The Assembly premieres at Stockholm Scenario Festival!

Several Larpocracy members attended Stockholm Scenario Festival, an annual event in Stockholm, Sweden, Nov. 21-23. This year, the team premiered their larp designed especially for Larpocracy based on research combining larp and deliberative events called The Assembly.

The larp was written by Sarah Lynne Bowman (UU), PerOla Öberg (UU), Josephine Rydberg (Domain Expert Panel), and Kjell Hedgard Hugaas (LARPifiers).

This team was joined by two graduate student researchers, Jingpeng Feng and Weronika Szatkowska, who tested the Deliberative Civic Values Observational Checklist developed for the project based on previous research by Öberg and Jon Back (UU).

The Assembly ran twice, on Nov. 22 and 23. The scenario is set in a fictional version of Sweden at a democratic deliberation event in which a representative sample from many different demographic backgrounds share their thoughts on the decriminalisation and legalisation of the psychoactive substance psilocybin, also known as "magic mushrooms." The participants are given a fact sheet based on current studies by Swedish researchers, as well as statistics from Swedish governmental websites.

Based on this fact sheet and their own personal experiences and beliefs, the characters must discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the substance following specific Rules of Engagement, ultimately attempting to find a consensus if possible on recommendations for Parliament.

The goal of The Assembly is to practice skills in deliberation in an engaging and personally relevant way, exploring different perspectives, positions, interests, feelings, and needs that are associated with political beliefs. Additionally, sharing views in deliberative settings can lead to depolarization, a stronger sense of group cohesion, and greater empathy for others.

The team will continue to iterate upon the larp after these two successful runs, with plans to run them in other formal and nonformal settings in future months.

For a sneak peak of the current version of the scenario, visit the link here.