_1215_fine_art_catalogue

The Stranger LARP
(Live Action Role Play)
www.visiblepsychology.co.uk
Visitors to the Northumbria University
12-15 Degree Show will be invited to
participate in an on-going Live Action
Role Play (LARP) for the duration of
the show.
Character profiles
All players in this LARP will be human beings born in
the mid to late 20th century.
Unlike human beings living in subsistence
conditions in the third world, Players will all be
occupants of the comparatively much wealthier
western world. They will therefore enjoy a relatively
more privileged lifestyle with plenty to eat,
comfortable clothing and access to sophisticated
entertainments.
They will also be politically free and, whatever they
may like to think about their personal circumstances,
any limitations in their social lives will be largely of
their own making. Within the laws that govern our
society and socially accepted norms, they can
choose to act as they please and do what they want.
Players may alternatively choose to smile or
acknowledge other Players with the light formal
social greeting normally extended to strangers in a
safe neutral environment – a smile or a nod.
Players may on the other hand want to reject
contemporary western social norms and
experiment with a less orthodox stranger greeting
(such as a military salute, a raising of a hat –
assuming one is being worn - or by the giving of a
romantic fairytale bow or curtsey).
Players could even ‘up’ the interaction stakes by
choosing to ‘get physical’ with complete strangers
experimenting with warm double handshakes or big
hugs of affection.
And of course Players can choose how to respond to
approaches from other Players in the game.
• engage with the other Player enthusiastically with
a responding hearty hand shake or hug of
affection.
• react in some unexpected manner (such as by
putting out the tongue; blowing a raspberry;
saluting; giving a bow or curtseying theatrically in
response to their greeting; by doing a little comic
dance etc).
How Players choose to behave will always be
entirely their own choice. Those who are used to
such role-play will understand that the more they
personally invest into the game, the more they are
likely to get out of it. ‘Playing to lose’ often creates a
much more interesting game and is more rewarding
than ‘playing to win’.
LARP Etiquette
Roles in the LARP
All Players in this LARP will be assuming the roles of
visitors to the 2015 Degree Show exhibition being
staged by final year Fine Art students at
Northumbria University in Newcastle.
If someone smiles or acknowledges them for
example, they may:
• choose to blankly ignore the other Player or turn
away to make the other Player feel uncomfortable
and show that they are superior to them.
The game organisers request that all Players in this
LARP show respect for other Players at all times. If
another Player does not want to engage, this is
entirely their choice of character role in the game
and is a choice that should be respected.
Game Instructions
Players will be invited to wander around looking at
the art on display in their own time. Throughout the
exhibition they will encounter other Players in the
game. How they, and other Players, choose to play
their respective roles will stimulate various types of
Player Interactions.
For example:
Players may choose to demonstrate their complete
fear of strangers, or feelings of social superiority, by
completely ignoring other Players they encounter in
the game.
• stare at the other Player pointedly to show their
shock at the willingness to break the western
social taboo of moving outside a strictly defined
‘stranger exclusion zone’.
• choose to be highly affronted by any excess of
familiarity shown by any other Player and respond
with a warning reaction suchas a raised finger, a
shout of fear; or even the extremes of a physical
punch or slap.
• just smile timidly back at the other Player in an
embarrassed way, demonstrating that they are ‘not
prepared to play this type of game’.
This Live Action Role Play has been brought to you
by Visible Psychology Inc. © 2015
www.visiblepsychology.co.uk
The Stranger LARP
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