Editing Live action role-playing game (section)

==Cultural significance==
[[File:2014-09-13 tracon9 tampere-talo sorsapuisto.jpg|thumb|Open [[Foam weapon|boffer]] tournament during the Tracon 9 event in [[Tampere|Tampere, Finland]]]]
Roleplaying may be seen as part of a movement in Western culture towards [[participatory art]]s, as opposed to traditional spectator arts.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Larsson|first=Elge|chapter=Postmodernity and participation|year=2005|editor-last=Haggren|editor-first=Kristoffer|title=Interacting Arts - International Issue 2005|publisher=Interacting Arts|chapter-url=http://interactingarts.org/data/ia-international-05.pdf|access-date=2008-04-24|archive-date=2008-05-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514025234/http://interactingarts.org/data/ia-international-05.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Participants in a LARP cast off the role of passive observer and take on new roles that are often outside of their daily life and contrary to their culture.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Werkman|first=Rachel|chapter=Vampire: The Masquerade - a countercultural performance|year=2001|editor-last=Lancaster|editor-first=Kurt|editor2-last=Mikotowicz|editor2-first=Thomas J|title=Performing the force|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-0895-5}}</ref> The arrangers of a LARP and the other participants act as co-creators of the game.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Baker|first1=Andrew|last2=Curasi|first2=Carolyn|title=Consequences of Co-Creation in Fantasy-Based Consumption Communities: Netnographic Analysis of a Live Action Role Playing Organization|year=2008|editor-last=Baker|editor-first=Andrew|periodical=Advances in Consumer Research|volume=35|publisher=Association for Consumer Research|url=http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/v35/naacr_vol35_124.pdf|access-date=2009-09-17|archive-date=2021-03-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302133637/https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/v35/naacr_vol35_124.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> This collaborative process of creating shared fictional worlds may be associated with a broader burgeoning "[[geek]]" culture in [[developed country|developed societies]] that is in turn associated with prolonged education, high uptake of information technology and increased leisure time.<ref name="Konzack2006">{{cite conference|last=Konzack|first=Lars|title=Geek Culture: The 3rd Counter-Culture|book-title=Fun 'n' Games 2006|publisher=Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA)|year=2006|url=http://www.vrmedialab.dk/~konzack/GeekCulture.pdf|access-date=2009-09-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070122122230/http://www.vrmedialab.dk/~konzack/GeekCulture.pdf|archive-date=2007-01-22|url-status=dead}}</ref> In comparison to the mainstream video-game industry, which is highly commercialized and often marketed towards a male audience, LARP is less commoditized, and women actively contribute as authors and participants.<ref name="Fron2007">{{cite conference |last1=Fron |first1=Janine |last2=Fullerton |first2=Tracy |author3-link=Jacquelyn Ford Morie |last3=Jacquelyn Ford Morie |first3=Jacquelyn Ford Morie |last4=Pearce |first4=Celia |title=The Hegemony of Play |book-title=Proceedings of DiGRA 2007 Conference: Situated Play |publisher=Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) |year=2007 |url=http://www.ludica.org.uk/LudicaHegemony.pdf |access-date=2009-09-20 |quote=[The "hardcore" video gamer market] is characterized by an adolescent male sensibility that transcends physical age and embraces highly stylized graphical violence, male fantasies of power and domination, hyper-sexualized, objectified depictions of women, and rampant racial stereotyping and discrimination ... The "Geek" described by Konzack implies counter-culture, as characterized by The Lord of the Rings and Star Trek fan culture, Live-Action Role Playing Games (LARPs), MUDs and MOOs; he further points out that women are actively contributing to the third culture as both authors and participants, notably in LARPs, cosplay, fan fiction communities, as well as establishing the Game Grrls phenomenon and female fan networks. Conversely, mainstream gamer culture has been commoditized and commercialized... |archive-date=2021-03-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305151547/http://www.ludica.org.uk/LudicaHegemony.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

