 🙂

     

    Anon 1: I’m just wondering if you know any kind of (public?) space which is more neutral in expectations than theater but still a familiar (playful?) environment?

    Kaisa Kangas I’m sure there are spaces that are more neutral. We use the theatre environment also because it is practical for us: theatres have the light and sound technique that we need, so we don’t have to install everything separately.

     

    Anon 3: We’ve got our own black box room in Zagreb, if it helps.

    Anon 2: I found the careful mapping of “alternate Finland” with “similar to real-world Gaza experience” really successful in Halat hisar; especially while people are very wary about appropriation or misusing suffering for “games”, I find this work to be really deeply rooted in an understanding of its source and of its limitations

    Anon 4: The parallels to The Quota are really interesting – re setting it “at home” rather than appropriating.

    Anon 5: The advantages of the setting being in your country also make is a lot easier for larp newbies for whom it can be daunting to prepare a lot in advance and on the other hand hard to get into character with too little context. 😉

    Anon 6: If anyone wants to do these kind of things in Gothenburg I most often have free of charge venue, but if you are selling tickets I need money for the venue (the money will go back to gaming culture) We have sound systems, but only old school lighting,

    Anon 6: We also have several projectors and movable screens

     

    Kaisa Kangas We sell tickets for two reasons:

    – They cover part of the costs (tech and the spaces can be expensive);

    – People feel more committed to come when they have paid (even a nominal) fee.

     

    Anon 6: Kaisa Agree on the committed thing.

    Anon 7: You don’t see it in the video, but we were literally blinded by bright light.

    Anon 7: As in, couldn’t keep eyes open bright.

    Anon 7: No need to cry out of emotion when your eyes well up from the photons. 🙂

    Anon 6: Crying now.

    Anon 4: Welling up too. Wow.

    Anon 1: There is a similar participatory theater in Hungary which is called the Escape and you play blindly as a refugee childen from a fictional country trying to get into Europe. Very chilling!

    Anon 6: I’ve played something like that when I was a teen.

     

    Anon 1: Can you elaborate? I’m interested!

    Anon 3: Damn! I want to play this!

     

    Anon 10: The lamps also produce a heatwave, which I think was a powerful and unusual addition to the visual effects.

     

    Anon 8: I was in that test run and hearing the music and sounds again made me unexpectedly emotional <3

    Anon 3: Anon 8: Haven’t been there but it got me too.

     

    Anon 4: Inviting politicians would be a great idea too

     

    Anon 7: Yes, the heat was real!

     

    Anon 9: I have one tangential question – I’ve heard about a larp on similar theme (fleeing a war zone) which gave people this fake sense that now they know exactly how it is to be a refugee and they equate the larp experience with real, lived experiences. How to communicate with players to avoid this kind of… emotional appropriation, for the lack of better phrase?

     

    Anon 6: I wouldn’t. They feel what they feel. They might be factually wrong, but experience over time will inform them. 🙂

     

    Anon 6: I mean, larp is something that does happen to your physical body and larping it will increase you emotional understanding of something much more than many other cultural forms.

    Saying its the same experience will be a overstatement, but that is the way some people speak. I don’t think they will belittle people who have had the real experience after going to such a larp, instead they will have more empathy, which is a good thing.

     

    Anon 9: I’m worried that it may lead to belittling though – and for some it might. While as a designer I’m not responsible for how people interpret my larps, I want to make sure I don’t encourage responses that are harmful or dismissive towards other people’s lived experiences.

    Kaisa Kangas I think that when you have someone present who actually has that experience and whom they can discuss with at the debrief/ contextualisation, it usually puts things into perspective. At least I felt that was the effect in Halat hisar, when players could ask Palestinians questions about their lives. You kind of realise that you had your own experience but this other person is living it in real life and there’s a difference.

     

    Anon 6: Anon 9: I’m thinking if I tell they “feel wrong” then I am guilty of belitteling the right there and then.

    I don’t know Everything about my players, and why their inner World works that way or why they use language that way.

     

    Anon 10: I think you get quite far as an organizer by just avoiding equating the larp with a real life experience when you introduce the larp. I would say the risk is quite insignificant when doing a larp in a black box theater with an adult player group.

    But I do think the risk is real if doing a 360 degree simulation with say, teenagers, and organizers who want to exaggerate the impact of what they do.

     

    Anon 9: Anon 6: that is a very good point and I need to let it sink in for me. Thank you!

     

    Anon 6: Anon 9: I Always tro to make like a risk assesment and Think that the person in front of me also Counts. I know I’m super sensitive if someone tells me my feeling is wrong or my language (English isnt my mother tongue) is wrong.

    And my level of what is “harm” is quite high. I see a difference between offence and harm.

