jducoeur | And another project starts to get very real

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And another project starts to get very real

Two days until Intercon O signups open (if you don't have a membership yet, get it now). That's going to become more and more a focus for me, since I'm finally diving back into LARP writing, after several years away from it.

This year's game is "experimental" for me -- that is to say, it is weirdly normal and down-to-earth. I've mentioned it before here (indeed, I mentioned it the day after I thought it up, a year or so ago): A Respectful Calm is going to be a somewhat dark, very real-world story, set in the aftermath of a mass shooting at a company downtown. Instead of being a game of violence, it's a game about the repercussions of violence, and the ways our society reacts to it. (It says something that the four major groupings of characters in the Factions list are "Employees", "Police", "Media" and "Politicians".)

It's an unusual game for me in many ways. One is the complete lack of fantastical elements: I think this is the first time I've ever written a game that wasn't at *least* satirical, and nearly all of my games have been fantasy or science fiction. Aside from a little bit of high-tech speculation in the background, this one is totally down-to-earth, with normal people dealing with an abnormal situation.

Maybe even weirder for me is the lack of uber-plot: for better or worse, my games usually have The Big Thing that takes precedence over everything else. I try not to let that overwhelm everyones' individual stories, but it's always there. Not in this case, though: The Big Thing has already happened, and we wind up with something of a fractal of reactions, as everyones' lives spin off of that in different directions.

I'm also trying my hand at writing gender-neutral characters, after having treated gender quite casually in all my previous ones. The topic of gender bias in games has come up a lot in recent years, and I've decided to run at it quite deliberately. I'm allowing myself to write gendered characters in the cases where it is seriously relevant to the character, but that's only a modest number; most are written gender-neutral, to the extent that the underlying Querki database has both male and female names for each one, and I'm planning on writing a few functions so that pronouns get adjusted automatically after casting. (I allowed myself ten specifically-gendered characters when I bid the game, but it currently looks like I'm coming out with four, out of thirty.) It's being an interesting exercise in challenging my own assumptions about how relevant gender is to character.

And of course, it's all written in Querki. This kind of brings the Querki project full circle: it started as a LARP-design system about ten years ago (I believe I originally built the prototype for Girl Genius: Agatha Heterodyne and the Hidden Castle). This time, I'm planning on not just writing the game in Querki, but doing the printing and casting through it as well. I expect it'll be a learning experience, as usual.

For those who care, I will admit that the game is not fully written yet: at this point, I have the character list, the major plots and a lot of the interaction web, but I'm still fleshing it out. I've never failed to have a game ready well before gametime, though, and I don't intend to start here.

It should be an interesting game, and I look forward to seeing where the players take the stories. I hope you'll consider signing up; it's scheduled for Friday at 8pm...

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I know, I know - I'm outside the LARP world, and so forth. And my family personal history of forms of violence may be influencing my opinion. (You know about some of it - but did you know my father-in-law was shot in a robbery, and my uncle's business partner was killed at their business?)

I find the idea of a "game" about a workplace shooting to be in very bad taste.

I know, I know - the idea is as much about emotional and intellectual exploration, and perhaps creating a conversation.

I still find it to be in very bad taste. I live with the aftermath of violent crimes. It's not a game, and I'd hope there are better ways to inculcate empathy and understanding than playing a game.

Sorry -- I didn't actually know that history.

I think you're taking the word "game" in the wrong sense, though -- as far as I'm concerned, it's simply historical jargon, and doesn't really mean "game" in any sense that you probably understand it. Modern LARP, at least my wing of it (it varies a lot), is very much an artform, one that is quite close to novels and theater. And like those forms, it is often used for difficult topics.

(Serious question: if I called this "improvisational theater", would your reaction differ? Why? Aside from the lack of an audience, there is essentially zero difference between the kind of LARPs I write and improv theater.)

Basically, to me, there is *nothing* different (and I mean that pretty literally) about writing a LARP on this topic than writing a book or a play. The details of the medium vary, but the social and artistic impulses are basically the same. The most important purpose of any art (IMO) is to delve into the harder aspects of the human experience.

