wyrdcon.com/wp-content/uploa … WCCB13.pdf
Still working through it, but the first piece, “Challenging Sacred Cows: Level Gaps, Permanent Character Death, and Linear Plot”, is quite interesting.
Highlights of the non-academic section:
[ul]
[li] Challenging Sacred Cows: Level Gaps, Permanent Character Death, and Linear Plot (David B Williams): An interesting discussion on three of the common features of campaign larp. Based on surveying a range of larps from around the world, and the source material has a lot of information about how different groups do things (also some quite candid stuff: NERO limits permanent death because they don’t want to lose paying customers. Yet another example of how capitalism dictates the shape of US larp…) The author concludes that they’re All Bad, m’kay, though the logic on death is far from convincing (and not helped by the fact its largely seen in light of wider PvP problems). The biggest problem though is characterising these as “sacred cows” in the first place - because from the source material, game runners do examine, criticise and question them, and make conscious design decisions around them (even if the design decision is to use a shit rules system).[/li]
[li] Transparency and Safety in Role-playing Games (Evan Torner): Short version: Torner (a Jeep designer) likes dramatic irony and narrative play, and thinks everyone else should too. Useful for its distinction between transparency of expectations (telling people broadly what they’re in for, which is just good GM ethics as well as good marketing), and transparency of information (telling people what the narrative plot arcs will be so they can shape their play accordingly - though confusingly it also includes not having any arcs, or having them determined solely as a consequence of player actions as in the various *World games, which doesn’t quite fit). For the curious, the game he slags off and gives spoilers for is this one.[/li]
[li] Changing Status in Larps (John Kim): Looks at the problem of mismatches between IC and OOC status (leading to e.g. kings that are not respected for OOC reasons), and suggests workshops as a means of correcting this. Usefully includes a guide to high and low status behaviours for those who want to adjust their status in play.[/li]
[li] The standardized patient (Natalie McCabe): An example of larp-that-isn’t-larp - in this case, actors paid to provide “standardized patients” for medical students to practice diagnosis on. Interesting (who knew so many US medical students were bigoted jerks?), but never really brought back to larping or made relevant. Doesn’t really belong in the book.[/li]
[li] Experiential Learning for Youth Through Larps and RPGs (Mark Hoge): One to read if you are interested in running kiddie-larp. [/li]
[li] Taking Nordic larp to Discovery Channel (Claus Raasted): Raasted gives the background details behind this documentary (the one with the IC prostate exam). Short version: “Its fucking Discovery Channel - how cool is that?” Also includes the unpleasant fact that despite agreeing to it on the premise that they would be part of a show about parkour and base-jumping, they ended up on a different show with balloon fetishists and the Church of Diego Maradonna. Which seems to be another lesson in why you should never trust journalists.[/li][/ul]
And the larp-relevant academic articles:
[ul]
[li] Ethical Content management and the Gaming Social Contract (Shoshana Kessock): looks at the obligations of game designers, game organisers, larp communities and individual players around handling questionable or triggering content in larps. Nothing we haven’t seen before, but probably new to the WyrdCon audiance.
[/li]
[li] Managerial Styles in Larps: Control Systems, Cultures, and Charisma (J. Tuomas Harviainen): A fascinating article looking at how larps are managed and comparing it to classical management styles, with case studies of both the corporate-feudal model (as seen in most campaign larps) and the anarchist-collective model (as typified in Nordic “framework games”). The discussion on “dialectic charisma” (the feedback cycle between past and future success in running games) is particularly interesting.
[/li]
[li] The Dynamic Life Cycle of Live Action Role-Play Communities (Diana J. Leonard and Grayson Arango): applies a model of small-group formation to larps, using an anonymous larp (apparently Dying Kingdoms) as a source of anecdata. More of interest to external sociologists, rather than actual larpers.[/li][/ul]