"From Larpocracy With Love"

By Jaakko Stenros andElektra Diakolambrianou

Knutpunkt is an annual meeting point for larp designers and experts. The tradition of larps that emerges from this design community has been very influential for Larpocracy. This event is also an important site for Larpocracy to communicate about our research. There were several larps, workshops, panel discussions, and presentations, as well as a report from the People's Larpocratic Republic, which was featured on the humour program KPTV. KPTV is a collection of short skits where participants poke fun at larp culture, Knutpunkt, and national stereotypes. Most importantly, it is hugely popular, drawing one of the largest audiences at the convention. Thus, Work Packet 5 of Larpocracy wanted to spread knowledge about our new Deliverable 5.1 and our upcoming larp festival, MyPoint, through humour.

...Which was not difficult to do, since in Work Package 5, humour and productivity often go hand in hand! Based on a brief brainstorming session and existing inside jokes, a draft script was created. Roles were cast, director instructions were given, and then, since the team is international, it was up to each "actor" to film their own scenes and send them back to the director. Indeed, that's what actors would do, but since the "actors" of this team are actually larpers, they did more than that: they used the script as a suggestion, improvised, added their own ideas and personal/cultural touches, and had a ton of fun in the process! Then, the editing process was essentially a patchwork of short scenes, parody graphics, and original music composed by another team member --  resulting in a short movie called "From Larpocracy With Love", submitted as a KPTV entry from the fictional country of The People's Larpocratic Republic!