Your point is well-taken, and I'll be trying to deal with the issue honestly and sensitively, but I genuinely don't think *any* topic is simply out of bounds for LARP. Like any artform, it is *usually* used for simple entertainment, but at its best it strives for more.

(Keep in mind, as a lifelong and hardcore comic book reader, I am *very* sensitive to people saying, "This medium is inappropriate to this topic", and usually disagree quite strongly...)

[Part 1 of 2]
You ask some good, and challenging questions - to which I do not have a final reply. They deserve some thought. Hence, I'm trying to make conversation here.

My first thought was to ask myself "is this a topic on which my mind is changeable", because if my opinion isn't mutable, I don't want to rant. I admit to myself that it is hard to change, because what I'm having here is a powerful emotional response, and not an intellectually formed response. (I think I hinted at such in my first reply.)

Striving for the intellectual...

It is certainly NOT the case that this is a general topic which cannot be explored through the arts. All topics can be explored through the arts - and arts is a very generic term. It is a topic that *I* don't want to explore, in hardly any art. But that was not my point, and doesn't obviate yours.

(I'm reminded a little of the old joke that made fun of Feminist's lack of perspective and humor: "How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb?" "That's NOT FUNNY!")

Taking your observation at face value (that LARP is similar to other forms of creative expression, because why not?) - I look at whether there is anything special about LARP that makes my feelings of unease justified.

Digression: I understand your comment about "this medium is inappropriate to this topic". I take a somewhat Mcluhan-esque view of the matter. The combination of medium and message become entwined, and the resulting construct needs to be judged on what it is, what it means, and what its overall effect becomes. In that sense, while no medium is inappropriate for all topics, some media combinations with some topics make it particularly hard to thread the needle. Maus is so amazing, in part, because it works well AND because it was a tremendous achievement of medium and message. I won't say "never the two together", but I think I am trying to say that "some combinations are exponentially harder than others". End Digression.

As I continue to think about it, I'm clarifying in my mind more about what my objection was, and I'm finding (perhaps stubbornly) that it still remains.

LARP is not the same as a novel, book or movie. Sure, aspects are similar, but it is in the very differences that I find my concerns lay.

1. Mass media are different than small private media.

There is not just a difference in degree (I feel) but a difference in kind, when an experience is small, unique, and non-repeatable. A play, movie or book is an experience that can be shared, can be referred back to, and is intended to be a reference. I feel as if that makes them more accountable - the author/director/actor is going to remain personally responsible for the quality and perception of the result.

The consequences of a bad result in mass and more permanent media help restrain the behaviors of the creators and participants in ways that private and personal media do not.

The benefits of a quality attempt are also wider.

2. Dynamically created media are more diffuse than static media.

For all your attempts and desires for sensitivity (I know you: there is never going to be an accusation of bad faith from me), the resulting experience is unpredictable, and there is little guarantee of sensitivity from the participants.

This goes back, a little, to my accountability point above. But it also goes to whether your intentions can be reliably and predictably expressed.

Of course, if it goes badly, the harm is limited.

This can only end up in differing opinions: I know that. You will weight the risk of it going badly as very low, while I am much less sure, and you will weight the harm if it goes badly as relatively small, and I'm not necessarily in agreement about that either. When people guess about the future, they guess with their existing opinions.

[End part 1 of 2]

As you say, we're not likely to come to consensus here, but your points are valid. "Small" artforms are much more varied, for better and worse -- for instance, these objections are often leveled at performance art, and for many of the same reasons: it's often *very* challenging, varies a lot from instance to instance, and is more likely to cross subjective lines of good taste.

As for unpredictability: absolutely true, you're right that I can't control what the players will do. I hope that, by being clear with folks that this is a down-to-earth, serious game, I'll get players who treat it in that spirit -- frankly, it makes for a better run when the players are sympatico with the intent of the author. But that trick sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. (It's worth noting that the same is true of theater as well, albeit usually to a considerably lesser degree.)

I should note, BTW, that all of this is why we (in this case, the Bid Committee that evaluates proposals for the con) pay a fair amount of attention to whether a game has appropriate trigger warnings, and gives a clear sense of what it's about. The sort of reaction you're having is *not* unusual, although it is more frequently a reaction to sexual or gender-identity issues than violence ones. We try fairly hard to make sure that players can judge whether they will find a game personally unpleasant. (Fortunately, having ten tracks at Intercon means that it's usually easy to avoid a game that is a bad fit.)

