LARP Player enjoyment cycle

[jingsaw]

I have been reflecting on how I play and enjoy LARP recently, and looking at how that evolved. I was wondering if this progression was something that others had experienced as well

Comments

[mighty_1]

I would say yes, but it may be different than what you are thinking for other people. When I first started role playing, I was happy with just being there. Being in character, in the scene, listening and watching what happend; not really playing so much.
When I actually started playing more, I found that there were games and characters that I couldn't play well and therfore didn't like. Now, I want to play games, but it is more about finding/creating chracters that I will enjoy playing, rather than forcing myself into something that I won't. I think that if I like the character, the fun of the game will just happen, especially if other players can get into their characters as well.

[the_smith_e]

My first LARP was back in 1989 and was full weekend at a sci-fi convention. It was enrapturing for a number of reasons (including a young woman who was my queen) and fascinated me. I had a wonderful time. My second was frustrating and my third more rewarding. From that point forward, I have concentrated on immersion and becoming the character.

My first full immersion live combat LARP was exceptionally powerful even though, in hindsight, it was a poor game. Overtime, that initial enchantment did wear off but I found other ways to enjoy myself. In all of my years, I have likely only had 2-3 bad games and one or two weak ones.

I play LARP to learn, to walk in another man's shoes for a bit and to find emotional intensity. I can get the latter other ways but rarely the former in such a powerful manner. Whenever I feel things are slow, I concentrate on the character's perception and behavior and refocus. Unless the character is very passive/reactive, this works well for me.

[gower]

For me it was when I started writing that I began to have a bit less fun--so that's similar to your reaction.

It may be that I am just expecting more and more: the more I experience a few great games the more I expect from *every* game.

[_lackey_]

I am looking for something new and intriguing

[the_smith_e]

I should have added that to my answer. You control your perceptions and reactions. No one else can. If you work to find something, you usually will. If that is a good time, you will find it. If that is the warts on something (and everything has them), then you will find them.

Writing for or supporting the game you are part of in others ways is often a method for finding what you want.

[goldenoak]

reinventing and rediscovering is the only way that any hobby can last a person decades. Some is in the creativity around us, but some is in how we veiw the hobby and what we are looking for in it.

What he said.

The last paragraph of your post put me in mind of the new relationship high you get off of a new romance. The question, then, is how to find ways to keep on being intrigued by the person (or hobby) rather than becoming bored once the shiny has worn off. I think rediscovering and exploring the as-yet-unexplored depths is a fairly good strategy in both cases.

[interactivearts]

I hadn't read this when I posted mine, but you said very much the same thing, elegantly and simply.

I'll just add that writing the article on Relationships in LARP, I was really struck by the degree to which participation in LARP in many ways resembles a relationship. Probably most other human involvements do too, because that's a large part of how we relate when we're drawn out emotionally, but I still thought it was striking.

[oldest_song]

I was in a tabletop here that had a lot of the elements you're describing, and we should talk about this. I want to try to put together something similar, but I need to pick my old GM's brain first.