I Am the God of Hellfire!
Saw the movie Darkon a few days back – it’s a documentary about a live-action role-playing game in the Baltimore area, played by people who drive out to parks & forests every other weekend, dress up in medieval costumes (and makeup, too, if they’re playing, say, dark elves), make rousing speeches about defending the realm, and charge into battle wielding fake swords, fake shields, etc.
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie & would recommend it, yet still found myself vaguely unsatisfied. Part of this was on the micro-level of logistics – my editor’s antennae were quivering with unanswered questions about the back-end workings of the game. (How do you sign up? What does it cost? Who ultimately calls the shots? What’s the mechanism for dealing with cheating, bad-faith players? Etc.) To be fair, though, I’m probably in the minority in wondering about all that stuff, & I can’t really blame the filmmakers for focusing instead on the on-the-field action.
But I also wanted more big-picture stuff, I guess. The film trotted out or hinted at a few insights as to why a game like Darkon would captivate its players, but they all seemed to be of the common-sense variety: people feel that their real lives are dull, that they have no control over the day-to-day demands of their existence, that their actions & decisions are of no real import, etc., and all of that is turned on its head in live-action role-playing (I’m told the acronym is LARP).
But the movie didn’t really ask what makes LARP different from other forms of escapism & entertainment, and it didn’t ask (except in the most offhand, roundabout way) whether LARP is in some way unhealthy.
I’ll take pains to note that this isn’t actually a criticism of the movie. Maybe my own perspective is skewed and there’s no reason to think LARP is unhealthy. Certainly the filmmakers seemed to be on the “good clean fun” side of the issue, and it’s hardly my place to begrudge anyone their fun, clean or otherwise.
Yet the whole LARP phenomenon still seems mildly depressing to me.
It’s not the escapism – believe me, I’m all about escapism. I’ve spent countless hours as a voyeur to other lives real & imaginary, via books & movies. (And I’ve often rationalized all those hours by telling myself that I’m not just passing the time & amusing myself, I’m worshipping at the altar of Art.) Nor is it the aroma of geekdom that clings to a game in which people dress up as elves. Anyone with enthusiasms of any kind, after all, is a geek in their own way, and believe me, I’m well aware that I’m geekier than most.
But it does seem to me that there’s something that makes LARP different from sports (player or spectator) or stamp collecting or sci-fi fandom or German board-game playing or blog bloviating or the many other ways in which folks pass the time. The difference is that this pursuit seems to explicitly involve your sense of your self – the rejection of your “real,” everyday self in favour of an invented but purely fantastical one that’s thought to be preferable.
That seems creepy to me.
(And by creepy I don’t mean, “One day those people are going to lose all sense of reality and go on a rampage, just like in that movie Mazes & Monsters.” By creepy I simply mean, “Not really conducive to long-term happiness in the real world.”)
The sheer physicality of the game might be a factor, too. You have to actually get yourself to the game site and dress up and interact with actual other people, but presumably in the role of your character much of the time. On the one hand, this introduces a social aspect to the game that seems pretty cool (especially compared against, say, videogame roleplaying). On the other hand, it would be interesting to know whether or how the in-your-face corporeality of the role-playing affects that whole sense-of-self thing.
Keep in mind that all of this is coming from someone who’s never played a game like this and who undoubtedly got from Darkon a pretty selective & limited version of what goes on. (Though again, that’s not to imply that the filmmakers are anything but supportive of the Darkonians.) So this, well, unease, let’s say, may be eminently rebuttable; if you’re a gamer coming across this via Google or something, rebut away.
In the meantime, oh, right, music. Games & theatricality have been on my mind, and I think all three of these very different songs are fantastic in their own way, whether they play for the team of freakform cabaret or jokey sixties pyschedelia or gorgeous seventies pop-soul. (If you don’t know these songs already, I’ll leave it to you to discover which is which, & you’re in for a treat.)
(Buy some Spinners here, some Man Man here, and some Arthur Brown here.)
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie & would recommend it, yet still found myself vaguely unsatisfied. Part of this was on the micro-level of logistics – my editor’s antennae were quivering with unanswered questions about the back-end workings of the game. (How do you sign up? What does it cost? Who ultimately calls the shots? What’s the mechanism for dealing with cheating, bad-faith players? Etc.) To be fair, though, I’m probably in the minority in wondering about all that stuff, & I can’t really blame the filmmakers for focusing instead on the on-the-field action.
But I also wanted more big-picture stuff, I guess. The film trotted out or hinted at a few insights as to why a game like Darkon would captivate its players, but they all seemed to be of the common-sense variety: people feel that their real lives are dull, that they have no control over the day-to-day demands of their existence, that their actions & decisions are of no real import, etc., and all of that is turned on its head in live-action role-playing (I’m told the acronym is LARP).
But the movie didn’t really ask what makes LARP different from other forms of escapism & entertainment, and it didn’t ask (except in the most offhand, roundabout way) whether LARP is in some way unhealthy.
I’ll take pains to note that this isn’t actually a criticism of the movie. Maybe my own perspective is skewed and there’s no reason to think LARP is unhealthy. Certainly the filmmakers seemed to be on the “good clean fun” side of the issue, and it’s hardly my place to begrudge anyone their fun, clean or otherwise.
