To LARP or not to LARP?
At SFA you'll find yourself introduce to a variety of clubs and culture. One of the most interesting activities I’ve found intriguing is larping. What is a major stereotype for larpers? They lack a social life and very nerdy individuals participate in this only. Many larpers take the time to meet one another face to face, and build a community around their shared fictional worlds. From what I gather from an actual larper, their description of larping is “pretending with rules”. What interests me the most about larping, is the community that’s built within this creative make-believe world.
The subculture of larping branched out from those clichés where nerds dress up as knights and fight each other with rubber swords. If you ever watched the movie role models, it’s the most cliché version of larping there is. During the 1960s, fantasy larping was created and became popularized internationally. Many individuals describe larping as a way to escape reality, and in other words use it as a learning tool.
The basics of larping include Character creation. Step one: Character race, Are you from a tribe or human? Step two: Characters background, where are you from? Step three: Characters persona/look. Larping comes in varies styles and worlds, such as (TS) “Theatre style” also known as abstract combat. These types include interactive language, card waving, and parlor larping. In addition to that there is also (LC) “Live combat” which includes the stereotype way society would see larping, this includes the costumes and rubber swords.
Perry Wood, One of the patrolling officers in Nacogdoches had a few words to say about his job at Pecan Park.” It’s my duty to keep the park a safe place for all walks of life. This includes vetting people before they come in to make sure they aren't peculiar in any way. We take pride in our work and in doing so bestow a safe environment for our community.
What is the subcultures social hierarchy, and how is it organized and maintained? (Who’s in charge) 1: We don't really have a hierarchy. The only "hierarchy" the more experience you have and even then that's just basically how good you are at physically playing the game. A first-day newbie isn't going to be killing a ten-year veteran in battle very often. The people in charge are the monarchy, a quartet of individuals elected every six months by the park “jury”. The Monarch provides general direction, the prime minister deals with paperwork and the park coffers (money donated/dues paid, and some of it goes to the organization we're a part of, Amtgard Inc. and some of it remains with us for use building things like loaner weapons, garb, renting pavilions, making flyers and business cards, etc.), the Regent presides over all Arts & Sciences activities, and the champion deals with battlefield safety and park safety.
What are the cultures most symbolic or significant rituals? We aren't a cult. We don't participate in rituals. We have what's called an IK Event IK stands for Interkingdom. Our larp group is part of a much larger game called Amtgard Inc., a nonprofit larp organization with over 75 thousand registered members all over the world, including 48 of the US states and 11 foreign countries. The game has garnered these players over its entire history since the beginning in 1983. Within the United States, geographical areas are split into sections known as kingdoms. For instance, Louisiana and Southeast Texas from Longview to Lake Jackson is our kingdom, known as The Kingdom of the Wetlands. Interkingdom events are huge events that draw hundreds or even thousands of players to them from all over the country and even internationally from time to time. These IK events are considered a sort of pilgrimage in that going to them is generally the highlight of the year for most of the players. Is there an initiation of some kind? Once more, we aren't a cult. There's no secret handshake or rituals to this. Our "Initiation" consists of you signing a waiver saying you aren't going to sue anyone if you get injured (this is a contact game, after all)
What motivates members? Most of us participate in this because it's fun to go whack people with foam sticks on the weekend and wear cool clothing while we do it. Others however, don't fight at all. They might be artisans who love making foam weapons, drawing/painting, singing or any creative portion of larping. Others participate because they like providing service to others and enjoy doing activities like picking up trash; setting up and breaking down awnings or helping people load and unload. Many individuals like to be in positions of leadership providing guidance to the players.
How did you get into Live Action Role Playing? “Oh, back in early 2008 I was living in Neenah Wisconsin. The job market had collapsed and I was out of work and down in the dumps. A buddy of mine saw I was depressed and said "Hey dude, let's go out to Amtgard park. “Might be good for you" That's pretty much how it all started. By day one I was hooked and will never stop playing. It's a ton of fun just to get out there and participate in this community”.
Why is this important to you? This hobby is very engaging and stimulating there’s never a dull moment. Being uninterested in the game is difficult because there are many competitions, for example the best at combat. There are elections you can partake in, becoming a provincial or even kingdom elected official. There's a tremendous amount of volunteer work players can engage, for example running the gate, check-in to helping serve feast and cleaning up the event site afterwards. There's literally something for everyone in the game.
How many members are there? Locally, our park averages between twelve to thirty people a week. Kingdoms, our population stands at three hundred eighty-three, our current registered members within the kingdom of the Wetlands stands at five thousand five hundred-twelve waivered members. Current global waivered members for all kingdoms stands at, sixty-two thousand nine hundred thirty-three.
What’s some of the many stereotypes larpers get? The major stereotypes we get, is that we're a cult of some kind practicing witchcraft and worshiping Satan. Second, that we’re just a bunch of geeks in funny clothing yelling "fireball!" while throwing a red streamer covered ball and hitting each other with pieces of a pool noodle. The third stereotype is that we aren't athletic. Here in Nac, it's a common occurrence for more athletic people to come participate in our games, thinking they're going to go beat up nerds. The issue is, some of us have been doing this for quite some time and have, as they say, found the "git gud" in ourselves. The people who come with that attitude are generally served a slice of humble pie very quickly.
Fourthly that we're socially awkward, in reality most of us are extremely socially adept and very outgoing in the outside world. We try to interact positively with everyone and them know that this is a positive environment a “safe place” if you will. Attracting new people is the lifeblood of the game. New people are always amazing because they have so much magic in their eyes when they come out to play that first time around. It's that spark of imagination as they realize they can live whatever sort of fantasy they like. We call that "Chasing the dream" in our game. How do you see new comers? Mostly we view them as potential new players. We run the whole spectrum from children to former military, including everything in between. We have members from all walks of life, so new players can come from anywhere .I would definitely say in the Nac group there ar
e more men than women. I'm not to certain what the actual numbers are, but there are generally more men than women that fight, but there are more women than men who participate in our " Arts and sciences” which is. Well simply put, it's serious arts and crafts.
Ultimately, I can only answer that question on a local level, since this game is a nation wide organization, I don't know what other chapters, let alone whole regions are like. Most chapter meet at a public park, due to the fact that this is a free to play, open to the public, anyone is welcome sort of thing. Playing at a public park allows us the space to play the games we play, as well as allows a sense of approachability, which is vital to the continuation of our game.
The game of amtgard is divided into kingdoms. Kingdoms consist of a number of provinces authorized and registered with our organization. Provinces are catalogued by size, and given specific honorifics. (With the smallest being chapters of 3-20 being shires, all the way up to grand duchies being 75+) Four officers run each park, and kingdom. Each officer has a specific responsibility Monarch: responsible for running and scheduling our meetings. Acts as a figurehead and mediator in the event of disputes. Prime Minister: record-keeping (attendance, awards, dues paid) Responsible for chapter funds Regent: arts and science officer, responsible for teaching, and encouraging the arts. Runs arts and science competitions, bestows awards Champion: rules and safety officer. Runs games, insures weapons are legal within our rules of play. No quite the opposite most chapters are proud members of kingdoms, but otherwise stand on their own. Interchapter interaction is rare, outside of our Kingdom gatherings. That's not to say that we don't have friends and the like in-between the chapters, but chapters visiting chapters as a whole, isn't a frequent thing.
In conclusion, there are many reasons to love Larping; there is wide range of interaction between the youth and elderly. It’s a creative outlet you’re exploring different worlds, creating costumes and characters. A great way to get healthy, all that running with swords is effective! All walks of life participate and love Larping; it’s a community that supports being different and a little nerdy.