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The Arts of LARP: Design, Literacy, Learning and Community in Live-Action Role Play
This ethnography of a live-action role play (LARP) community examines the structure of play, how new participants are introduced and apprenticed into the culture, player expectations and motivations, and games as they are designed and as they are performed. The main focus is on LARP's affordance for learning across a variety of disciplines and interests. The book is intended for LARP participants, academics interested in play or in collaborative development, those interested in new uses of familiar learning environments, and game developers with an interest in creating games with highly interactive narratives and co-creative play experiences in which the role of designer and player is blurred.
- GenresNonfiction
224 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 7, 2017
As an academic and roleplaying geek, there are few things that I take more seriously than the right way to pretend to be an elf.
I want to be nicer to this book than I'm going to be, since I recognize the challenges of interdisciplinary scholarship, and while I don't know the author, it's a small world. That said, I'm not entirely what this book is about or for, aside from the general statement "LARPing is cool and fun." There are lots of types of games and performances, but what Simkins returns to again and again is that LARPing is more immersive than similar things. That putting on a costume and pretending with a group of like-minded people can move a player into the headspace of their character, for entertainment, education, or empathy building.
Simkins meanders through an investigation of US Live Action Roleplaying (LARP), centered around the New England Intercon and a Chicago-style Lord of the Rings LARP. Noting that LARPs are heavily based around implicit norms and communities of practice, one goal is a Geertz-style thick description, a way that LARP might reveal the values of a subculture. Unfortunately, for all the work (interviews, video recordings, analysis, decades of hanging around LARPs), I still don't have a good idea of that key moment where immersion happens.
For other scholars working in LARP, Simkins offers a few typologies that may prove useful. LARPs work because players mirror each other, creating consequences in a shared social context that allows a large degree of freedom. Players fall in a Venn diagram with circles of Acting (seeking drama and emotional catharsis), Gaming (seeking clear objectives and mastery of a system) and Immersion (feeling like you're another person), and LARPs can be turned towards different play styles. There are some tips for putting on LARPs, but it seems like a lot of work, best left to the professionals.
There's some good stuff around the essential question of all storytelling games: how can a group of people come together to agree on the "right" answer to the question "What happens next?" Unfortunately, the parts on genre and literacy miss entirely, and the argument for the use of LARP in education is unclear, against say the Reacting to the Past consortium. The major and immediate research question: how does the necessary embodiment of LARPing increase immersion (whatever that is) given the frequent crudity of props and scenery, is just dropped.
Finally, someone needs to figure out the link the between childhood imaginative play, which seems pretty universal, the stage in adolescence where it stops, and the revival of LARP. I think there's a really good psychology study there, but I don't have the chops to do it. Know any geeky childhood psychologists?
I want to be nicer to this book than I'm going to be, since I recognize the challenges of interdisciplinary scholarship, and while I don't know the author, it's a small world. That said, I'm not entirely what this book is about or for, aside from the general statement "LARPing is cool and fun." There are lots of types of games and performances, but what Simkins returns to again and again is that LARPing is more immersive than similar things. That putting on a costume and pretending with a group of like-minded people can move a player into the headspace of their character, for entertainment, education, or empathy building.
Simkins meanders through an investigation of US Live Action Roleplaying (LARP), centered around the New England Intercon and a Chicago-style Lord of the Rings LARP. Noting that LARPs are heavily based around implicit norms and communities of practice, one goal is a Geertz-style thick description, a way that LARP might reveal the values of a subculture. Unfortunately, for all the work (interviews, video recordings, analysis, decades of hanging around LARPs), I still don't have a good idea of that key moment where immersion happens.
For other scholars working in LARP, Simkins offers a few typologies that may prove useful. LARPs work because players mirror each other, creating consequences in a shared social context that allows a large degree of freedom. Players fall in a Venn diagram with circles of Acting (seeking drama and emotional catharsis), Gaming (seeking clear objectives and mastery of a system) and Immersion (feeling like you're another person), and LARPs can be turned towards different play styles. There are some tips for putting on LARPs, but it seems like a lot of work, best left to the professionals.
There's some good stuff around the essential question of all storytelling games: how can a group of people come together to agree on the "right" answer to the question "What happens next?" Unfortunately, the parts on genre and literacy miss entirely, and the argument for the use of LARP in education is unclear, against say the Reacting to the Past consortium. The major and immediate research question: how does the necessary embodiment of LARPing increase immersion (whatever that is) given the frequent crudity of props and scenery, is just dropped.
Finally, someone needs to figure out the link the between childhood imaginative play, which seems pretty universal, the stage in adolescence where it stops, and the revival of LARP. I think there's a really good psychology study there, but I don't have the chops to do it. Know any geeky childhood psychologists?
November 13, 2018
Ethnographies about things people see as weird, stupid, or superfluous are always interesting. This leans more towards theatrical LARP as opposed to more combat oriented LARP. Also could have used another round of editing before publication, a few typos here and there, but solid none the less.
April 13, 2018
An intellectual examination of LARP which gives a fascinating look at the hobby
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews