In: Jesper Donnis m.fl. (red.)
Lifelike
Projektgruppen KP07/Landsforeningen for levende rollespil, København 2007
p. 237-245
Anne Marit Waade and Kjetil Sandvik
’I play roles, therefore I am’
Placing larp in a broader cultural perspective
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women, merely Players;
They have their exits, and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
Our lives are role-play.
We have to master different scripts
and act on several stages.
Thus the actor may serve as
a suitable metaphor for modern man.
William Shakespeare: As You Like it
Finn Skårderud: Uro – en rejse i det moderne selv
The attention paid to live-action role-playing and other forms of leisure role-playing has exploded
over the past few years, both due to the fact that the role-playing community continues to attract a
lot of new members, the fact that role-playing as a creative, self-organizing and self-reflecting
activity is getting an increasingly growing attention from the media, and the fact that educators,
teachers, and development consultants have discovered the potential inherent in role-playing, both
as an idea and a strategy. In this essay, we place leisure role-playing in a broader perspective, not
only in relation to actual phenomena in mediatized popular culture (such as computer games) or to
storytelling in organizations, but also in relation to role-playing as a tradition and theoretical
consideration within education, theatre, and the social sciences. The points and discussions are
based on our book Rollespil – i æstetisk, pædagogisk og kulturel sammenhæng (2006), which is the
first Danish academic anthology on role-playing as an aesthetic, educational, and cultural
phenomenon.
The world’s a stage
There is a connection between how role-playing is being used as a metaphor, e.g., within
philosophy, sociology, and psychology and the way of thinking which is the basis for different
forms of role-playing. We know a lot of examples in our cultural history of using role-playing and
other concepts, which have their cultural origin in the theatre.
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The conception of the world as a stage and human life being as transient as a play can be
found not only in the writings of Shakespeare, but is also summed up in the concept Theatrum
Mundi (‘theatre of the world’), which is found as an idea as far back as ancient Greece in the
thinking of, e.g., Plato and Seneca. This notion appears again in mystery plays of the Medieval
Ages as well as in Baroque and Renaissance theatre, and in the beginning of the 1800s Theatrum
Mundi was the name for a very popular kind of puppet theatre that represented actual events such as
great battle scenes. In our time, the concept has been used by theatre anthropologists such as
Richard Schechner (1985) and Eugenio Barba (1995). What is common in all these cases is that
theatre is being used as model or metaphor for the world.
In recent years, sociology and psychology, especially, have made use of theatre metaphors
in order to describe the way in which humans function as individuals and in relations to others.
Sociologist Erving Goffman (1959) puts forward a dramaturgically founded sociology in which he
describes how we orchestrate our selves and play different roles in different contexts in order to put
on a specific performance and create a specific image of our selves. Psychiatrist Richard Sterba (see
Bentley 1964, p.145) also connects life and theatre by describing how our desire to be a spectator in
the theatre has narcissistic elements that may be traced back to early childhood and our ability in
childhood to create imaginative worlds to play roles in. And psychologist J.L. Moreno (see Bentley
1964, p.165) regards life as a complete theatrical play in which living is being directly involved in
the dramatic actions and events, and he uses this to formulate a specific psycho-dramatic method,
which is concerned with getting patients directly involved in whatever drama they want to
experience, and where therapists–according to the theatrical principle of using fictional characters
as substitutes–are playing different roles in a variety of confrontational scenes which are not just
reconstructions (as in other psychotherapeutic methods), but also consist of new and spontaneous
situations. This last example demonstrates how theatre metaphors constitute a starting point for
role-playing used as a concrete – here therapeutic – narrative form.
The question is then: does the use of theatre metaphors today have the same meaning as it
did at the time of Shakespeare, for example? When both William Shakespeare, in As You Like It,
and Norwegian psychiatrist Finn Skårderud, in his books on modern identity: Uro [Restlessness]
(1999) as cited above, are using theatre metaphors such as stage, actor, and role, are they then
talking about the same issue? Well, yes and no. Both are describing the world and human
conditions, but neither the world nor the human conditions are the same today as they were when
Shakespeare lived. When Shakespeare makes the character Jacques say that, ‘one man in his time
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plays many parts,’ this may be regarded as the same as Skårderud’s statement, pointing out that ‘we
must master different scripts and act on several stages’. But Jacques is talking about the different
roles which the phases of life (childhood, youth, adulthood, old age) and society’s institutions
(occupation, marriage, social class) deal us, whereas Skårderud’s metaphors describe the conditions
of modern man in today’s hyper-complex society where roles are not necessarily something we are
dealt, but rather something we create ourselves.