LARP is not well known in most countries and is sometimes confused with other role-playing, reenactment, costuming, or dramatic activities. While [[fan (person)|fan]] and [[gamer]] culture in general has become increasingly mainstream in developed countries, LARP has often not achieved the same degree of cultural acceptability. This may be due to intolerance of the resemblance to childhood games of pretend, a perceived risk of over-identification with the characters, and the absence of mass marketing.<ref name="Leppalahti2004">{{cite book |last=Leppälahti|first=Merja|editor=Markus Montola, Jaakko Stenros|title=Beyond Role and Play|chapter=About the Community of Role-Players|publisher=Ropecon ry|chapter-url=http://www.ropecon.fi/brap/ch28.pdf|year=2004|isbn=978-952-91-6843-9|access-date=2009-04-24|archive-date=2010-09-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100911115522/http://www.ropecon.fi/brap/ch28.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite conference|last=Tocci|first=Jason|title=The Well-Dressed Geek: Media Appropriation and Subcultural Style|book-title=Proceedings of MiT5 conference|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology|date=2007-04-29|url=http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/mit5/papers/Tocci.pdf|access-date=2009-04-24|quote=Many of those with whom I spoke said that they have a number of different geeky interests, but draw the line at cosplay or live-action role-playing games (LARPs), hobbies in which players might dress in costume and act as a character... too closely resemble a child's game of "let's play pretend" to outside observers, thus standing on the less acceptable side of the divide "between the people who do these things and the people who live these things", as phrased by one of my interviewees... The LARPers may seem, as some of my interviewees would suggest, too geeky (i.e., too freely creative and immersed in media, too focused on use-value)|conference=|archive-date=2016-08-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160824140841/http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/mit5/papers/Tocci.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> In US films such as the 2006 documentary ''[[Darkon (film)|Darkon]]'', the 2007 documentary ''[[Monster Camp]]'', and the 2008 comedy ''[[Role Models]]'', fantasy LARP is depicted as somewhat ridiculous and [[escapism|escapist]], but also treated affectionately as a "constructive social outlet".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Coffman|first=Jason|title=Role Models(2008)|publisher=Film Monthly.com|year=2008|url=http://www.filmmonthly.com/now_playing/role_models.html|access-date=2009-04-25|quote=It's to the film's credit that LARPing comes across as both completely ridiculous and as a valid, constructive social outlet|archive-date=2021-02-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224175943/http://www.filmmonthly.com/now_playing/role_models.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Cockrell|first=Eddie|title=Darkon|publisher=Variety|year=2006|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117930872.html?categoryid=31&cs=1|access-date=2009-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090905072105/http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117930872.html?categoryid=31&cs=1|archive-date=2009-09-05|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Harvey|first=Dennis|title=Monster Camp: The Story Of Nero Seattle|publisher=Variety|year=2007|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117933275.html?categoryid=31&cs=1|access-date=2009-08-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090905071519/http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117933275.html?categoryid=31&cs=1|archive-date=2009-09-05|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the Nordic countries, LARP has achieved a high level of public recognition and popularity. It is often shown in a positive light in mainstream media, with an emphasis on the dramatic and creative aspects.<ref name="Fatland2005NordicRecognition">(Fatland 2005) "The popularity of larp [in the Nordic countries] has recently made it a feature of 'common knowledge', so that a Swedish journalist may refer to something unrelated as 'larp-like', Finnish TV produces a teen soap opera about fantasy larpers, and a Norwegian professor of theatre history routinely ends his course by mentioning larp as the 'new theatre'."</ref> However, even in Norway, where LARP has greater recognition than in most other countries, it has still not achieved full recognition as a cultural activity by government bodies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.klassekampen.no/54499/mod_article/item&sl=no&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8|last=Müller|first=Olav Brostrup|title=We play an important role: Role play-writers are losing the battle for cultural assets|access-date=2009-04-24|publisher=Klassekampen|year=2008|language=no|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311211842/http://klassekampen.no/54499/mod_article/item%26sl%3Dno%26tl%3Den%26hl%3Den%26ie%3Dutf-8|archive-date=2016-03-11|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Communities have formed around the creation, play and discussion of LARP. These communities have developed a [[subculture]] that crosses over with role-playing, fan, reenactment, and drama subcultures.