Over on Mike's blog, he laments on the lack of LARP'ers. For ease of reference, here's the link.
http://mikelrysk.blogspot.com/2009/01/wod-where-did-you-go.html
I understand where Mike's coming from. Having played and ran LARPs I know firsthand how hard it is to recruit new players for a LARP. However, Mike omits one crucial detail. He's really complaining about recruiting players for the currently on hiatus Werewolf LARP. That's important because there's two layers, both a macro and a micro, to the problem.
I'll cover the micro layer first. First, central wisconsin has low population than other areas that have LARPs. In other words, the population may not be large enough to have the needed diversity. Culture requires diversity and without it fringe cultures such as gaming have a hard time thriving. LARPs require both a more diverse and larger population that other types of gaming. I'm not saying Stevens Point doesn't have such a culture, but a lot of that comes from the university. However, reliance on students is a catch-22.
The worrying fact about central wisconsin, and to extent other places in the country, is the lack of quality game stores. Its sad when I have to go to a book store to see a diverse product mix. So even if the old stuff were still readily available I'm not sure one could actually acquire a copy in this area without ordering it. Which still means one has to become both aware and accept LARP. I knew about LARPs because I read about it in a tabletop book.
Macro layer
Even though I knew about LARP I was still leery about. If it wasn't for a group that came across as both normal and accessible I would never have participated in LARPs as much as I did. That's right, if the people who introduced me to LARPing came across as strange and couldn't communicate well, I would be one of those gamers who refer to their LARP experience with scorn. Granted, as time went by, I discovered that they were as eccentric as any other gamer. However, my first impressions of them were that they normal people who could articulate all the intangibles of LARPing clearly to me.
Another reason is that gamer culture is a fragmented bunch. There are card gamers, tabletop role-players, LARPers. Granted, there are gamers that do two or all three things but the point remains a separation exist. I can go on but that could be its own post/entry.
More commentary later. Although it might be more general in nature. Not so much focusing on why gamers aren't LARPers but LARP and WOD (both new and old). Heck, I have been planning on discussing gaming in general since I started this blog. So my comments may take time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Yes, this area is ripe with diversity, but gamer population should reach the masses. I would think, and this is just my opinion, that if Larping were to be run by someone with enough commitment and eccentricity larping would succeed on a grand scale. It is just finding said person that can run a good game and think on the fly is hard to find. Someone not affiliated with the university, can have time to promote in certain cities within Central Wisconsin, and knows people who are interested, like us, would be the ideal candidate. I personally love oWOD and larping, but haven't the time to commit to such event running. It is true though that I haven't given the time of day to the new WOD because of heresay and bias from other players of oWOD. I wish that someone would and could step up and take this over.
Mike,
What do you mean by 'enough eccentricity'?
Post a Comment