Even though we still have to submit to biology and in the end meet the second childhood
‘sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans anything’ (as Shakespeare puts it), the hyper-complexity
means that the individual to an increasing extent is set free from those social institutions that earlier
defined its role. To use one of the worn-out phrases of postmodernity, there are no longer any great
stories that define the scope of actions for the individual. Instead, the individual creates her/his own
roles and stories. We create ourselves as roles, as stories, so to speak. And in this process we use–as
in theatre–different props and costumes: media technology (e.g. cell phones), styles of clothing,
body decorations, music, etc. as narrative means included in our self-presentation. Role-playing
thus becomes a narrative vehicle for creating our own stories and testing different identities.
Role-playing in a cultural context
Role-playing in all its many facets is a complex activity that at the same time is theatre, storytelling,
self-presentation, children’s play, education, self-mobilized leisure culture, popular culture, and
commercial culture. Role-playing is embedded in a larger cultural context in which there are
connections between role-playing as narrative format and related educational, psychological,
artistic, religious, and everyday-cultural phenomena. As such, role-playing appears both as a
specific cultural phenomenon with its own forms, logic, and history, and as a phenomenon that ties
in to a variety of other cultural phenomena, both present and historical.
Role-playing-like activities have existed at different times throughout European cultural
history. As its predecessors, we may mention the Cult of Dionysus in ancient Greece, the Medieval
Passion play, masques, and carnivals. In an educational context, the ancient schools of rhetoric, the
educational practice of universities in the Medieval Ages, as well as some forms of military training
represent typical examples of activities which may be understood within the framework of roleplaying. The purpose of different forms of role-playing has typically been educational, therapeutic,
or artistic. Today, role-playing has to a larger degree also become an activity for leisure
entertainment as well as an activity that plays an important role in modern man’s self-narration and
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identity-formation. We can find resemblances to role-playing in religious, ritual practices–both
today and historically. Role-playing as a therapeutic or rhetoric method and practice can be found in
different areas such as psychology, sociology, marketing, and human resource management.
Live role-playing (larp), in which the roles and the game takes place within a framework
that is both physical and fictional, may be used artistically in various theatre forms where spectators
are invited to partake in the performance. Live role-playing may also be used in educational
contexts such as conflict-play in regard to, e.g., teambuilding, human resource management, or
psychotherapy or it may be used as entertainment in live-action role-playing. Role-playing, as
entertainment, includes tabletop-games, computer games, collective storytelling processes around a
table or on the Internet (MUDs), as well as larp. There is a certain interest within the role-playing
community in making historical role-playing, - so-called reenactments, where historical authenticity
in costumes, weaponry, and role-characterization play an important role, and where role-players are
part of so-called living museums (e.g. Viking markets) and stage historical events.
As an overall leisure activity, role-playing has evolved from being a ‘nerd-activity’ to
becoming one of the most common activities among children and youth: in 2004 24% of all
children and youth in Denmark were playing some kind of role-playing (Bille et.al. 2005). This
implies that the status as a sub-culture–or counter-culture–that has been an important part of the
role-playing community identity is dissolving or loosing its validity. It can reasonably be argued
that larp has now grown up, and this means that there is no longer a major need for defining larp
solely as something absolutely unique and different from other cultural phenomena. Instead it is
possible (and also enlightening, inspiring, and useful)–also within the role-playing community–to
look at how larp relates, e.g., to theatre, to educational role-playing formats, to role-playing, as a
metaphor as well as tool, within the fields of sociology, psychology, and psychiatry. Of course,
there is still a need for defining how larp differs from other types of role-playing and theatrical
activity, but as larp matures it becomes possible to regard it as a part of a larger circle of mediatized
popular culture and to look at the similarities and benefit, e.g., from the knowledge and
craftsmanship residing within theatre as an art form, as well as from the ways in which role-playing
is used as metaphor and model for social interplay (see Kjølner 2006).
Narrative formats and genres
As an actual narrative format, role-playing differs from other narrative forms. Here, the status of the
narrative is changed from something static that is narrated to us, and in which the world and we in
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it are being told, to a form of narrative process into which we place ourselves as important agents.
The narrative is something we create ourselves, and in which we play the roles ourselves. A major
shift in how we perceive the world occurs when we no longer regard it as a series of events which
are either quite random or determined by destiny, but rather regard it as different narratives which
are man-made and not explained by, e.g., metaphysics or science, that is to say, factors above or
outside ourselves. The hyper-complexity characterizing today’s society, occuring on all levels,
challenge traditional narrative forms and initiate narratives which are more complex, more open,
and even interactive.
