Classification of players
Not everyone is looking for the same thing in the Larp game. By understanding the type of player and therefore the type of game, it is possible to match game and participants. Several classifications have been developed to classify players.
Classification 1
The first classification looks at the amount of experience of participants:
- Ervaren Larp-ers: gemotiveerde deelnemers;
- Startende Larp-ers: hebben gekozen om te gaan spelen, om het uit te proberen;
- Niet Larp-ers: hebben niet zelf gekozen om te gaan spelen, bijvoorbeeld omdat ze meegaan met een bedrijfsuitje.
Classification 2
De volgende indeling is op basis van geslacht:
- Vooral mannen: een bekende doelgroep, daar het merendeel van de deelnemers nog steeds man is. Wedstrijd element, macho gedrag, machtsintriges;
- Vooral vrouwen: aandacht voor vrouwelijke interesses en drijfveren;
- Alleen mannen: meer wedstrijd, weinig emoties;
- Alleen vrouwen: emotie, roddel, soap.
Deze indeling was van belang voor de spelen van DOL Drama op Locatie. De scenarioschrijver van DOL paste daarbij een spel aan op basis van de opgegeven deelnemers. Een bekend voorbeeld van een women only game die als zodanig is geschreven, is de Nordic Larp Mad about the boy (Edland, Raaum, & Lindahl, 2010). De rerun die in Nederland in 2012 heeft plaatsgevonden van dit spel, is hernoemd in &Eva. Larp deals with the following fact. An unexplained disease has wiped out in minutes the male half of the world's population. The remaining other half - the women - not only have the task of building society, but also face the possible extinction of humanity.
Classification 3
Another classification assumes experienced Larp-ers, participants who have played more than one event. These participants enjoy Larp and have an intrinsic motivation to play. This group of experienced Larp-ers is hereby divided into the following subcategories:
- Rule Player - als ik iets doe, dan doe ik dit Tijd-in en dat Tijd-uit;
- Power Player - als ik iets doe, dan doe ik dat ten koste van anderen, en als het moet speel ik vals - als ik het maar krijg;
- Role-Player Tijd In - als ik iets doe, bevorder of benadeel ik mijn personage;
- Role-Player Spel Ik - als ik iets doe, bevorder of benadeel ik mijn spel, en mijn kans op mooie momenten;
- Role-Player Spel Wij - als ik iets doe, bevorder of benadeel ik het spel in het algemeen, en de kans voor zo veel mogelijk mensen op mooie momenten;
- Spelbegeleider - als ik iets doe, bevorder of benadeel ik het spel van de ander en zijn/haar kans op mooie momenten.
At the time this classification was established, the play of the Rule Player lager gewaardeerd dan die van de Role-Player, by players in the latter category. According to Role-Players, a player should grow from Rule Player naar een Roleplayer Spel Wij. This classification has a value judgment in it.
Classification 4
Better to use a classification without a value judgment. Since 2000, Nordic Larpers have been looking for a way to classify the game. The Three Way Model (Bockman, 2003) is one of the first models still in use. Briefly, three types of participants can be distinguished:
- The Gamist (Player) is a participant who values solving the plot. Or if you are an organizer: creating a plot. The challenges can be tactical battles, intellectual mysteries, political games, etc. The player will try to solve the problem she encounters and the organization will strive to make the challenges fair and solvable;
- The Dramatist (Dramaturg) is een deelnemer die waarde hecht aan hoe goede binnenspelse (in game) actions create a nice storyline. Different types of stories can provide satisfaction in the process, depending on the participant's taste. This can range from pulp to believable drama. The end result is a good story with special moments;
- The Immersionist (Immersionist) is a participant who cares about living the character's life, and feeling what the character would feel. An Immersionist insists on approaching within-game events from within the game world. The player will not tinker with the rules to save the character or the plot. Also, this one will refrain from adjusting a detail from the character's background (even when the detail is not relevant to the game) so that the character fits into the game. An organizer of this type does his best to make the scenario and game world as believable as possible.
Playing out the setting as correctly as possible (historically or within the logic of the background world) basically falls within the Immersionist category. However, in various publications, such as in The Manifesto of the Turku School (Pohjola, 2003), this very aspect is not counted among the Immersionist. To give greater emphasis to merging into the environment in this way, in addition to the Immersionist, a fourth category of player has been defined:
- The Simulationist is a participant who strives to correctly recreate a working society, or even an entire world, through the game. The game world does not necessarily have to be realistic, but the logic of the game world must be correct for these players. Extreme simulation can devolve into re-enactment and living history.
It is important to realize that no value judgment can be placed on a type; there is no one better or worse than the other. The four types are not mutually exclusive. No one is one hundred percent of any one type. And the same goes for events
A fifth and sixth type of player have also been suggested:
- The Spelbegeleider the player who only makes play for others;
- The Casual Gamer the player who barely plays and comes mainly for fun and his friends.
One goal of the classification is to make Larp writers aware of their own preferred writing style. In addition, Larp writers should be challenged to expand their own writing style so that other types of players can be absorbed in the scenarios they come up with.
Classification 5
Finally, there is the classification players, cheaters and game breakers/ game spoilers (Huizinga, 1950, p. 39). According to Huizinga, the difference between cheaters and game cheats is that cheaters respect the rules of the game, but deal with them in an unsportsmanlike manner. Game spoilers do not respect the rules of the game or the game as a whole, and are, as it were, outside the game.
As an organization, you can't do anything with game cheaters: exclude them from further participation in events. Cheaters have occupied the minds of the Larp hobby since the beginning, especially Larp organizations that have an elaborate game system. Many times the rules and game mechanics attempt to catch cheating. One commonly used mechanism is the so-called battle boarden: spelleiders en figuranten die bijhouden hoeveel slagen ze aan wie hebben uitgedeeld en het spel stil leggen om de scores, zoals beschermings- en levenspunten van de personages bij te werken. Maar is het moeilijk de regels waterdicht te krijgen: Larp is tenslotte geen computerspel. Een bepaalde basis van eerlijkheid is noodzakelijk om het spel mogelijk te maken.
As an organization, cherish the cheaters from one side, because they are enormously involved in the game: they will do anything to win the game. From the other side, their behavior should not be tolerated, because it affects the motivation of other (Gamist) spelers aan. Valsspelen is een buitenspels probleem, dus los dit buiten het spel op met de betreffende deelnemers: geef aan wat de invloed van hun gedrag is op de overige spelers en op de organisatie.
Conclusion
Besides winning and losing, Larp is mostly about experiencing the shared story and empathizing with the role. Make the cheater aware of the alternatives. If that does not help to change the cheater's behavior, make the consideration to exclude the participant from participating in the game. In any case, do not try to further clamp down on the game with additional rules, making the game and the honest players suffer.