On Dogmatic LARPing
Aug. 3rd, 2005 03:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
michiexileI started reading the Dogma99 Manifesto after stumbling across a few Europe-wide LARPing initiatives. I must say that a lot of the Dogma appeals to me, or formalizes notions I view as basically selfevident, but note with irritation that others do not.
I don't agree with the Dogma fully, though, and therefore will not sign such a declaration. My main issue is with item #8, which I will quote together with it's motivation:
Although the original thoughts behind the item are laudable - as far as I can read them - it will limit the range of possible play in a manner that puts LARP way behind the theatre stage in expressibility. All of a sudden, we are no longer allowed to use non-lethal items to simulate combat, we are no longer allowed to stay sober while playing out an intoxication, we are no longer allowed to change our appearance to match our character.
I'm sorry, but I don't accept this. I don't drink any alcohol. My presence at a LARP will not change this OFF-game fact. I have, however, had wonderful roleplaying moments while playing out inebriation (or hung over...) IN-game, while only having drunk cordial OFF-game. The possibility to use symbols allows me to actually enrichen my experiences by examining the line delineating what I as OFF-game persona view as unacceptable and what I as IN-game persona can accept. Furthermore, I will not participate in a LARP where I run the risk of ending in a swordfight with swords that actually do hurt. I am OFF-game very much inclined to stay out of violence, and I will not negotiate on that point for the sake of a character. And I do not want my fellow players to need to undergo plastic surgery in order to look like the characters they wish to play. I like high fantasy at times, and the presence of elves with pointed ears does heighten the experience in a desirable manner.
I, however, agree wholeheartedly with all of Dogma99 when it is used in situations where this particular objection is void. However, this excludes any and all use of alcohol, and thus probably limits the number of scenarios that would be possible to play.
I don't agree with the Dogma fully, though, and therefore will not sign such a declaration. My main issue is with item #8, which I will quote together with it's motivation:
8. No object shall be used to represent another object.
(all things shall be what they appear to be)
In conventional and most mainstream LARP a number of signs and substitutes are used, swords are made from latex-covered styrofoam, cordial is supposed to be wine, the curtains are drawn because windows weren't invented in the middle ages, a rope is used as a city wall, tents in stead of houses, make-up and masks are used to signify supernatural creatures etc.
Signs are most often an ingrown, but unfit, solution to the problems of transferring settings from other media to LARP. Exaggerated use of signs easily lead to absurdities in the play, as it is difficult for players to remember what the different signs represent. The focus of LARP disappears in the signs.
Human beings are, in this context, not to be considered "objects". A player may still be used to represent a character...
What we wish to end is the absurd certainty that for instance Styrofoam sticks are swords, and the assumption that this is the only way it can be done. The signs are not a part of the essence of LARP. Though they occasionally may come in handy, we wish to learn how to create LARP without their use.
Although the original thoughts behind the item are laudable - as far as I can read them - it will limit the range of possible play in a manner that puts LARP way behind the theatre stage in expressibility. All of a sudden, we are no longer allowed to use non-lethal items to simulate combat, we are no longer allowed to stay sober while playing out an intoxication, we are no longer allowed to change our appearance to match our character.
I'm sorry, but I don't accept this. I don't drink any alcohol. My presence at a LARP will not change this OFF-game fact. I have, however, had wonderful roleplaying moments while playing out inebriation (or hung over...) IN-game, while only having drunk cordial OFF-game. The possibility to use symbols allows me to actually enrichen my experiences by examining the line delineating what I as OFF-game persona view as unacceptable and what I as IN-game persona can accept. Furthermore, I will not participate in a LARP where I run the risk of ending in a swordfight with swords that actually do hurt. I am OFF-game very much inclined to stay out of violence, and I will not negotiate on that point for the sake of a character. And I do not want my fellow players to need to undergo plastic surgery in order to look like the characters they wish to play. I like high fantasy at times, and the presence of elves with pointed ears does heighten the experience in a desirable manner.
I, however, agree wholeheartedly with all of Dogma99 when it is used in situations where this particular objection is void. However, this excludes any and all use of alcohol, and thus probably limits the number of scenarios that would be possible to play.