There are many ways to define role-playing, and there are several types of role-playing that
produce different types of player-experiences. It is obviously not the same experience, socially,
educationally, or aesthetically, if the role-playing’s frame is a meadow or a wood, a classroom or a
drama studio, or created by a computer. It is not the same experience to play together with others in
a physical space or to play against others on-line or alone against the computer. If we look at how
role-playing functions as a narrative, it is possible to disregard these differences and define roleplaying as a designed fictional world, in other words a dramatic-narrative framework, which
enables the player to take on fictional characters (roles) inside this frame. These roles or fictional
characters may be pre-defined by the game-deviser (game master, game designer, teacher), or they
may be developed by the players themselves (or they may be situated somewhere between these
two positions), and using these fictional characters, the players create actions and dramatic
narratives within the pre-designed frames. The extent, to which the roles and narrative frame are
pre-designed, varies according to how much the designers want to control the players and the
narrative. In some types of role-playing, the frames are quite open, and the player has quite a great
extent of influence on the role and the play; while in other types of role-playing, the frames are
narrower. Even in live action role-playing and ‘teacher-in-role’ formats of educational drama,
which we tend to regard as more open than, e.g., computer games, we find that the roles and the
fiction frame may be very closely defined. Common for all types of role-playing is that both roles
and dramatic-narrative frame must be open enough for the players to reside within them and to
develop them. Even a closely defined game character (avatar) as Lara Croft, of the computer game
series Tomb Raider, present itself as only partly shaped, quite cartoonish, as a loosely sketched
character which is handed over to player and into which the player project herself and through and
by which she carries out different game actions. Good game design may be compared to a good
conversation: a dialogue where you not only speak, but also listen and thus insert holes in the
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speech flow for the others to fill out, which is exactly the same kind of openness needed in the game
character and the dramatic-narrative framework in any kind of role-playing. Without this dynamic,
it is not possible for the player to act out a role in the role-playing narrative. The point is not to read
for the plot, but to play the plot. This interactive and play-centric mode of reception is what
differentiates role-playing from all other forms of narratives and is the main reason for its
popularity and its potential usefulness in a variety of areas (see Sandvik 2006a, 2006b).
On the way to connecting larp to a larger mediatized popular cultural circle, you must look
at how larp relates to this complexity and the postmodern use of role-playing as means of selfpresentation and creation of identity, for instance, when it comes to making use of and recycling
different popular cultural matrixes. Uses of popular cultural matrixes can be found in the way
fiction genres like fantasy and horror create different thematic platforms for role-playing, but it can
also be found on a formal level in how role-playing relates to different media formats. The
relationship between campaigns and one-shots may be regarded as the relationship between tvseries (campaigns are larp events which are repeated in an episodic structure) and the movie (a larp
event which is enacted only once) (see Waade, 2006).
We find resemblances between soap as a media format and Vampire Live with its focus on
infinite intrigues and inner conflicts where relations and dialogues dominate the play. An important
part of being in the game is keeping tracks on how characters relate to each other through
bloodlines or friendships and being able to create trust and discover betrayal. Vampire role-playing
appeals to female players who–more than male players–know the soap as a media format and
narrative genre. In soaps, dialogues, intrigues, and relationships are much more important than plot,
action, and drama. The subtle glances, wiggling of a shoulder, and the great amount of words and
exchange of lines are what create suspense in the game. The vampire-campaign functions as an
endless vampire killer-series as Buffy–The Vampire Slayer. The campaign initiates a type of play
and players that differ from combat-scenarios with their emphasis on physical fights, e.g., actionfantasy-campaigns like Sunday 1st in Århus, Denmark. In action-genres, the external conflicts and
violent actions set the agenda. Here bodies, fighting, physical action, and dramatic peaks are
important.
The endless serial-format and the repetitions of the campaigns give larp a ritualistic touch.
The actual chain of events and the overall plot is not that important compared to repeating the play
together with friends, in the same setting, within the same dramaturgic and temporal framework.
Even if we see this activity as theatre, the campaigns appear more like a leisure cultural cyclic ritual
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than a theatre performance. The live-campaign Sunday 1st even carries the name of the time for the
ritual: every first Sunday of the month. Actions, roles, and plot are subordinated the event of
meeting at the same time at the same place.