[Part 2 of 2]

3. There is actual potential harm here.

This might be just a caveat emptor - but when dealing with a more realistic scenario, it's easier to overwhelm people. We'll never be amnesiac in space: but we might have memories of violence or tragedy that too easily arise.

It's easy to say "people who have those memories will avoid this LARP", but I'm certain that's not always true. People who have traumatic memories and who cannot relinquish them, are SOMETIMES over-attracted to opportunities to revisit them. (Example: my mother, who was in a concentration camp, obsessively read books about WW-II, the Nazi's, and similar camp-like experiences like "One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovitch" or "King Rat" by Clavell.)

I wonder (but I speculate and reach a bit far) what might happen to a person who participates in this LARP, and later has a realistic traumatic event of a similar nature. Given the immersive nature of the experience, it might make such a situation harder.

4 and last. LARP is its own thing.

I recognize that you are deeply invested in immersive literature and LARP. But I think we both recognize that it is not a particularly well regarded or popular medium.

You won't take kindly to this, and I'm sorry: but in a very real sense LARP is limited to a rather small sector of the population: nerdy, educated, literate, with money and free time. I'm not just saying that it lacks the wide net of other media: I'm saying that it is, by its nature, a narrow medium for a narrow pool of people.

In that sense, your particular story smacks to me of a sort of nerd-voyeurism, a desire to create and share a lightweight window into other people's real trauma. An arm-chair disaster tourism of the tragedy of others.

The very thing that makes LARP different (experiential role-playing which produce a close simulacra of real emotion), well: that's the heart of my unhappiness. It's a small audience of insulated people, using the real tragedy that others have experienced for the benefit of having a fun weekend.

That it happens to be close to some of my own experiences, means that the trivialization of other people's tragedy feels more personal than it should.

[End part 2 of 2]

There is actual potential harm here.

Always true, at least for any game that is about deep topics. In this particular case, though, I have to point out that what's unusual here is that I am *not* trivializing the topic.

I mean, like (sadly) most media, violence tends to be underplayed in LARP, treated much too casually. Oh, look, that guy has a gun. Oh, dear, he's killed that character. Oh, well -- pick up an alternate character for the rest of the game; pity that that one didn't make it. I'm overstating the usual case, but there's a bad habit of treating violence as relatively inconsequential, and I'm intentionally shining a light on that. You're correct that it's dangerous to poke at that, but I think it's a healthy and important risk.

And it's important to note: this is a game *about* violence, not *of* violence. If I actually expected a gunfight in game, I think the risk you're talking about would be considerably more substantial. As it is, I will agree with you that it's non-zero, but I don't think it's nearly as likely, especially since folks are usually good about avoiding games that will be personally traumatic.

In that sense, your particular story smacks to me of a sort of nerd-voyeurism, a desire to create and share a lightweight window into other people's real trauma. An arm-chair disaster tourism of the tragedy of others.

True as far as it goes, but again, not very different from other artforms. The amateur artist is usually in over his head when he steps outside his own experience, sometimes succeeding in representing the subject well, sometimes not. Trying to understand tragedy, and help others do so, is the basis of much of literature.

Again, I think part of the problem here is that you have a very different understanding of the medium than I do. It really sounds like you're having trouble disengaging the notion that there is something fundamentally trivial about LARP, relative to other artforms. From the inside, I see it quite differently. Yes, there's a measure of voyeurism to it -- but that is equally true of every medium worth talking about, and moreso of most of them than LARP...

It really sounds like you're having trouble disengaging the notion that there is something fundamentally trivial about LARP, relative to other artforms.

I find that a fair critique.

I should also note: I understand the gut reaction. Heaven knows I have my own triggers, and not always obvious ones. It is almost physically painful to me to see pink-ribbon campaigns: Jane hated them with a burning passion, and to me those often feel like they are full of people who are trivializing a mortally serious issue, assuaging the horror by trying to wrap it up in sweetness and light and relentless positivity. So I quietly stay away from them, as I do most stories (in whatever medium) that are treating with the subject of cancer.

