[quote=“Scotty”]And in these circumstances its all about protecting children, whereas we’re talking about adults who should be able to manage their own comfort levels.[/quote]Only partly. It’s also about people who don’t like very explicit content being able to watch television, too. You talked about watered down themes - but a rating system that people keep to means the opposite. TV creators who want explicit themes can choose to use an R rating (and a smaller audience) without people getting pissed off. TV creators who are trying to get a broader audience, on the other hand, need to keep in mind that not everyone is cool with all content.
So you attended St Wolfgang’s which said upfront that it was going to be addressing religious themes, found that it was making you uncomfortable, and self-selected out. That’s great, you had good information with which to make that decision.
At the last Chimera, my sister attended the headline game that billed itself as “a mix of plot themes to suit all tastes. Intrigue, romance, the continuation of your species, action driven heroes, anti-heroes and villains; slavery and freedom, moral and ethical dilemmas, and a dash of comedy.” She didn’t get to pick her character, she didn’t get asked how she felt about abusive themes, she didn’t get to see her character sheet until a week before the game (which had material about riding around on ponies with her family), she was supposed to get a flashback memory in the middle of the game about how she’d been brutally tortured and her husband murdered in front of her by pirates. Surprise! (Kudos to the writers, it was a very vivid bit of prose.) And that didn’t happen, because she left early to look after me when I wasn’t feeling well, so I don’t know how she would have coped with that. I know that I would have been pretty pissed off. And in larp, you don’t have the filter of being able to close the book or turn the tv off - you’re right there in the space, and immersion and identifying emotionally with your character is a prized feature. The Gordian Knot wasn’t advertised as a game with challenging themes, not the way Project Sparrow did, or Dreams in the Witchhouse did. And it was trying to pull in every larper in its catchment area, the same way Achaean is trying to do at Kapcon.
[quote]I think thats being a bit harsh, and I would never expect writers/creaters to come up with something that will fit all people and it’d be unrealistic for creators to expect everyone finds their game fits their individual comfort zone. Some people will inevitably feel it’s too light and others too dark for example. [/quote]Except some games do try to fit all people - the Kapcon larp, and the Chimera headline larp try to do that. And if you’re a larper who’s attending those conventions, there’s a fair amount of social stuff around that: “What character are you playing?”, “You’re not going? Why not?” And if you do go, and it doesn’t work out, well, you’ve invested a fair amount in attending, in time and/or money getting your costume together, and getting psyched up with your friends. Walking out is less neutral than writing off $14 for a movie ticket.
If nothing else, I assume that you want the people who attend a game you’re running to have a good time. Telling them it’s their fault that they had problems with material that’s designed to be difficult, when they had no reason to expect it? That sounds pretty harsh too, y’know?