     

    Anon 11: Thank you <3 This is a great and important project, I’m looking forward to maybe getting to play it. I would loveto continue the discussion about larps for a wider audience, also in connection to yesterday’s talk about the commodification of larp and how we navigate all this.

    Kaisa Kangas It’s a super-interesting topic!

    I have to yet watch the commodification talk (yesterday, I was still busy editing video…)

     

    Anon 8: My big question with this project is, how does it change the larp as an experience if/when a large part of the participants come with no or little background information on larping, and when the setting guides their perceptions and expectations towards theatre?

    Kaisa Kangas That’s a good question! Our aim is to have some people with larp experience in all the runs so there would be some herd competence. And we spend a lot of time workshopping things. Originally, I planned to talk a bit more about stuff like this, but that was before the Tuesday run got cancelled, and it’s hard to talk about it when you don’t have the experience on how it worked.

     

    Anon 8: I’m looking forward to your future talk about the things you learned from Seaside Prison <3

     

    Anon 2: This was something [X] and I started with in 2009 – we came from theatre and knew we were advertising to a theatre audience, and we also designed very much with theatricality in mind. But there were so, so many things to be learned about a) getting your audience to actually buy a ticket in the first place, b) getting them all on the same page before the piece, c) getting them all on the same page once they’re in the room, d) hand-holding and making sure that they feel confident enough to keep playing until the end. A turn-key larp is an interesting product but does require massive amounts of excellent PR.

     

    Anon 1: I’m quite interested in your best practices and tips in a) and b)!!!

     

    Anon 8: Is “turn-key larp” the term for a larp where you just buy the ticket and show up, no preparations needed?

    Kaisa Kangas We use a really long time for the workshop in our time slot. And we hope to have a right mix of people with larp experience and people with no larp experience in the run, so there is some herd competence. Also, having a clear structure helps.

    Kaisa Kangas Also, was originally hoping to talk more about these aspects at SK, but can’t really talk about them without the experience of running the larp.

     

    Anon 12: Anon 1: Maybe we should write a summary of out experiences some time, but maybe the most important thing (I think) was that the process of getting ready to take part in the piece was the piece itself – that it’s built in that in the beginning the engagement level is different and then it’s deepened through the process.

     

    Anon 5:Low threshold larping is something I think is currently an underused medium of larp. Here, the Seaside Prison team has taken into account and removed or shrunk many obstacles that prevent new people from larping even in super interesting projects like this. I especially appreciate the fact that no preparation is needed yet you get a proper, sufficient background for the larp (due to a familiar setting and the extensive workshop.) It is also a significant advantage that the game can be played in the course of one evening, even after work. The fact that it is cheap is really important, too.

    Kaisa Kangas Here’s a link to our webpage in case you want more information on future runs, etc! (Will be updated when we know that it will be possible to run the larp.)

    http://seasideprison.fi

    Kaisa Kangas We also have a FB page.

    https://www.facebook.com/seasideprison/

    This was part of the Solmukohta 2020 online program. https://solmukohta.eu/

  • Solmukohta 2020: Mátyás Hartyándi – Larp – Oddity, Hypernym or what?

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    Solmukohta 2020: Mátyás Hartyándi – Larp – Oddity, Hypernym or what?

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    A talk about the future and self-definition of larps for those who are interested in overlapping activities and/or multidisciplinary cooperations. As the meaning and praxis of Nordic larps evolved and expanded during the last two decades, some of its larps became nearly indistinguishable from other established forms of role-playing (e.g. process drama or socio drama). Is this a bug or a feature? What type of relations can enrich larp? And (how) should we react to these changes? Larp has the potential to become a new, inclusive, and all-encompassing umbrella movement, but inbred ignorance in its circles might also limit its recognition in favor of more established forms. How can the larp movement stay geniune yet be open to change? And what kind of role should larping take in the eyes of outsiders?

    Slides: Larp_ Oddity, Hypernym or What_ (SK2020)

    Discussion

    Anon 1: Here, I googled it for you:

    Bibliodrama, called Bibliolog in much of Europe, is a form of role playing or improvisational theatre using Bible stories.

    Mátyás Harpgándi To my best knowledge there are at least 2 different lineages of Bibliodrama/log. One is more of a version of sociodrama (structured activities which includes a lot of improv and role-play) and the other is more of an interactive meditation on holy texts.

    Mátyás Harpgándi Also something important: Bibliodrama is mostly about the Bible but not only! That is actually a subgroup called Bibledrama. Bibliodrama means drama of texts and could use any kind of (holy) script for comtemplation. Beside Christian sources I regularly use ancient Chinese and Indian text.

