No one’s judging you

 

One week ago, I played Guitar Hero for the first time.

Athough I was instantly hooked, my favorite song to play, by far, is “Knights of Cydonia” by Muse. My sister and brother-in-law had never heard the song prior to my first 4-star performance on Easy, but loved it enough to purchase it a few minutes later.

So while listening to the song over dinner, we got into a discussion of Live Action Role-Playing (LARP) — because if you absolutely had to LARP, wouldn’t it be ideal to do it while this song was playing?

Up to that point I had never seen the “Knights of Cydonia” video — the closest I come to a Muse fan is loving this one song. Which is basically the same relationship I have with U2; I love “Sunday, Bloody Sunday.”

Do you see a trend?

Anyhow… the “Knights of Cydonia” video is a pretty good depiction of how we described our fantasy LARP to the song (that is a ridiculous sentence).

 

From what I can tell, there are a number of people who hold strong opinions against those who LARP.

I have never participated in Live Action Role-Playing — and perhaps you haven’t either — but we are all members of a community of make-believe.

I developed a progression of make-believe (decreasing in commitment), which I list and explore further below.

 

The Spectrum of Make-Believe

• Live Action Role-Playing (LARP)
• Alternate Reality Game (ARG)
• Improv Everywhere
• Theater
• “Act as if” (fake it ’til you make it)
• And, of course, Junior High— the spectrum’s variable degree.

 

Live Action Role-Playing

If you’ve ever walked past a park and seen a group of people dressed in period or fantasy garb battling with duct tape covered weapons, then you’ve likely seen LARPing. And there’s usually a story or journey involved that can take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks (maybe longer?) to complete.

If you haven’t seen it, think back to any of your former history teachers and the mention one of them made about the Civil War reenactment they attended, or participated in, over the weekend.

 

Alternate Reality Game

Recently, in an article posted on Creativity Online, I learned about the real-time world of Gotham City between the release of “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight.” In “Gaming Gotham: The minds Behind the Dark Knight ARG Speak,” by Nick Parish, the intricate world of dedicated Batman fans is revealed. Alex Lieu describes what I thought was most interesting and rewarding:

 

 ”…in the course of going to pick up those cakes, [players] helped steal a District 22 school bus, from Gotham City. They weren’t sure why. But in the prologue, when the Joker, after the bank robbery, makes his escape, that same school bus crashes into the bank and he gets on it and takes off. In that way we’re actually having the players become part of the fiction and the film themselves.”

 

Essentially an elaborate relationship-marketing effort, this level of engagement wouldn’t have been successful without the involvement of “real-world” corporations like Dominos, Comcast and Nokia (which included prominent product placement in “The Dark Knight”), because similar companies exist in the Gotham City world.

Another success within this game: some players may not have realized they were playing anything, explains Alex Lieu,

“…we can integrate with the traditional marketing materials, by hiding something in plain sight or doing something within it. And once the people discover them and find them, all of a sudden they’re scouring through all of the traditional marketing materials anticipating them and sharing them with each other. We tend to try to do as many things like that [as we can] when we have opportunities.”

Improv Everywhere

“Improv Everywhere causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 70 missionsinvolving thousands of undercover agents. The group is based in New York City.”

Essentially, Improv Everywhere plays (usually) harmless practical jokes on an unsuspecting public. The performances require short-term commitment by players willing to act out-of-place for a few minutes or hours. A great example is the oft requested exploration of spontaneously breaking into song, musical-stlye.

Although Baldwin Hills Mall put the troupe in contact with Hot Dog on a Stick, the food court standard was a perfect choice due to it’s easily recognizable and outlandish employee uniforms.

In the troupe’s blog, Improv Everywhere’s Charlie Todd writes, “While the management of both the mall and Hot Dog on a Stick were aware of what we were doing, they kept the mission a secret from everyone else. All of the employees of the other food court establishments had absolutely no idea that our musical was going to take place.”

 

Theater

Theater — whether plays, music, comedy, mime or modeling —require a convincing enough character commitment to allow an audience to escape into the story, or focus on the art. Performers must tell a story, but they can occasionally duck backstage for a costume change or cigarette break, essentially breaking character.

 

“Act as if”

Fake it ’til you make it.

Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.

Appearing confident, doing the research to back up your confidence, and getting experience to boost that confidence — a process used by many to get where they want, so they can write their own story. While the level of commitment can be higher than any aforementioned acts of make-believe, participants are committing only to themselves, which is often less risky and more rewarding. 

 

Junior High

Depending on insecurities, maturity, older siblings, genetics, and any number of other terribly awkward variables, the time most people spend in junior high is about pretending to be something they know nothing about. It’s basically “Act as if,” with a feigned nervousness that would be hard to misinterpret as confidence.

 

Make-believe is a terribly twee way of looking at our approach to the world — to brighten our day (through a 3-minute plastic guitar attempt at rock n’ roll fame), and to help us escape reality or less-desirable versions of ourselves.