<ref name="Leppalahti2004" /><ref name="Copier2005">{{cite conference|last=Copier|first=Marinka|title=Connecting Worlds. Fantasy Role-Playing Games, Ritual Acts and the Magic Circle|book-title=Proceedings of DiGRA 2005 Conference: Changing Views--Worlds in Play|publisher=Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA)|year=2005|url=http://www.digra.org/dl/db/06278.50594.pdf|access-date=2009-04-26|archive-date=2006-10-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061010084831/http://www.digra.org/dl/db/06278.50594.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Early LARP subculture focused on [[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien]]-like fantasy, but it later broadened to include appreciation of other genres, especially the horror genre with the rapid uptake of the ''World of Darkness'' setting in the 1990s.<ref name="Copier2005" /><ref name="Montola2007SpaceTimePlay">{{Cite book|last=Montola|first=Marcus|chapter=Urban Role-Play: The Next Generation of Role-Playing in Urban Space|year=2007|editor-last=von Borries|editor-first=Friedrich|editor2-last=Walz|editor2-first=Steffen P|editor3-last=Böttger|editor3-first=Matthias|title=Space Time Play. Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism: the Next Level|publisher=Birkhäuser Basel|isbn=978-3-7643-8415-9|quote=That Lord of the Rings-induced stereotypical image of LARP started to crumble in the 90s as LARP based on anything from science fiction to Jane Austen began to emerge, taking gameplay from forests and castles into industrial halls, idyllic villas and city streets.}}</ref> Like many subcultures, LARP groups often have a common context of shared experience, language, humour, and clothing that can be regarded by some as a lifestyle.<ref name="Leppalahti2004"/>

LARP has been a subject of academic research and theory. Much of this research originates from role-players, especially from the publications of the Nordic [[Knutepunkt]] role-playing conventions.<ref>(Waern, Montola & Stenros 2009:1550) "The community is well documented through annual self-reflective books published by the annual "Nodal Point" events where theorists and practitioners meet to discuss larp"</ref> The broader academic community has recently begun to study LARP as well, both to compare it to other media and other varieties of interactive gaming, and also to evaluate it in its own right.<ref name="MontolaStenros2008"/><ref>{{Cite news|last1 =Drachen|first1 =Anders|last2=Smith|first2=Jonas Heide|year=2008|title=Player talk—the functions of communication in multiplayer role-playing games|periodical=Computers in Entertainment (CIE)|location=New York|publisher=ACM|volume=6|issue=4|url=http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1461999.1462008|issn =1544-3574|access-date =2009-04-25}}</ref> In 2010, William Bainbridge speculated that LARP may one day evolve into a major industry in the form of [[location-based game]]s using [[ubiquitous computing]].<ref name="Bainbridge2010">{{cite conference|last=Bainbridge|first=William Sims |title=Online Multiplayer Games|book-title=Synthesis Lectures on Information Concepts, Retrieval, and Services #13|publisher=Morgan & Claypool|page=3|year=2010|volume=1 |quote=With ubiquitous Internet connectivity, and mobile access through cellphones or PDAs, it is possible this genre could grow into a major industry, possibly integrated with traditional activities such as history-oriented tourism, nature trail hiking, or stock market trading.|doi=10.2200/S00232ED1V01Y200912ICR013 }}</ref>

In [[Denmark]], Østerskov Efterskole uses LARP as an educational method of teaching subjects to high school boarding students through interactivity and simulation.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pearl |first1=Mike |title=At This Danish School, LARPing Is the Future of Education |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/at-this-danish-school-larping-is-the-future-of-education-482/ |website=Vice |access-date=17 May 2019 |date=2015-10-07 |archive-date=2020-01-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131060601/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/yvx4zb/at-this-danish-school-larping-is-the-future-of-education-482 |url-status=live }}</ref> LARP groups are also using simulations of current and historical events and topics like refugees and the AIDS crisis to roleplay and explore these subjects.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Reith-Banks |first1=Tash |title=Beyond Dungeons and Dragons: can role play save the world? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/26/can-live-action-role-play-larp-save-the-world |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=17 May 2019 |date=2018-03-26 |archive-date=2021-04-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420220027/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/26/can-live-action-role-play-larp-save-the-world |url-status=live }}</ref>

