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Jan. 21st, 2004 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
learnedaxSo, thinking back over the couple of dozen LARPs I've played in the past sixish years, there really aren't that many which I both enjoyed and thought were well-written. Perhaps two or three, in fact. Frequently I run into what seem like the same problems repeatedly, particularly winding up locked out of the central action of the game, even when I am fairly certainI have done as much as possible to fix my inherent lack of plot by tying myself to others. I begin to wonder whether the problem here is, just possibly, that I'm not a good LARPer. Or at the very least not well-suited to the majority of games I have found.
Now, there have been perhaps half a dozen games where I was involved in major plots, and half of those I was happy because it seemed like everyone was involved in something, and they were good games all around. The remainder seemed to suffer from the usual swath of characters locked out of anything truly interesting, I just happened to be one of the few who got lucky. This does not make a very fun experience for me either, really.
In light of this it appears my odds of getting real enjoyment out of a (serious, at any rate) game are rather low. Maybe this is because most games are badly written from my perspective, or maybe I am not good enough to do anything useful if plot isn't handed to me on a platter. In either case it's very tempting to put a moratorium on my LARP involvement.
At the same time I'm having lots of interesting ideas and revelations about writing LARPs. And I feel a certain trepidation about becoming only a generator and not a consumer in the field. So I'm stuck then, I guess.
Now, there have been perhaps half a dozen games where I was involved in major plots, and half of those I was happy because it seemed like everyone was involved in something, and they were good games all around. The remainder seemed to suffer from the usual swath of characters locked out of anything truly interesting, I just happened to be one of the few who got lucky. This does not make a very fun experience for me either, really.
In light of this it appears my odds of getting real enjoyment out of a (serious, at any rate) game are rather low. Maybe this is because most games are badly written from my perspective, or maybe I am not good enough to do anything useful if plot isn't handed to me on a platter. In either case it's very tempting to put a moratorium on my LARP involvement.
At the same time I'm having lots of interesting ideas and revelations about writing LARPs. And I feel a certain trepidation about becoming only a generator and not a consumer in the field. So I'm stuck then, I guess.
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Date: 2004-01-23 07:22 pm (UTC)The remainder seemed to suffer from the usual swath of characters locked out of anything truly interesting
Generally a sign that the game has design problems. It's a common problem -- heaven knows, Celebration suffered from it, which I didn't realize until too late -- but it's still a problem. Better games try harder to avoid Main Plot Syndrome, or at least to have enough other major plots that no one feels left out.
One of the tricks that both runs of Tabula Rasa have managed is that, while they do have a "main" plot, that ultimately isn't the *important* plot for anyone. (Or at least, not to more than a few people.) That is, the amnesia is central to the game, but is really just a detail that is in the way of the numerous real plots that most players are dealing with.
And I feel a certain trepidation about becoming only a generator and not a consumer in the field.
While I'd recommend keeping a toe in the "consumer" field, just so you keep new ideas flowing in, there's nothing wrong with focusing on the writing side. You'll note that I only play 2-3 games a year on average, and write 1, which seems to be an entirely workable ratio...