Yet the whole LARP phenomenon still seems mildly depressing to me.
It’s not the escapism – believe me, I’m all about escapism. I’ve spent countless hours as a voyeur to other lives real & imaginary, via books & movies. (And I’ve often rationalized all those hours by telling myself that I’m not just passing the time & amusing myself, I’m worshipping at the altar of Art.) Nor is it the aroma of geekdom that clings to a game in which people dress up as elves. Anyone with enthusiasms of any kind, after all, is a geek in their own way, and believe me, I’m well aware that I’m geekier than most.
But it does seem to me that there’s something that makes LARP different from sports (player or spectator) or stamp collecting or sci-fi fandom or German board-game playing or blog bloviating or the many other ways in which folks pass the time. The difference is that this pursuit seems to explicitly involve your sense of your self – the rejection of your “real,” everyday self in favour of an invented but purely fantastical one that’s thought to be preferable.
That seems creepy to me.
(And by creepy I don’t mean, “One day those people are going to lose all sense of reality and go on a rampage, just like in that movie Mazes & Monsters.” By creepy I simply mean, “Not really conducive to long-term happiness in the real world.”)
The sheer physicality of the game might be a factor, too. You have to actually get yourself to the game site and dress up and interact with actual other people, but presumably in the role of your character much of the time. On the one hand, this introduces a social aspect to the game that seems pretty cool (especially compared against, say, videogame roleplaying). On the other hand, it would be interesting to know whether or how the in-your-face corporeality of the role-playing affects that whole sense-of-self thing.
Keep in mind that all of this is coming from someone who’s never played a game like this and who undoubtedly got from Darkon a pretty selective & limited version of what goes on. (Though again, that’s not to imply that the filmmakers are anything but supportive of the Darkonians.) So this, well, unease, let’s say, may be eminently rebuttable; if you’re a gamer coming across this via Google or something, rebut away.
In the meantime, oh, right, music. Games & theatricality have been on my mind, and I think all three of these very different songs are fantastic in their own way, whether they play for the team of freakform cabaret or jokey sixties pyschedelia or gorgeous seventies pop-soul. (If you don’t know these songs already, I’ll leave it to you to discover which is which, & you’re in for a treat.)
- The Spinners, “They Just Can’t Stop It (Games People Play)”
- Man Man, “Monster”
- The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, “Fire”
(Buy some Spinners here, some Man Man here, and some Arthur Brown here.)
posted by DW | 5.5.06
3 Comments:
Hello there. I play Darkon, and I figured I'd weigh in on some of your questions. You're not alone in most of them, from what I've heard.
First, the procedural concerns: You sign up by just showing up at a field where the game is taking place. You sign a waiver if you're new, and pay an initial $5 signup fee. Thereafter, events are $2, and campouts are $5. As far as running the whole thing, Darkon has an executive board that is elected from the player base. There is also a Senate, comprised of player representatives, which helps clarify rules and bring out new proposals.
Cheating players are a concern, and it's largely on an honor system. You are mostly responsible for your own hits. There are "Elders" who are essentially referees, who keep an eye on the action and to whom you can report someone that you think is blowing off valid hits. It's a problem with most combat sports that aren't directly judged. Given these elements, cheating is relatively rare. You play with the same people every event, so there's an incentive to be honorable. Besides, if you "die" you'll be back up in a few minutes anyway. Day events consist of a long string of rotating battles, each of which lasts about five to ten minutes at most.
Darkon sometimes feels like theater as a sport. We play to entertain each other by being good opponents and making the game itself more interesting. The roleplaying mostly comes into play at campouts, which are multi-day weekend events with set goals. These goals can range from capture-the-flag style stuff, to simple raiding for treasure, all the way up to things like saving a king or unraveling a mystery. Usually there are five or six concurrent objectives active in the campout, and the winning team is the one who manages to satisfy the most of them.
As far as the relation of roleplayed persona to self goes, I'd say that the whole roleplaying concept is to allow a level of distance for the participants to enjoy the game. This distance lets you both act and react within the game framework while still respecting the people behind the mask. You can get stabbed in the back, go down cursing your enemy, but mostly think to yourself "damn, that was a pretty awesome move that guy pulled, how can I do that!"
Most of the characters people create are either relatively shallow "funny names", or they are entire concepts that are designed to add more color to the game, such as a mad scientist or a psychic paladin. Much of the framework for your roleplaying comes from the country you choose to join.
Check out www.darkon.org for more information about what we do. I'm glad you liked the movie, and found it all worthy of comment.
I'm not convinced that the "distance" happens, even when you invent a self that is thought to be preferable for the purposes of the game. For example, when you are playing, oh, say, German board games...I believe you can reveal more about yourself than in many conversations.
Perianwyr: Thanks so much for your thoughtful & patient response. This is all good to know; I'm especially surprised that playing is so inexpensive & accessible, which seems very cool. I suspect I was reading too much into the whole divided-self angle, though in the documentary they really did play up the idea that the players find their regular lives unfulfilling. Anyway, thanks again.
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