In China, the script murder game industry ([[jubensha]]) has continued to grow since 2015. ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that in 2021 "the number of scripted murder enterprises registered in China totaled about 6,500, a more than 60 percent increase from the prior year, according to state-run media".<ref name=":3" /> The ''[[Agence France-Presse]]'' reported that "the live action murder mystery market appears to have captured the imagination of China's urban youth before the Covid-19 pandemic emerged".<ref name=":1" /> During the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], "Murder Mystery Game" (MMG) apps allowed people to play jubensha digitally and were "available to millions of people across" China.<ref name=":4" /> ''[[Dicebreaker]]'' reported that following the easing of pandemic restrictions in China, "more than 45,000 [jubensha] shops" opened with "nearly 10 million active players. It is estimated that soon the Jubensha market will reach 23.89 billion Chinese Yuan".<ref name=":4" /> [[Voice of America]] commented that, per the Chinese market research firm [[IResearch Consulting Group|iResearch]], script murder games are "the third most popular form of entertainment for Chinese people, after watching movies and participating in sports".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-11-07 |title=China Trying to Snuff Murder Mystery Role-Playing Games |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/china-trying-to-snuff-murder-mystery-role-playing-games/6301966.html |access-date=2023-06-16 |website=VOA |language=en |archive-date=2023-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414145634/https://www.voanews.com/a/china-trying-to-snuff-murder-mystery-role-playing-games/6301966.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The popularization of script murder games and industry growth in China has led to both national and governmental attention with the Chinese government considering formal regulation of the industry.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5" /> In September 2020, the ''Agence France-Presse'' commented that "a report on China National Radio last month voiced fears that too many of the scripts relied on murders, violent plots and sexual content, but others see the games as a way to get young people off their smartphones and back interacting with each other in real life".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2020-09-15 |others=[[Agence France-Presse]] |title=China youth escape reality in 'Whodunnit?' role-playing boom |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3101585/china-youth-escape-reality-whodunnit-role-playing-boom |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918105458/https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3101585/china-youth-escape-reality-whodunnit-role-playing-boom |archive-date=September 18, 2020 |access-date=2022-10-15 |website= |publisher=[[South China Morning Post]] |language=en}}</ref> In October 2021, the ''[[South China Morning Post]]'' reported that "advertisements for script-killing are prominent in China. [...] The fact that it is a new industry is precisely the problem in the eyes of the authorities. Since the Covid-19 case that brought 'script-killing' to national attention, the game has been getting mainstream traction, inviting official concerns and possible future regulations".<ref name=":0" /> In October 2022, ''[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]]'' commented that Chinese "regulators are beginning to take notice of the genre's mature content. A story published Wednesday indicates that municipal and provincial authorities have now begun regulating content and demanding that some retailers remove certain materials from sale. [...] As a result, some store owners are now curating their selection to fall in line with government regulation".<ref name=":2" /> ''[[China Daily]]'', a publication owned by the [[Chinese Communist Party]], reported in April 2023 that China's [[Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China|Ministry of Culture and Tourism]] was beginning to draft regulations for script murder games and "soliciting public opinions".<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last= |date=2023-04-14 |title=China plans to prohibit murder mystery games for minors on school days |url=https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202304/14/WS6438b5e4a31057c47ebba1a5.html |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=[[China Daily]] |archive-date=2023-04-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415131758/http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202304/14/WS6438b5e4a31057c47ebba1a5.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The draft regulations state that "the contents of such games must not smear the traditional Chinese culture or contain inappropriate materials involving obscenity, gambling, drugs, and other elements that could go against moral standards".<ref name=":5" /> The regulations also include additional rules for minors such as not allowing "underage customers on school days" and that "children under the age of 14 must be accompanied by their parents or other guardians".<ref name=":5" />