Tag Archives: Larp

Ethan Gilsdorf on Gamer Shame

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When I spoke to Ethan Gilsdorf about his new book, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks, we couldn’t seem to get away from the idea of gamer shame. Basically, many gamers feel guilty and ashamed of their obsession with LARP, World of Warcraft, etc.

In my own research on LARP, I’ve encountered a couple cases of gamer shame — a long-time LARPer who hides his hobby from friends he’s known for years, for fear of ridicule; a woman who doesn’t want people at her office to find out about her weekends in the woods, because LARP is hard to explain and at first blush, sounds like a child-like past time; gamers who treat other forms of nerdularity — massive multiplayer online games, Cosplay, and Rennaisance Faires — with ridicule. Continue Reading →

Introducing the Massive LARP Calendar

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There’s no single source of good LARP events on the web, in my experience.  Sure, Shade’s LARP List has a lot of links, but many of them are dead or lead to groups that are no longer active. So I decided to start my own calendar of LARP events and conventions across the US, and to make it searchable via Google. But this behemoth is only as good as my information. Continue Reading →

When the Game Carries Over

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That in-game emotions sometimes spill over into the out of game world is one of the hazards of LARPing.  Say someone kills your character in-game, knowing that in doing so, they’re causing your character to lose stats.  Would you bear them ill-will once the event is over? I always thought my answer would be no.  After all, it’s the risk of conflict, penalty and the unknown plot point that makes LARP exciting.  But a few months ago I learned otherwise. Continue Reading →