Game test week in Larpocracy!

A blog by Karin Johansson and Sarah Lynne Bowman

By Karin Johansson from Uppsala University

In February, we had a game test week in Larpocarcy. In our design work package, project members from Uppsala University, LARPifiers, and Chaos League are currently in an intensive phase, developing larps, probes, and exploring different design nuggets. Game development is based on insights from the studies conducted so far, which provides depth to the content.

Several project members came together onsite in Uppsala for the game tests. After months of mostly digital meetings, it was finally time for some onsite hands-on activities. It was a pleasure to meet up, both for the actual game tests and for more informal conversations. Seeing each other always brings about a remarkable amount of larp-related discussions.

During the week, we play-tested two designs:

Dare to Deliberate (Johansson et al. 2025), which focuses on how the deliberative climate is affected by different media of communication and facilitation/moderation practices; and
The Assembly (Bowman, Öberg, Rydberg, and Hugaas 2025), which focuses on how a deliberative assembly is carried out.

The tests were combined with design reflections and discussions, primarily from project members and student volunteers in Human-Computer Interaction at Uppsala University. The sessions were very inspiring and provided a lot of insights.

The larp Dare to Deliberate was developed with and for the NGO Swedish Youth Media Organisation (Ung Media), which focuses on young journalism, free speech, and mitigating fake news and polarisation. The larp was playtested with their board of youngsters during the early Fall. Thereafter, it was reiterated and run at the jubilee conference of the Swedish Citizen University. That was indeed a stress test, as we ran the scalable larp with 80 first-time larpers at once. The session was highly appreciated by participants.

Since then, the larp has been revised and translated into English. Next steps for Dare to Deliberate involve further reiteration based on feedback from the playtest, and creating
hand-outs, facilitator instructions, and a train-the-trainer program. We will also develop an in-game social media app. In mid-March, a train-the-trainer weekend will be held with youngsters from Ung Media, who then plan to run the game at schools across Sweden.
For more about The Assembly, see our linked blog post about its premiere at the Stockholm Scenario Festival.

After an inspirational game-test week, full speed ahead in Larpocracy with continued game development. Several new design strands are being explored this Spring, and we are so excited to start testing them as well. With support from Elektra Diakolambrianou of LARPifiers, we have also initiated the production of an anthology of democracy-related LARPs, which we hope will inspire others, both within the LARPing community and beyond. We are really looking forward to the continued design processes and to later sharing more on the exciting game designs of Larpocracy!

Facilitators
Karin Johansson (UU), Josephine Rydberg (Domain Expert Panel)

Designers of Dare to Deliberate
Karin Johansson (UU), Erik Strömberg (external collaborator), Ung Media Sverige (Youth Media Sweden)

Designers of The Assembly
Sarah Lynne Bowman (UU), PerOla Öberg (UU), Josephine Rydberg (Domain Expert Panel), and Kjell Hedgard Hugaas (LARPifiers).