Nordic Larp

In the Nordic countries, live action role-playing has developed into a unique and powerful form of expression. Nordic larps range from entertaining flights of fancy to the exploration of the intimate, the collective and the political. This incredible tradition combines influences from theatre and performance art with gamer cultures, in order to push the boundaries of role-playing. Nordic Larp presents a critical cross section of this vibrant culture through 30 outstanding larps, combining stories told by designers, players and researchers with over 250 photographs of play and preparations. In addition the book contains two essays that explain the history and rhetorics of Nordic larp, and contextualizes it in relation to theatre, art and games

Definitions of Role-Playing Games

Many de nitions of “role-play” and “role-playing games” have been suggested, but there is no broad consensus. People disagree because they often have an unclear idea of what kind of phenomena they are talking about and, therefore, what kind of definition is appropriate. Existing definitions often assume games and, with them, RPGs to be a natural kind with some unchanging essence. However, because “role-playing games” is a social category created by humans, it has no unchanging, context-independent essence. Hence, if we ask for a definition of “role-playing games”, we can only refer to either how particular groups at particular points in time empirically use the word and organize actions and the material world around it or how we, as a scientific observer, choose to use the word to foreground and understand a particular perspective: viewing RPGs as a performance or as a virtual economy, etc. RPGs can be traced to a shared historical ancestor: the TRPG D&D. From there, RPGs and their communities evolved increasingly idiosyncratic forms and styles, afforded by their material under-determinations. Commonly recognized forms are TRPGs, larps, CRPGs, and MORPGs. Common styles – ideas of what experience one hopes to achieve through play – are achieving goals and making progress according to rules, acting out and immersing oneself in a role, creating an interesting story, or simulating a world. Every local community, form, or style captures only a subset of the phenomena people call “role-playing games” and carries with it some implicit or explicit normative ideas about what makes an RPG “good”. Thus, people often disagree on the definition of “role-playing games” because they are usually only familiar with and/or aesthetically prefer a subset of RPG forms, styles, and communities: “this is not a role-playing game” often means “this is not something I am familiar with calling and/or like in RPGs”. Still, across forms and styles of RPGs, some characteristics commonly reoccur: they are play activities and objects revolving around the rule-structured creation and enactment of characters in a fictional world. Players create, enact, and govern the actions of characters, defining and pursuing their own goals, with great choice in what actions they can attempt. The game world, including characters not governed by individual players, usually follows some fantastic genre action theme, and there are often rules for character progression and combat resolution. Forms diverge in the structure of the play situation, the constitution and governance of the fictional world, and the form and importance of rules. Play situations range from a single player and computer to small face-to-face groups to large co-located or online mediated populations that organize into smaller groups. The fictional world may be constituted through joint talk and inscriptions; physical locales, props, and player bodies; or computer models and user interfaces. It can be governed by one or more human referees or a computer. Rules may be extensive or minimal, resolving the outcome of actions by player negotiation, a model and testing of probabilities, physical abilities of players, or combinations of all three. Given the social constitution of RPGs and the diversity of their forms and styles, we argue that it is pointless to capture an “essential nature” in a definition. Instead, as the following chapter begins to do, it is more fruitful to empirically describe this diversity and analyze it through a multitude of explicit disciplinary perspectives: not asking what something RPGs are but what we can learn when we view them as a particular something

Combat narratology - Strategies for the resolution of narrative crisis in participatory fiction

In this thesis I investigate the structure and system of emergent narratives in multiplayer participatory fiction with a view to resolving the perceived tension between the vision of the writer and the agency of the players to perform actions that are unexpected, and which may produce a narrative crisis that threatens the coherence of the experience. The nascent field of larp studies has an uneasy relationship with storytelling, and the terminology connected to it. Much of the literature exists as pre-theory (yet underpinned by more than twenty years of praxis)The original contribution of this work is two-fold. I produce an object model which describes the (chaotic) narrative system, and I offer a method for interrogating the system in order to derive an understanding of its state.Using a combination of autoethnography, systems modelling, and object-oriented analysis as well as discourse analysis, I present a series of case studies in which I consider the role of the writer in participatory fiction, and I survey the processes of creating and participating in larps.I develop an extended narratological model which describes the distinction between plot (planned events), story (emergent), and narrative (events described after they have occurred.) I describe an approach to larp narrative design as a form of ontological engineering which I present as a framework and a method to support cultural practice. I describe the experience of participation and use the inherent subjectivity of this experience to illustrate the complexity and variables of a larp narrative system during runtime. I draw on this evidence to create an object-based model of the system. I identify underlying patterns and tropes in narrativization and suggest that there is a degree of observable narrative predictability. I offer a four-step process for interrogating the chaotic narrative system in order to derive a probable state and direction of the story in real time and using this to coherently resolve narrative crises. I describe this process as Combat Narratology - the study of emergent narrative and its structure, performed under pressure in real time

Performing Futures: Toward a 'Future Theatre'