The world is, sadly, full of topics that are triggery to various people...

Given my family's situations over the last few years, I find myself reactive to anything that smacks of violence or abuse. Including gratuitous violence.

Notwithstanding your valid critique, it is the immersive nature of the experience you are creating that drove me to comment.

Maybe, perhaps, it is the concept that I wouldn't want anyone to feel how I felt. Even if it is just for play and pretend.

Maybe it isn't a "principle" at all.

Sympathies, and I'm sorry that I touched a sensitive nerve...

You did nothing wrong, and I expect, will do nothing wrong.

It's interesting to me that I went round-the-long-way via an intellectual discussion, to help me determine why it was bugging me. Which, in the end, was emotional.

Not to throw myself a stupid pity-party ("table for none, please"), but my reality was pretty aversive. In ways that are understandable, and yet strangely pervasive.

If I could wave a magic wand, I'd prevent anyone from feeling as my family did, ever. Even a simulation.

It's not a bad motive, but it's not always a helpful one.

Well, it's been a helpful conversation to have, especially at this point in the process -- it helps remind me of the seriousness of the subject matter, and how sensitive it can be. (Not that I was taking it lightly before, but the reminder is still useful...)

"LARP is limited to a rather small sector of the population: nerdy, educated, literate, with money and free time. I'm not just saying that it lacks the wide net of other media: I'm saying that it is, by its nature, a narrow medium for a narrow pool of people."

The attempt here is to make a non-nerdy game, potentially expanding the audience. As to "educated, literate, with money and free time", that applies to theatre at least as much. Goodness knows, plenty of people do theatre that deals with violence and tragedy in a serious, not-"fun" way.

"In that sense, your particular story smacks to me of a sort of nerd-voyeurism, a desire to create and share a lightweight window into other people's real trauma. An arm-chair disaster tourism of the tragedy of others."

If artwork is allowed to talk about these topics, as we seem to agree it does, what makes nerds, in particular, less appropriate as an audience? Nerds are hardly immune to violence or tragedy. What makes this any more "tourism" than a play or a novel?

"The very thing that makes LARP different (experiential role-playing which produce a close simulacra of real emotion), well: that's the heart of my unhappiness. It's a small audience of insulated people, using the real tragedy that others have experienced for the benefit of having a fun weekend"

Wow, you hit an astonishing number of my buttons for such a short paragraph.
* You assume that emotion produced by art, especially experiential art, is not "real", but a "simulacra".
* You seem to think that a "small" audience is a criticism. All art starts with a small audience. Some grows, some doesn't. Being small is a value-neutral descriptor.
* You assume that the participants are insulated.
* You assume that the only point of the weekend is "fun" (which is, among certain segments of the game design community, a word reviled for its meaninglessness.) Is "One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovitch" "fun"? Art serves many emotional needs; "fun" is not a useful word to tar medium with.

"the trivialization of other people's tragedy"

Again, as throughout, I think your use of such negative characterizations says far more about your own prejudices against certain art-forms and communities than it says about what Justin is trying to accomplish here.

I think you got me wrong, but it's nice to hear from you anyway.

A pair of "thoughtful" responses.

When a person, in debate, identifies a group of individuals by applying a series of criteria to them all at once, it is a weak counter-argument to pare those criteria apart. (By which I mean, a "red, rubber, inflatable ball" is a specific thing, and a counter-position about red things or rubber things or inflatable things is against a different proposition, by and large. Deconstruction can lead to absurdities, as I think it has in your reply.)

You assume that emotion produced by art, especially experiential art, is not "real", but a "simulacra"

It is, and it needs to be.

Look at the contrary position - what person ought to sign up for a LARP which would give them the exact same, everlasting and traumatic memories and experiences of a workplace shooting as real victims have?

It is not real. Pretending to be a crime victim, by any method or means, is not the same as being one.

Edited 2014-11-13 15:29 (UTC)

Given the presence of a 4 week old (+/-2 weeks) I believe my game this year wok be confined to "Consuite: the Gathering" with my costuming being a big sign posted on Pluot's back that says: "1 month old. No immune system. If you have a cold, please don't hug us."

I'll play less challenging games next year. ;-)

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And another project starts to get very real

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