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jgkeely's review
2.0
Now, the actual illustrations in this book are fine, but scattered throughout the pages are photographs of people LARPing, and you could hardly have picked a set of more awkward, unappealing folks. In a sense, the pictures are very effective, because they immediately brought to mind a strong memory of being at a LARP, and that memory was a disembodied smell. It wasn't wholly pervasive--no, it came and went. Yet, it didn't seem to be tied to any particular individual, either. It was as if the smell itself was a player, going in and out of its own accord--some disembodied spirit of LARP invoked by the ritualized actions of the game.
Now, I understand the desire to show people having fun performing the activity that the book represents, and there are LARPs I've walked into and thought to myself 'this seems like a good time, these folks seem alright'. These illustrations do represent that LARP: the glassy eyes, the unwashed ponytails, the sheen of grease picked out by candlelight, the strained facial expressions that do not resemble any known human emotion. I mean, I know these people exist, and some of them aren't too bad, but this is about image, about the representation of an idea of a good time. I'd rather see pictures of the LARP I wish I was going to--a LARP that looks like one of those goth clubs that was in every sci fi movie in the 90's. I mean, you'd think if you ran a roleplaying company, you'd be able to set something like that up.
Instead, what we get, while perhaps more honest to the average experience, is the equivalent of a McDonald's commercial featuring a dozen pale and flabby customers in stained sweatpants, each hunched over grey-hued meals they eat wordlessly, the only sound the screaming of a thick-wristed child. It's about image, people, and I'm not sure this is the one you want to send. A professional photographer, good lighting and costumes, and some makeup isn't dishonesty--it's how you create an attractive product.
Then again, I've come to realize that my experience with roleplaying is somewhat unusual--that my group consisted of active, attractive people who dressed well, had many friends and socialized without difficulty, were evenly distributed between men and women, and were made up of actors, directors, runway models, doctors, lawyers, poets, chefs, dancers, professors--all and sundry artists and intellectuals. So perhaps it's more that the gulf between my reality and theirs is just oddly wide.
Now, I understand the desire to show people having fun performing the activity that the book represents, and there are LARPs I've walked into and thought to myself 'this seems like a good time, these folks seem alright'. These illustrations do represent that LARP: the glassy eyes, the unwashed ponytails, the sheen of grease picked out by candlelight, the strained facial expressions that do not resemble any known human emotion. I mean, I know these people exist, and some of them aren't too bad, but this is about image, about the representation of an idea of a good time. I'd rather see pictures of the LARP I wish I was going to--a LARP that looks like one of those goth clubs that was in every sci fi movie in the 90's. I mean, you'd think if you ran a roleplaying company, you'd be able to set something like that up.
Instead, what we get, while perhaps more honest to the average experience, is the equivalent of a McDonald's commercial featuring a dozen pale and flabby customers in stained sweatpants, each hunched over grey-hued meals they eat wordlessly, the only sound the screaming of a thick-wristed child. It's about image, people, and I'm not sure this is the one you want to send. A professional photographer, good lighting and costumes, and some makeup isn't dishonesty--it's how you create an attractive product.
Then again, I've come to realize that my experience with roleplaying is somewhat unusual--that my group consisted of active, attractive people who dressed well, had many friends and socialized without difficulty, were evenly distributed between men and women, and were made up of actors, directors, runway models, doctors, lawyers, poets, chefs, dancers, professors--all and sundry artists and intellectuals. So perhaps it's more that the gulf between my reality and theirs is just oddly wide.
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