Maxicon XII

[essentialsaltes]

Once again I announce: "All hail popepat!" And Mrs. Pope and Minipope. They once again opened up their house for (can it be?) the 12th Maxicon (which is still ongoing, but I moderated my participation to Saturday only... stretching into Sunday).

First up for me was Garrett's Dead Space RPG. I had played the demo, which made me the most knowledgeable about the source material I think. Which is not a problem, since the whole point is to scare the pants off you with the unexpected. It went well: fast-paced, high tension, limited resources, stressful timing deadlines. If there was any problem, it was that the gods of luck smiled on us too much in the final showdown. Good scary fun.

Next up, aaronjv ran The Tribunal, an award-winning LARP created by jiituomas. The 12 players play soldiers in a totalitarian state, faced with a difficult decision: whether to value honesty over expediency. I'm torn about how much I should or shouldn't reveal. One part of me says it doesn't matter since whatever happens is almost entirely the product of the players; the other part says that hearing the rationalizations or bullshit produced by one set of players might affect future players who read about it, and thus color whatever they would ultimately produce. I'll err on the side of caution and step back a bit.
I enjoyed the experience. This is perhaps controversial. Some people (named Aaron) have denigrated the idea that LARP is merely (?) an enjoyable pastime. It is Art with a capital A. I don't have a problem with that, except that in its extreme form Art becomes Pollock and Rothko. You're a rube if you expect to enjoy it, it's Art fer crissakes. Art!
I had my doubts about whether I would enjoy being an ant in a totalitarian army. But I came in to the game with not only an open mind, but a willingness and readiness to do it right. And the other participants probably saw me red-faced and shouting more in those couple hours than in the rest of their experience of me. Anyway, my awesome role-playing (relatively speaking) is beside the point; the point is that I enjoyed the experience. But am I supposed to enjoy my Brussels Sprouts?
My answer is that I don't care. LARP for me is an enjoyable pastime, and as long as I enjoy it I will continue to participate. It may also be Art; it may also be therapy; it may also be escapism; I don't care: Philistine that I am, I'm only interested in doing it if I enjoy it.
Anyway, stepping back in. I liked the way that character names instantly invoked associations that helped to establish character, and aided others in remembering same. I liked the way that the game was essentially entirely created by the players rather than directed from outside. The game relies on the players being willing to play, and I'm glad we had a group up to the challenge.

Following that was an impromptu meeting of the Live Game Labs & other interested parties, wherein we plotted the future of American LARP while simultaneously solving the problem of monetizing LARP and trading juicy gossip.

Comments

[aaronjv.livejournal.com]

"Take it seriously and give it your all." - I'm surprised you think you're in the minority with that mantra. For me, it's more like something that's so built into the process that it's a given. A pack of strangers are counting on you for several hours of *something* - if you're not going to take it seriously, gtfo, y'know? I've not yet met a (successful) GM who didn't work by that philosophy...

I think I am in the minority with that mantra because "Always have fun" is not my #1 rule. In other words, I'm not saying I don't want to have fun when I run/play larps, it's not my #1 goal. And from the anecdotal comments I get from almost all Americans, that IS the #1 goal of larpers, to have fun. Do they want to give it their all? Yes, I suspect many do, most of the time. But "fun" is not the #1 goal for everything I play/run. Again, my example is the edu-larp I am running right now (next session is tomorrow). My goal is not to have fun. I am having fun, but that's not why I am doing this. I am doing this because I want these at-risk, low-income high schoolers to develop an appreciation for and basic understanding of the usefulness of mathematics. It was made very clear to me by Christian Brown, a founder/designer, that "We can make fun games. That's easy. But can we teach using these games?" And the teaching part is more important than the fun part. If the players (students) learn but are bored, we win. If they have fun but learn nothing, we lose. Most likely, though, they will have fun and learn, or learn because they are having fun.

That's why I think I am in the minority, because not all my larps follow the Golden Rule that you stated: "Always have fun."

re: throwing some words together for you, I'd have to have a think about that to see if I've got anything honestly meaningful to say. Most of my LARP writings have been pretty light and basic stuff, possibly too light for your intended audience.
Who is my intended audience? YOU ARE. The fact that you're even writing about larp in a serious way is interesting, since there's so little of it in America. I'll look over your articles (thank you for the link), but I am still interested in getting essays. Some of it will be hard core academia, but not all of it.