The contribution of this thesis lies in the exploration, combination and creation of new methods of imagining positive futures through performance. It initiates a field of study within contemporary performance practice that builds upon the work of other artists and contributes developmental insights and new methods into imagining futures within performance contexts. The research is conducted through multi-modal methods. It begins with an autoethnographic study of Live-Action-Role-Play (LARP) examining how ‘other worlds’ are created in real time. This is followed by a survey of prominent artist practitioners whose work can be considered performances of or about the future, which then informs a series of eight Practice-As-Research (PAR) based case studies. The case studies combine and test various approaches to imagining the future, which are inspired by LARP and the artist practitioners. The thesis concludes with a proposal for a range of practices and suggested solutions to some of the issues that arose while imagining the future within the workshops and performances of the case studies. The issues concerned predispositions toward dystopias, perceptions of human greed that discouraged imagining future possibilities, representations of the performer as a political agent and challenging contemporary theatre perceptions. Solutions came in the form of open and invitational language, disclaimers for role playing, discursive open scenarios where the dialogue (and performance) was guided by and co-created by the participants, and the facilitator’s ability to provide counterarguments to dystopian inclinations. The main advantage of the approaches, methods and suggested solutions resulting from the study is the beginning of a flexible form of ‘Future Theatre’ practice that can be applied within different situations and contexts as needed and appropriate to different perspective positions. This flexible approach encourages finding agreement amongst individuals and potentially disparate groups by examining their ideas and desires about the future

Fictional Practices of Spirituality I: Interactive Media

"Fictional Practices of Spirituality" provides critical insight into the implementation of belief, mysticism, religion, and spirituality into worlds of fiction, be it interactive or non-interactive. This first volume focuses on interactive, virtual worlds - may that be the digital realms of video games and VR applications or the imaginary spaces of life action role-playing and soul-searching practices. It features analyses of spirituality as gameplay facilitator, sacred spaces and architecture in video game geography, religion in video games and spiritual acts and their dramaturgic function in video games, tabletop, or LARP, among other topics. The contributors offer a first-time ever comprehensive overview of play-rites as spiritual incentives and playful spirituality in various medial incarnations

Building Brave New Worlds: Science Fiction and Transition Design

The worldbuilding practices of science fiction authors have the potential to play a key role in society, given that they involve the design and depiction of complex, alternative realities set in the future. This potential is acknowledged by Transition Design — an emerging area of practice that melds futures-based narratives, foresight, and systems-thinking, amongst other disciplines. Transition Design goes beyond social innovation to envision radically new images of the future, and pathways towards more sustainable systemic states. To facilitate the design of and transition towards sustainable futures, this Major Research Paper introduces the Seven Foundations of Worldbuilding: a model that integrates a new superstructure of complex systems with backcasting methodology

Experiential Dramaturgy: Putting a Sense of “Play” into Plays

During the COVID-19 pandemic, traditional live theater went on hiatus for a while. However, many people flocked to other experiential mediums. Now that in-person theater has returned, how can it acknowledge the opportunities that a live audience provides? This thesis explores immersive works, role-playing games, escape rooms, haunted houses, interactive museums, and other experiences that fully engage their participants. It discusses what theater can learn from these mediums to encourage work that activates audiences in a communal, safe, and enjoyable way.  The thesis consists of interviews with creators, writers, and artists from theatrical and experiential backgrounds, summaries of books and resources on these subjects, and analyses of experiential shows. Designed as a prospectus for a course on experiential dramaturgy, the paper culminates in an overview of workshops synthesizing the material along with a proposed course syllabus.

Changing the game : the rhetorical approach of “no dice, no masters” tabletop RPGs

This thesis is a rhetorical analysis of gamebooks for the tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) Dream Askew by Avery Alder and Wanderhome by Jay Dragon. Using Dungeons and Dragons as the ubiquitous example of a TTRPG that operates on foundations of hierarchy, coloniality, and violence, I consider the reframing of discourses that their designers achieve through how they structure character and world creation and player interaction. These games exemplify counter-hegemonic, decolonial practices of game design and play by undoing the player-gamemaster hierarchy, changing the apparatuses that mediate in-game and out-of-game discourses, and increasing the value of lived experience and subject positionalities for players and characters. Collaborative processes and structures that increase player agency and relationship-building shift the objectives of gameplay from conquest and domination to building a mutually satisfying narrative and emphasizing the value of empowering and uplifting other players. I’ll also be attentive to the structure of Dream Askew and Wanderhome in my primary analysis, taking inspiration from their configurations as a conversation and a journey, respectively. Through considering these games as attending to a broader range of experiences and reimagining game design for a more inclusive audience, I position them as examples that can inspire game designers to consider the discourse their games enact and TTRPG players to recognize what a game’s structures restrict or enable in their play experience

Pervasive game adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2010.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections."June 2010." Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-235).How does one design a game to make change? How can I design a game that engages players in ethical gameplay? For this project, I used multiple methodologies--research through design, background research, iterative game design, playtesting, and player interviews--to explore strategies that game designers might use to accomplish goals that involve affecting change in players. I designed a pervasive game adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, through which I explored ways to engage players in ethical decision making. I playtested the game, Civilité, with a group of fifteen Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) students and affiliates during MIT's Independent Activities Period (IAP) in January 2010. The game ran around the clock for seven days and took place throughout MIT campus. Supported through a variety of media, including a website, audio podcasts, physical props, hidden tupperware boxes, and a variety of paper documents, Civilité transformed the players' everyday campus environment into an imaginary nineteenth century Paris on the eve of Napoléon's Hundred Days. Along with the ethical decisions confronting players' fictional characters, players also had to make ethical decisions regarding what was acceptable gameplay behavior. After the playtest, players participated in a group post mortem and individual thirty minute interviews. This thesis discusses the methodologies that I employed in this project to engage Civilité players in ethical and unethical behavior and to encourage ethical reflection both during and after gameplay. It also addresses the thorny question, "what are game ethics?" by crafting a rough framework for ways that game designers can think about game ethics. Using observations from the playtest, players' daily reports, the group post mortem, and the individual player interviews, this thesis argues that the ethical issues that players identified fall into three ethical domains: the procedural domain, the diegetic domain, and the magic circle's domain.by Michelle Moon Lee.S.M