American LARPers get called out ... hard

[Cramulus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od8Ka7bdqvU&feature=player_embedded

He's got our number ... bad.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Pfffft, my giant Eldrich horrors would make him pee his tunic!

[Iason Ouabache]

Crazy German LARPer is now a saint. I don't care if he never does another video ever again. That was fucking hilarious.

[Not Red Ame]

I'm and american larper... and im eating olive garden leftovers as i watch.... ARGHH dis LARP is broken, eet iz useless!

[Cramulus]

personally, I think he's actually satirizing the german attitude towards american larp. they're two very very different beasts. Germans often criticize americans larp for being somewhat superficial and "gamey", whereas german larp is more like high theater / psychodrama / historical reenactment. They do occasionally make the argument that their LARPs are better because everybody grew up with castles in their back yards.

what's funny is that finnish and scandanavian larpers look down on german larps because they're not artistic or intellectual enough.



to be fair, the german larp I played was leagues beyond most American games I've played. They just suck at writing rules.

[Triple Zero]

FUCK U I LSTEN TO WUMPSCUTT AND FRONT 242 I LIKE MEDIEVAL MUSIC TO PUNCH THE GUY IN ZE FACE!!!

i don't quite understand what he was on about btw, you don't actually roleplay during a LARP or something?

[Cramulus]

we do. But we don't throw ourselves as "deeply" into it as eurolarpers.

If there are only four reasons why people LARP, they are probably
-social reasons (ie, you like hanging out with people at LARPs)
-gamist reasons (ie, you like being challenged)
-narrativist reasons (ie, you like being in a story)
-immersionist reasons (ie, you like the experience of being someone else)

American games are skewed towards the gamist end of things.
German games are skewed towards the immersionist end of things.
Nordic games are really skewed towarsd the immersionist end of things.

In a lot of norse larps, the object is to totally forget about the outside world and your identity in it. The goal is to throw yourself so deeply into the fantasy that you become another person entirely. One norse larper said "If you don't make your own shoes for a game, BY HAND, you're not really larping."

In a lot of german larps, realism really really matters. They will not accept that good looking latex armor is really plate mail, no matter how awesome it looks. In contrast, american larps are typically fairly "high fantasy". It doesn't bother us that your chain mail is made of aluminum and can't really stop a sword blow. It looks like chain mail and that's what matters to us.

Germans accuse us of not really getting into it because our games have a lot of rules. They think that if you're thinking about stuff like hit points, your head isn't in the game universe and you're doing it wrong.

[Richter]

I'm trying very hard not to spout "IS A FUCK!" right now.

On a just slightly more serious note, it sounds like people looking for different experiences just ending up in different hobbies.  The Norwegian LARP'ers might be more at home with Civil / Revolutionary War Reenactors, or historical recreation groups (RI Pirate players being one GREAT example.)  who really go for full accuracy, full imersion, ONLY fitting accoutements, "If you're lucky your glasses and dental work will be allowed in", experience.

Personally, it makes me reflect that I enjoy LARP for story / social reasons.  (combat game wise, my level of psychosis isn't always happy with a boffer  .)

Interesting how this really starts to define the line between people looking for an experience vs. people looking for a game.   

[Chief Uwachiquen]

The time I spent signing up here is already repaid by watching that video.

AND THEN YOU PUNCH IT IN THE FACE. YES YOU PUNCH IT IN THE FAAACE.

Best part IMO.