(resists temptation to draw parallels to the kink scene and how one masochist's idea of a hell of an afternoon probably violates some tenets of the Geneva convention and therefore could hardly be considered "fun" in the traditional sense of the word...)
Great analogy, actually, you should draw parallels between the kink scene and larping. I didn't get into it in my essay, but I believe that a sexual RP scene is larping. I also believe that certain religious ceremonies touch on larping as well. But my intellectual muscles aren't buffed enough to take those weights on. However, the Nordic larpers do, and I can probably track down some of those essays. I know Molly Rapp did a college paper on religion in larp, interviewing both me and essentialsaltes. We have it around here somewhere...

My *specific* objection to the event "Gang Rape" is borne of several factors, not the least of which being the danger to the participants' mental health. But I'll save the rest of that for my own soapbox.
I'm not saying that GR is a good larp, or something that everyone should play. I doubt I could do it myself (and I have read the rules and know that I wouldn't be physically touched, nor touch anyone at all, except probably a hug after it was over). There's a psychodrama larp called "Forbidden Fruit" by Nathan Hook in The Green Book (http://www.lulu.com/shop/nathan-hook/the-green-book/paperback/product-15063841.html) that I doubt I could play, either.

My point is that not all larps are designed to be fun, but they are still larps. Thus, when I read that "the Golden Rule of larp is to have fun" (and I hear/read similar sentiments often), I have to beg to differ.

cont...

[aaronjv.livejournal.com]

Another discussion I want to have is fear on larps: I think that's one of the main reasons why American larps are behind Nordic ones, because we are afraid...afraid of being sued, afraid of offending someone, afraid of, as you say, participant's mental health. And again we get into the discussion of informed consent. The same informed consent that a sub gives to a dom is the same thing that someone agrees to when they play GR. It's not like one of the 10 Bad Larps (comedy larps from Alleged Entertainment, run at Intercon) called "You Walk Into the Room and I rape you: the LARP". GR isn't a surprise to anyone. But anyway, I digress. Again, I doubt I could ever play GR or FMD, but I love that they exist and push the boundaries of the art.

Anyone can be a hobbyist. Not everyone can be an artist.
Yes, exactly I had this discussion somewhere (the LARP Academia list (http://mortalisrpg.com/mailman/listinfo/larpacademia_mortalisrpg.com), maybe?). I don't have a problem with larp as hobby, or hobbyists in larp. It's when they declare that ALL LARP IS A HOBBY. I call larp art so I can get grant funding. The term helps me understand it better. But yes, the example that came up is that Thomas Keller (a chef) might make up some games to play with his kids. Shigeru Miyamoto (a video game designer) might cook some meals at night to feed his family. To video games, Thomas is a hobbyist, Miyamoto is an artist. To cooking, Shigeru is a hobbyist, Kellers is an artist. At least, that's how I understand and approach it. I have learned to stop worrying and learned to love larp hobbyists. ;-)

I've been trying to parlay 15+ years of LARP running into some employable skills (I know, good luck!) and I know that even the term "role playing" makes some recruiters shudder, so I've resorted to using the term "Interactive Fiction".
I use the word larp on my resume, and to recruiters, and I am going to continue doing so. I also started a company that designs larps for education. And I am looking to get paid for my 25 years of larp experience. Maybe in a year or so I can hire you. ;-)

One more link for you, I just started watching Tobias Wrigstad's Game Lecture here (http://vimeo.com/10030923). A lot of what he is saying is directly relevant to this conversation.

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

*grins* I think we're going to have to agree that there are certain aspects of LARP philosophy on which we are never going to agree, mostly because we have different motivations for running LARPs, differing notions of what can qualify as a LARP and what, exactly, is the nature of "fun".

When it comes to that last point, I'm reminded of a quote by, god help me, Robert Heinlein that ran something along the lines of "Satisfaction lies in being allowed to put in many hours working hard on something you find fulfilling." I often find the work I put into a LARP (as a GM or as a player) very fulfilling and so thus it is also, in my personal lexicon, fun. So I stand by the notion that the first rule is "Have fun", but with the caveat that the definition of "fun" can vary wildly from person to person.

There's also the inescapable fact that you're building a career on interactive gaming and so have that - I'm guessing - very much at the forefront of your mind. Of course that is going to have a massive impact on how you perceive LARP, how you present it, and why. Duly noted and all that.

As for drawing parallels between kink and LARP, I'm hesitant for several reasons - not the least of which being I only just *got away* from gamers who seemed to treat LARPs as a BDSM-lite space and, oh gods, that's not what I go to what-I-call-a-LARP *for*. If I wanted kink, there are plenty of better spaces and places I can visit... Again, I should save that for my own blog. ;)