Ah yes, research. Funny stuff that. Did you know research has proven that ashtrays cause lung cancer?
Yelling “FIRE!” to make everyone at a larp stop playing in event of a real world problem is just fine.
But I don’t believe that the research that suggests yelling “Fire! Fire!” instead of “Help, police, I’m being raped!” is neither accurate or relevant. Not that this should stop people using the “FIRE!” call to attract attention in a larp. There needs to be a way to do this and any varient of fire, halt, hold, stop, OOC etc is as good as any other in my mind.
The “yell fire not help” theory is interesting. I believe it says that people have a natural self interest and are more likely to ignore cries for help that don’t effect them personally. For example, if you live in a New York apartment and the neighbor is yelling “Help, help!” you’ll ignore them because you don’t want to deal with their boyfriend punching your face in. However, if they’re yelling “Fire, fire!” you’ll get off your arse and do something because you don’t want your apartment to burn down.
There may be some situations where this actually happens and I suspect with some people in poor apartment buildings (especially in countries with lots of guns) this may actually be true.
But in New Zealand I think people are best to say it like it is.
If I’m sitting on my bum at home and someone is yelling “Fire, fire!” I’m going to go outside and look for smoke in the sky. I’ll probably grab one of my fire extinguishers from the armoury or the kitchen and I’ll make sure I throw on some footwear and a heavy jacket. I’ll go looking for a fire.
But, if I’m sitting on my bum at home and someone is yelling “Help, police, I’m being attacked!” I won’t reach for my fire extinguisher or my sturdy footwear. I’ll grab a hickory axe handle from the front cupboard and if it’s night I’ll take a torch as well. I won’t be so fussed about footwear or a jacket because the degree of urgency is greater. I’ll go looking for people struggling.
Now there may be a slice of New Zealand society where cries of “Help, I’m being raped!” interrupt the late night footy all the time and the natural reaction is to close the window and turn up the volume. But I’d suggest that they are for the most part a very small section and if you’re using a public park for a larp and yell “Fire, fire!” they’re most likely to be the people that you’re having a problem with and not in the group of people who potentially might rescue you.
Anyway, I digress. My natural skepticism has made me rant again. Sorry