     

    Anon 2: Hard disagree that thin roles are not role-play… sorry Jiituomas <3

    Mátyás Harpgándi I think he says its role-play but not strictly ‘larping’

     

    Anon 2: How do we determine what makes a role deep?

    Anon 2: Not weird… super cool!

     

    Anon 3: Interesting – something I have also wondered about i edularps

     

    Anon 1: Playing “the drunk” or “the elf” is enough of a role to make it larping, imho.

     

    Anon 4: Super interesting, need to look at Leveleki

     

    Anon 5: Not sure if there’s anything about Eszter Leveleki in English. It might be a good idea to change that.

     

    Anon 6: https://archiv.magyarmuzeumok.hu/…/2557_everybody_is…

     

    Anon 1: Hungarians always mention these fantasy camps. I want to know more!

     

    Anon 7: While I stayed in Hungary I met some people who run one of them. They described it as a larp game where they use three days to represent each year and encouraged the children there to roleplay while structuring the events in such a way that they tought them social, political and management skills.

    Anon 7: Their typical event runs for about two weeks over the summer holidays and they use the ‘three days makes the year’ structure to look at a much longer period of time than most larps manage.

     

    Anon 8: So many shortforms rely on characters based on one word, if that. I would still call it larping.

    Mátyás Harpgándi You can, but then larp becomes nearly synonymous with any kind of embodied role-playing. Do you agree?

     

    Anon 2: I think a lot of these distinctions are silos honestly where independent groups think they invented something and have their own term for it. It’s more useful to compare individual larps and their content with these other exercises, as well as their go…See More

     

    Anon 9: While I encountered this less in larp, tabletop rpgs have a whole category of games where you’re playing yourself in some imaginary situation. (There’s a zombie apocalypse, but you are literally yourself)

     

    Anon 4: For a long time I tried to design larps where there wasn’t really a “character” as much as a “social role” and a “situation” – if you get it and design it really well, it totally works, but it’s really hard to get people around “what do you mean there’s no character”

     

    Anon 2: There’s still alibi of fiction, so you are still technically a character. Just a character nearly identical to the self.

     

    Anon 9: Anon 2: You’re absolutely right, of course. But it is the “thinnest” role I can think of, and it is also harder to justify actions with an alibi in such circumstances. Sure, you would only kill your friend in a zombie apocalypse, but… do you mean you would actually kill your friend in a zombie apocalypse?

     

    Anon 10: I think it would be impossible to be play your authentic self because there is a wide gap between an actual crisis situation and a larp/rpg context in terms of real-world consequences. This is, I think, what makes it “a character based on you” rather than “you as a character”

     

    Anon 9: By the way, probably the most popular incarnation of this idea is this line of games: https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/…/the-end-of-the-world/

     

    Anon 2: I play a lot of extremely close to home roleplaying where basically we are versions of ourselves. The narratives and actions often can diverge wildly from everyday life due to fiction and people have alibi due to the setting to speak about things they normally wouldn’t in polite conversation. It adds new affordances that daily life does not.

     

    Anon 11: It might sound like a very silly question, but can someone please clarify to me what does the term “authentic self” mean? Isn’t there some saying that identity is a taking of roles? And if so, and I am highly speculating here, can’t we strive towards the goal of making the players identify more with their characters than with their “real” selves?

    Mátyás Harpgándi ‘Role-shaming’ 😀

     

    Anon 1: Mátyás Harpgándi Great stuff!

     

    Anon 10: I’ve been using the definition of larp by Tuomas Harviainen from the 2011 book where he says that the characters should be more than social roles 🙂

    Mátyás Harpgándi This is a serious misconception in Hungary. Harviainen talked about the key criteria of larping (the activity), not about the definition of larps (the events). His whole writing is about this separation.

     

    Anon 10: Thanks for the clarification!

    I’m looking forward to having your article to quote from too in the future 🙂

     

    Anon 1: There are no set definitions of larp and larping, it’s an ongoing discussion. That you are now a part of! 🙂

     

    Anon 2: I usually just simplify as “playing a character in a fictional environment and some degree of physical enactment of character.” Pretty close, without the “deep role” specification.

     

    Anon 12: I think that as long as it doesn’t result in flat characters (because playing a trope is just boring) any form of characterization should be valid

     

    Anon 12: …although there are, of course, even interesting ways to play a trope 😉

     

    Anon 8: But how do we determine what a “flat” character is? That’s the part I’m struggling with, what’s the bar here? When is it a deep character?

     

    Anon 12: I’m going with the definition of flat character I was taught as a lit studies student at uni — a character that consists of nothing but stereotypical definitions, with only a single point of view and no form of development or insight.

     

    Anon 2: ^^ this. I also worry that it stigmatizes less skilled or experienced role-players. (“How do we determine a flat character?”)

