Playground Worlds. Creating and Evaluating Experiences of Role-Playing Games is finally here as pdf. It’s an ambitious collection of texts on live role-playing, edited by game researchers Markus Montola and Jaakko Stenros. There is plenty of interesting things to read. I contributed with a reflection under the title “We Lost Our World and Made New Ones: Live Role-Playing in Modern Times” on live role-playing as an anti-modern culture using Hannah Arendts Vita Activa. Some comments on it:
Widing gives us this year’s application of “take philosopher X and apply his/her thoughts on larp”. This time its Arendt, and Gabriel indeed manages to deal with the points of social criticism, alienation and larp quite well. Given the subject matters of capitalism, individuality and temporary spaces, I nevertheless would have liked a few steps outside just one line of thought – for example, also referencing Deleuze & Guattari would have added a lot of strength to this article.
A deeply philosophical piece about modern life and the function of larp in it, drawing on the thought-provoking work of exiled Jewish-German philosopher Hannah Arendt. Discusses the value of larp as an antidote for the alienation of modern life in industrialised societies, and reminds me of a piece I read recently discussing the Harajuku Kids in Tokyo, who also dress up and create a social space away from “reality”. An affecting article that may get you thinking about much more than larp.
I recommend Andie Nordgrens article “High Resolution Larping: Enabling Subtlety at Totem and Beyond” and J. Tuomas Harviainen “Kaprow’s Scions” on larp as a continuation of the 60ths’ happenings.
This year Interacting Arts will do the anthology for Knutpunkt.
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