Maxicon XII
May. 27th, 2012 04:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
essentialsaltesOnce again I announce: "All hail ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
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.
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.
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no subject
Date: 2012-05-29 03:13 am (UTC)Also, subscribe to Playground magazine (http://playgroundroleplayingmagazine.wordpress.com/) for more articles about larping.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-29 03:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-29 03:33 am (UTC)But a player can generally articulate what is fun for them and, based on a game's writeup, judge whether or not an event will provide whatever kind of enjoyment they're looking for. Similarly, a GM with their act together will choose carefully as to what sort of event to run at what sort of venue.
Mind you "What does a GM get out of running a game" is no doubt subject for thousands and thousands of words.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-29 05:44 am (UTC)Right, absolutely. I think I am one of the few people in America deranged enough to consider my golden rule of larp to be "Take it seriously and give it your all." Whether that's as a player or a GM, whether it's larp for entertainment or education, to change the world or to change yourself. But I have yet to find someone in the States who doesn't think that the purpose of larp is to have fun, whatever "fun" is. What if "having fun" means making sure everyone else does NOT have fun?
As to "what a GM gets out of running a game", that hasn't been explored much to my knowledge. I know Rob McDiarmid wrote an essay on the motivations of players, and that has been discussed a lot, but rarely are the intents of the GMs. Would you be interested in writing an essay on that topic for an academic book I am going to edit for later this year? Or, if not for that, for Playground? (No pay on either one, alas.)
The main point I make in larps is "full disclosure", that is, let everyone know what the social contract is between GM and players. The type of game and intentions should be clear from the GM, and, ideally, what players are going to bring to the table should be understood. For example, when I ran "The Tribunal" that Mike talks about, I asked that they take it seriously. This worked well, as there was very little humor in the game, and, with a bunch of nerds, it's almost impossible for them to refrain from the MST3K commentary, yet they did. Expectations were set and met.
One of the new debates in the Nordic larps is the term "alibi". For Gang Rape, all players will have read the rules and voluntarily agree to them. They go in as willing participants. In Fat Man Down, however, there's a GM that alters some things, asking the players to do things they may not want to do. In some circles, Fat Man Down has alibi--"The GM made me do it"--which allows for a deeper experience. They suggest, I think, that anyone who agrees to participate in Gang Rape is a sick, twisted individual. But isn't it worse when you place responsibility (and blame) for your actions on someone else, as you do in Fat Man Down? Personally, I feel that Fat Man Down is a worse, darker larp than Gang Rape. That all being said, I don't know if I could participate in either. But I love to bring them up as a thought exercise.
My main point to American audiences is that I think both of those are larps are not fun. But they are still larps. And depending on your definition of good/bad, I won't say that they are "bad" larps. They are daring and provocative and controversial, and they are also well-constructed. I disagree with Mike, I don't think they are bad larps, I think they are dangerous larps. That's not the same thing. The Stanford Prison Experience is a "good" larp in terms of design and production, but it's a dangerous larp.
And realizing that larps can be dangerous begins to recognize the power of live action role playing has. It moves it out of the realm of hobby into art, which is how I would like it to be.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-29 05:29 pm (UTC)"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...
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.
Interesting point re: social contract between GM and players. Again, I see it touched on in a lighter way in most events I've participated in/ran - terms ranging from the GM agreeing to provide a coherent event to the players agreeing to not touch each other without mutual consent, etc. Again, I've touched on it a *bit* on my LARP page in GM and Player Responsibilities to a LARP (again, at the link, above)
I agree with the idea that a LARP can be emotionally intense and not fit the definition of "good" but can still be "fun" for the participant - but that brings us right back to what the meaning of "fun" is.
(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...)
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 suppose part of the resistance/reaction you see to the proposal of terming a larp as art is borne of intimidation. Anyone can be a hobbyist. Not everyone can be an artist.
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". So far, it seems to work...
Going to go check out some of the links you've posted here and there. Cheers.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-29 06:00 pm (UTC)No way, I love this. It's almost as though LJ were relevant again!
no subject
Date: 2012-05-29 09:34 pm (UTC)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...
Date: 2012-05-29 09:35 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-29 10:05 pm (UTC)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. ;)