Does LARP freak anyone else out?

[Magic Missile]

But...

Oh, but we all found the Ogre Battle video hilarious too!

Are those foam sticks they all wield supposed to be weapons? Teehee...

 

[reapersaurus]

Re: What a lack of Tolerance

For much of the population, "us" sitting around a table and role-playing what others act out is equally as "weird".

Actually, as an adult, this is not what I've found.

Roleplaying, in my wife and I's realms of work and where we live, is a fairly accepted form of recreation.

LARP is not.

 

[Merlion]

Well first let me say, I've never played in a LARP and doubt I ever will, simply because it doesnt interest me.
I find it interesting all the people on both sides who yell about tolerance of there group, but dont seem for tolerance of people voicing there feelings. As long as no one is saying that ALL Larpers, or tabletopers, or whoever, are nuts, I dont see a problem. If all your experiences have been bad and you feel that a large part of one side or the other are nuts, thats perfectly valid.
Although I do agree with those who have said that simply because its a larger and less well controlled group, LARPs are probably more likely to have larger numbers of undesirables than most tabletop games..especialy since most tabletop gamers play predominantly with people they've known a while and such.
But the fundemental truth remains that there are going to be undesirables in any group of people.
I dont really see anyone on this thread doing to LARPers what most "norms" do to we gamers as a whole. Especialy since most of those who have exppressed negative feelings try to do them in a balanced way, and base them on experience, which isnt the case with most "normals" who bash RPers and gamers as a whole.

 

[tarchon]

One good/bad thing I've heard about LARPs is that they're primo/disgusting meat markets, for what it's worth.

 

[James Heard]

There are more people there, younger people, occassional people into the scene only for the fact that they can show off their newest dress they made, and folks who only see it as a party with strange rules. All in all it's no worse than your average bar, and the best of them make sure drugs and booze don't enter so it's actually a little tamer in some ways. On the other hand you've got people already presently shedding a lot of their inhibitions to stand in front of people and take on a role to present their characters and some people, once they've taken that step, are um...on a roll you might say. I don't know how well they qualify as meat markets, there certainly have been more interesting people there than I'd meet at the supermarket - but they're all gamers so that is almost a given.

 

[mistergone]

Just for the record, I totally agree that there's freaky people on both sides. Don't make me re-tell the story of "Masturbation Focus Cult of Ecstacist Guy".... and that was a sit-down game.

 

[Catulle]

Re: Re: What a lack of Tolerance

Actually, as an adult, this is not what I've found.

Roleplaying, in my wife and I's realms of work and where we live, is a fairly accepted form of recreation.

LARP is not.

Buuuuut... Isn't reenactment? Or don't you class that as LARP?

Regards,

Barry

 

[James Heard]

Most people can't get past the idea that LARPs are only the goth kids in plastic fangs and fishnets. SCA is LARP activity, though barely (the rules are more so that people don't actually die when getting beaten with sticks) as is those civil war things I've only seen on the news. Interactive dinner theater murder mysteries sometimes get into the act sneakily, I had to refrain from heckling the woman a few weeks ago who classified gaming as a nerdy geek hobby when she came back frothing about her date where they'd taken the roles of investigators of a murder over supper.