Exit
Live-action role-playing (as well as other role-playing formats) represents a type of narrative that is
dynamic and open to influence from its recipients: the players. This does not imply that the creation
of fiction is handed over to the players altogether. There is still a need for an effective framework as
well as efficient rules to guide the player’s interaction with and within the interactive and playcentric fiction and secure some kind of progression. Interactivity is not interesting in itself but must
be embedded in a game design, which makes it appealing for the player to interact; some kind of
progression must be present to create dramatic suspense and development, which encourages the
players to partake in the story-creating process. Developing the life of the player-character, gaining
experience and skills, developing relations to other characters as well as to their players, are all part
of this necessary progression as well as the players’ possibility to embark on exciting and dangerous
missions.
References
Arvidsson, Adam & Kjetil Sandvik (2006): ”Gameplay as Design: Uses of computer players’
immaterial labour”, in: Stald
& Fetveit (eds.): Northern Lights, Intellect Books: London
(forthcoming)
Barba, Eugenio (1995): Paper Canoe, Routledge: London
Bentley, Eric (1964): The Life of the Drama. Applause Theatre Books: New York
Bille, Trine et.al. (2005) Danskernes kultur- og fritidsaktiviteter 2004 – med udviklingslinjer tilbage
til 1964, AKF Forlaget: København
Kjølner, Torunn (2003): ”At spille en rolle”, in: Sandvik & Waade (eds.): Rollespil - i æstetisk,
pædagogisk og kulturelt sammenhæng, p.133-151, Aarhus University Press: Århus
Sandvik, Kjetil (2003): Devising Multimedia. Teater som analyse og designredskab for interactive
multimediefortællinger, ph.d-dissertation, Dept. of Dramaturgy, University of Aarhus: Århus
Sandvik, Kjetil (2006a): ”Når fortællingen inviterer indenfor. Dramaturgiske overvejelser over
interaktive og spilcentrerede fortællinger”, in: Sandvik & Waade (eds.): Rollespil - i æstetisk,
pædagogisk og kulturelt sammenhæng, p.77-95, Aarhus University Press: Århus
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Sandvik, Kjetil (2006b): ”In and out of character. Complex role-playing in an online world”,
Arbejdspapirer no. 14, Center for Digital Æstetik-forskning, University of Aarhus: Århus
Sandvik, Kjetil (2006c): ”Evaluation of Quality in Computer Games. The need for an understanding
of computer games when creating a culture political strategy concerning the field of computer
games in the Nordic countries”, in: Carlson (ed.): Nordicom Review 2/2005, p.267-283, Nordisk
Informationscenter for Kommunikationsforskning: Göteborg
Sandvik, Kjetil & Waade, Anne Marit eds. (2006): Rollespil – i æstetisk, pædagogisk og kulturel
sammenhæng, Aarhus University Press: Århus
Schechner, Richard (1985): Between Theatre and Anthropology, University of Pensylvania Press,
Philadelphia
Skårderud, Finn (1999): Uro – en rejse i det moderne selv, Gyldendal: København
Turkle, Sherry (1995). Life on the Screen. Identity in the Age of the Internet, Simon & Schuster:
New York
Waade, Anne Marit (2002): Teater i en teatralisert samtidskultur, ph.d.-dissertation, Center for
Aesthetics and Culture, University of Aarhus: Århus
Waade, Anne Marit (2006): “Jeg – en actionhelt! Liverollespillets populærkulturelle matricer”, in:
Sandvik & Waade eds.: Rollespil – i æstetisk, pædagogisk og kulturel sammenhæng, pp.61-77
Aarhus University Press: Århus
About the authors
Anne Marit Waade
MA, Ph.D., associate professor at the Department of Information and Media Studies at the
University of Aarhus, studies media aesthetics and media culture such as mediated tourism (in the
forms of traveling TV-programs, on-line traveling communities, travel advertising), self
mediatization and narrative formats in commercial communication, role-playing and graffiti.
amwaade@hum.au.dk
Kjetil Sandvik
MA, Ph.D., associate professor at the Department of Media, Cognition and Communication,
University of Copenhagen, studies digital aesthetics, storytelling, new media and experience
culture, cross-media communication and computer games, with a special focus on computer game
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dramaturgy and other forms of interactive dramaturgy. He also studies the uses of theatre as a tool
for analyzing and designing interactive multimedial fiction formats. sandvik@hum.ku.dk
Sandvik and Waade have edited Rollespil – i æstetisk, pædagogiske og kulturel sammenhæng
[Role-playing – in an aesthetic, educational and cultural context], Aarhus University Press 2006,
with contributions from a variety of Denmark’s foremost researchers as well as designers within the
field of role-playing and related phenomena.
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