About Us
Larpocracy researches spaces for deliberation and democratic skill building through live-action role-playing (larp). Funded by Horizon Europe, seven leading partners will study the use of larp as a method for creating inclusive and democratic social spaces, both online and offline.
Our mission is to to investigate the potential of live-action role-playing (larp) as a method to foster democratic skill building and political engagement. Our research aims to leverage this innovative form of co-creative embodied play to address declining engagement in traditional democracy and the limitations of social media in fostering civic discourse.
“Larp has a capacity to promote democratic participation, both by training democratic skills, such as organising a meeting, and by promoting values such as equal participation, listening and taking turns. These are abilities and values that are important in building democratic dialogue.”
— Annika Waern, professor at the Department of Informatics and Media. Uppsala University.
Objective
Online social media is not living up to its promise to offer alternative arenas promoting civic deliberation among people with diverse opinions. In the wake of this perceived failure of the online environment, activists, educators and scholars alike have begun to turn to alternative forms of civic engagement, both online, offline and mixed. Larp, live role playing, is one such form. Larps create cultural, artistic spaces offering great potential for alternative engagement with politics.
Furthermore, Larps are not restricted to physical space. Rather, larp exemplify how social spaces can be deliberately and collaboratively designed to be conductive of inclusivity and democratic engagement. Studying larp, enhancing their capacity of supporting democratic engagement and political expression, and learning from them to inspire the deliberate design of social media and other spaces for political expression, thus directly answers to the call topic and opens unique opportunities for the design of future spaces for democratic deliberation, including future social media.
The project will produce:
Studies and experiments chartering capacities of larp in supporting democratic engagement and fostering democratic skill-building.
Public events in collaboration with designers and organisers from marginalised and vulnerable communities .
Design exemplars of larp and larp spaces capable of supporting inclusivity and democratic engagement.
Evidence-based Democracy by Design Toolkit.
A widespread community of Experts understanding the capacities of larp and larp-like spaces in fostering democratic engagement.
Evidence-based Policy Recommendations supporting policy-makers in multiple domains.
Work Packages
The work done for Larpocracy is split into eight work packages which are as follows:
WP1: Project Coordination
WP2: Effects of Larp-Based Interventions
In Effects of Larp-Based Interventions (WP2), the project assesses the impacts democracy-based larps have on participants, organizers, and designers. Examples are drawn mostly from Nordic larp and adjacent design communities. Of particular interest are larps designed to raise awareness on specific issues related to democracy, i.e., activism, and larps designed to facilitate democratic processes, such as deliberation. The research generated by this work package will include articles on political and democracy-themed larps, including ones designed for EU-funded programs, and design considerations when comparing deliberative events with larp design in terms of facilitation, moderation, psychological safety, and inclusion.
WP3: Theory Informed Scenario Design
In Theory Informed Scenario Design (WP2), the project builds upon takeaways from the effects studies, which will inform design experiments. In particular, researchers will employ a research-through-design approach to explore the nexus point of larp and deliberative events. These events will create experiences intended to develop democratic skills, such as expressing one's own claims and deeply considering the perspectives of others. Once these scenarios are thoroughly playtested, we will facilitate them in informal, nonformal, and formal learning environments to assess their effects. The team will also conduct longitudinal studies on the impacts of existing democracy-themed larps designed by the consortium.
WP4: Lowering Barriers to Participation
In Lowering Barriers to Participation (WP4), the University of Greenwich aims to explore innovative methods with partner digital arts company ZU-UK to lower barriers to participation in democratic processes. Focusing on the engagement of marginalized communities in Belém, Brazil, this project utilizes larp-adjacent role-play and instruction-led methodologies to foster democratic dialogue and activism. The project seeks to empower these communities by amplifying their voices in the context of global climate change discussions, particularly as they relate to the upcoming 2025 COP30 conference. This research-through-design intends to evaluate larp-adjacent events for their effectiveness in fostering civic engagement and building democratic skills.
WP5: Design of Spaces for Human Encounter
Design of Spaces for Human Encounter (WP5) maps, develops, tests, and reports on how offline and online larp-related social spaces function as platforms for democratic engagement and activism. Through fieldwork and research through design and engagement with existing larp festivals and new festivals that function as prototypes, design recommendations for democratic larp spaces are developed, piloted, and disseminated. WP5 is driven by the question: What evidence-based recommendations on the design of social situations can be found from examining and iterating on the design of larp festivals for increasing participation? This stems from the idea that social encounters between humans are a designable surface.
WP6: Domain Expert Panel
The Domain Expert Panel (WP6) plays an important role in bridging theoretical research with practical applications. A core focus of this work package is to facilitate discussions among interdisciplinary experts to enrich project outputs, ensuring their insights are systematically captured, translated into actionable policy recommendations, and have broad applicability across domains. Its methodological framework is rooted in participatory design principles and seeks to validate and expand on the project's theoretical framework, emphasizing inclusivity, accessibility, and practical applicability.
WP7: Policy Recommendations
WP8: Exploitation and Dissemination
In Exploitation and Dissemination (WP 8), the team at ZU-UK leads the strategy and output of Larpocracy across digital channels, aiding the broader team on publication output, internal communication, and content creation. As a dedicated WP designed to ensure the visibility and dissemination of the project, WP 8 manages the website, social media channels, and other digital output streams to ensure that content is seen by our target larp audience while attracting a wider larp-adjacent audience. This work package will continuously serve the digital landscape to asses the best output and use data to help inform decisions.