A presentation from Matthew Pennington given at ‘Nerd East’ convention this year.
Touches on some things such as the importance of immersion versus the challenge of keeping the hobby accessible, what breaks immersion (coke cans, invasive calls/over complex rules, etc …)
Runs about an hour: youtube.com/watch?v=237_vhQ0 … re=youtu.b
Just to post up my regular objection but is immersion definitely a good thing?
Well that’s one of the question the video seeks to offer. So, give it a watch 
Just watched it. This is UK larp, so “immersion” = “better kit standards”, the 360 degree illusion. Which I agree is important, both because its cool and because it helps psychological immersion (he touches on this when talking about suspension of disbelief: better kit and sets make it easier, just as less intrusive rules do).
There’s a good emphasis on helping people to do better, rather than trying to be fascists (though I understand that the game he is working on, Empire, are planning on being kit fascists as well). Things like costume guides for the setting, information on how to do it cheaply, and an emphasis on progressive improvement. He laments the lack of a nice, central site for costuming advice, which makes it more difficult than it has to be for new players (if anyone is a costume designer with web skills, then this is an obvious opportunity 
Some of this stuff we already do. but the idea of issuing a costume guide for a game - “this is what people wear, and this is how to do it on the cheap” - is great, and something all larps should do.
Moo and I started discussing making just that very site.
You know, when we both have time…
This might be a good kick in the bum to start thinking about it again.
You know, after watching it I tried to think of all the points he made and in most cases the NZ (at least the bits I have seen) already do most of them.
Great to see.
Speaking of immersion, check out some pix from Conquest of Mythodea - in particular the huge pirate ship the seafarers build.
I am so hopeful they build it again this year!
Matt’s a nice guy, he was really welcoming when I went over for Maelstrom. He showed me the organiser’s office and crew room. The scale and the air of tension running a game for 900 or so people was pretty intense.
I used to have these discussions with him and others back on the Pagga forum, seven years or more ago, and I was a pretty heavy proponent of immersive larp. I think he’s always been for high costume standards and that, but the conversation around whether rules and “lammies” (laminated cards that you attach to your gear showing its special powers, they’re a UK larp thing) are as distracting as inappropriate kit was more divided. Be interested to see where they go with that for Empire. I like that he’s pushing for costume guidelines for games and for traders to sell appropriate stuff. He could combine those things and work with traders for them to produce gear that’s perfect for his games, that sort of thing is already happening in Germany and Denmark.
I think the idea of a costuming website rocks. He’s right that there are tidbits all over the place, but nothing big. I think he’s wrong to see it as a wiki though. I’ve never seen a wiki work well in the larp world for this kind of thing, and there have been efforts but they always putter out and never have the gloss you need to attract people to something like this.
Instead, what I think is needed for a costuming site is a more webzine-style journalistic approach, with lots of regular contributors posting and updating guides across a range of categories. I’d also see it having an associated forum, so that a community could build up around it. Technology-wise you could do it fairly easily just with WordPress (the blogging software) and phpBB (the forum software that Diatribe runs on), both of which are free. You’d still need nice graphic design and to pay for hosting and a domain name though, but I think you could run it as a business and recoup through advertising, and pay the writers so that you’re attracting good material. The potential market is much more than larpers - there are cosplayers, living history people, and just regular folks who like making stuff for parties and Halloween. That all sounds like a lot of work, but I suspect an approach based on either casual public contributions or just a couple of dedicated volunteers wouldn’t have the same longevity as approaching it as a professional publication.
If anyone does want to do this they can host for free on my site. It has all the stuff needed to get it up and running, just needs someone with enthusiasm and graphic design skills.
Really interesting stuff, I think like others have said we’re doing a lot of this already in New Zealand which is great.
I’m happy to help with some Graphic Design stuff Jackie if you and Moo decide to go for it.
I have a few simple takeaway soundbites (approximate quotes rather than verbotem) :
“Everyone try to improve one thing of their kit for each game.”
“You can’t give cristiscm about a person’s kit over the internet without it appearing as personal attack. Constructive feedback should be done in person, to people you know. Emphasise the good rather than just banning jeans and T-shirts.”
“Larp feeds on its enthusiasm. The more you put in, the more you get out.”
“Larp is a hobby for dreamers.”
That was quite interesting It does make me think that there are some things we could do as a community (not that we aren’t already awesome and helpful) that could add to immersion. If you’re looking at making a site with costuming guides, why not do one for set dressing too?
[quote=“Hannah”]
“Larp is a hobby for dreamers.”[/quote]
…but i’m not the only one…i hope some day you’ll join us…and the world can LIGHTNING BOLT!