     

    Anon 1: A character description may be super short and flat, but the character interpretation can still be deep and nuanced. There’s really no way to know except for the player.

     

    Anon 12: I respectfully disagree with that, Anon 2, as I don’t think a less experienced or skilled player would necessarily gravitate towards playing a flat character — to me, it seems more likely that they would play an aspect of themselves as a character (‘me as the king’), which by definition wouldn’t be a flat character.

     

    Anon 8: Anon 12: That still feels really vague to me. Like Anon 2, I worry it will stigmatize people.

    I think there’s already a high barrier of entry for larp, and newer players often talk about not being good enough for various roles or responsibilities. How do we work with this definition without telling people their characters are too flat?

     

    Anon 2: Me as the king would fall under “just a social role” in Harviainen’s definition.

    Mátyás Harpgándi Anon 2: they might start as social roles but these kings & queens can organically became nuanced and unique personalities during the long process… thus larping? 🙂

     

    Anon 12: Which is why I said that I believe any form of characterization should be valid — that we should not be using too narrow a definition. Perhaps the ‘flat character’ caveat is just my own preference, though, I do admit that. I would never tell anyone that their character is too flat or that they can’t play a certain way.

     

    Anon 2: Mátyás Harpgándi social roles are still larping to me 🙂

    Mátyás Harpgándi Anon 2: But then larp becomes nearly synonymous with any kind of embodied role-playing. Is that good? Why do we need a second, hobbist jargon (larp) for a general phenomenon? Because we are larpers who like their hobby? 👿

    Anon 2: Mátyás Harpgándi I discussed this in my comment to your paper, but one of the things I think that makes edu-larp unique is it arises from leisure play. So some of the techniques and experiences of leisure play may apply to it (say, experience points, o…See

     

    Anon 13: We (Terrible Creations) cater most of our games to non-players. We don’t use the acronym larp at all because we found it was confusing them.

     

    Anon 2: Anon 13: I tell my students they will be larpers by the end of the session when we edu-larp. They are nervous at first, but then have no trouble using the word larp afterward. (They span several decades for age groups). I think it’s okay for them to be confused at first.

     

    Anon 13: Anon 2:D Good approach! We usually congratulate adult newcomers afterwards on losing their larp virginity. 😉

     

    Anon 2: Haha not sure that would fly in American schools but intriguing approach 😉

     

    Anon 13: Anon 2: Emphasis was on “adult”. Wouldn’t do it with a bunch of teenagers. 😀 But it tends to work well with grown-ups.

     

    Anon 2: Adults too…. Americans tend to be very sensitive about sexualizing language. Which is probably for good reason considering power dynamics of teacher-student 🙂 but also religious students may be actually saving their virginity for marriage

     

    Anon 13: Anon 2: Cultural differences may apply, of course. And should. We do stress it’s a larp virginity, though. But I can see how it might not sit well with some audiences.

     

    Anon 13: Also, we avoid comparisons to theatre if we can help it because people tend to freeze when they think they have to act.

    Mátyás Harpgándi I think using the term ‘deep’ roles was misleading. I’m not neccesarily talking about the quality of role-taking or the depth of immersion. Would you like to see an English infographic about the different stages of role-shaping?

     

    Anon 11: I would love to, while I didn’t agree with everything, I would really like to read some more. 🙂

     

    Anon 2: Absolutely!

    Anon 2: I think what Harviainen means is not just playing a function or social role, but a personality, a more complex ego structure with additional motivations and characteristics. I think these things can evolve in role-playing even with thin characters depending on player choice, but a larper is still role-playing if the role remains thin and they are engaged.

    Mátyás Harpgándi So as a summary, I dont really have any problem with our larp jargon, people talk the way they talk. But I think some of those words are so biased that we should avoid them and use more neutral terms when dealing with outsider specialist (especially if they are from a related sibling field like other forms of role-play)

     

    Anon 4: That was something I encountered a LOT coming from theatre. I felt like larpers were using words that had a whole heckton of meaning and context behind them, in ways that were sometimes accurate and sometimes perversions of what they’d borrowed. But! Getting deeper into larp (or, in my experience, any field at all) you always seem to end up with these terminologies that have limited application outside that field, and the challenge is simply to be able to become familiar with the depths in other people’s fields and learn how to bridge between them.

    Mátyás Harpgándi If I identify as a larper, everything I borrow from Drama in Education could be considered a part of edularp. If I identify with process drama, every technique from Nordic larps could fit into my DiE practice as a new convention. But is there a neutral language to communicate between fields? I think we who work with applied larp should work toward that if we want to avoid terminology wars.

    This was part of the Solmukohta 2020 online program. https://solmukohta.eu/