This is why LARPs are BAAAAAAAAAAD.

Jebus.

I'd laugh if it wasn't so sad.

OMG. It's idiots like this that give the gaming industry certain labels.

I may be an asshole but here I go on a slightly related topic: Why the hell would anyone "Live Action Role-play"? If I wanted a definition for the word "dumbass" (which may or may not be a word), live-action roleplayers would be it. Damnit. I am frustrated by my inability to find the terms I need to describe why it is so stupid.

Anyhoo...The only ones I feel bad for are the parents.

Well, there are some people who would extend the definition of that word to plain old tabletop roleplayers.

Different strokes for different folks, neh?

Oh I agree, I'm one of them. When i tell my wife what we were doing til 3 in the morning I tell her "Oh, we were just playing some nerd games."

Now if I were to tell her we were LARPing...well that's just incredibly nerd. I think those who would extend the word to tabletoppers would give it a little more to the LARPers.

I don't mean to be a dickhead. I'm sure everybody that plays LARP is a great person. Maybe I should just say LARP is stupid. Not neccessarily the people who play them.

Just my opinion, yes I'm an asshole.

The point is some people need help and it so happens that people like that gravitate towards this sort of thing. It is one thing to know that you are tuning out reality when you roleplay and another when you really escape reality.

I wish I could say that I'm surprised, but I'm not.

This sort of thing--senseless violence, I mean-- happens every year in Brazil during the soccer playoffs.

Several years ago (IIRC, I was in high school or attending community college at the time, which would make it sometime between September, 1978 and May, 1984), I read of rioting in Brazil in the aftermath of the national team losing a World Cup semifinal or final match.

The riots in question made the disturbances after the verdict in the first Rodney King beating case look like the work of rank amateurs.

Several people also committed suicide.

I sometimes think that, when it comes to soccer, some Brazilians are the reason that the words "sports fan" were originally short for "sports fanatic".

(Although the same could be said of the so-called British "soccer hooligans". I'm not picking on a particular group of people here; I'm just trying to point out that, whether it's sports, roleplaying games, or what-have-you, there will always be people out there that give other people in the same group a bad name.)

--Foreigner

Meh, as long as everyone involved knew what was going on and had consented, I could care less. Not much less, though.

~J

I could care less about the idiot who agreed to it, but did his parents actually agree to wager their lives?

The newsclip aside, which is obviously indicative of a larger problem with the people involved.

Wow. Sounds like lots of folks have had bad experiences with LARPs.

I'm just going to take a moment to defend:
LARPs are really no different than tabletop, or improv acting. I've spent many weekends in college and time at conventions playing various LARPs, both boffer weapon style one likes NERO, and non-physical contact ones like Vampire. They are great fun, but just like tabletop roleplaying they do tend to attract disfunctional personalities. So should we blame the games? Uhm, No. LARPs and RPGs are just games. That would be like blaming Black Sabbath, or Marilyn Manson.

I'm curious why folks think LARPs are stupid? And I'm certainly curious why LARPs are stupid, and RPGs are not, as I don't really see a big difference between the two.

*is a closet Larper who still hurts from his event last weekend*
I only do it because its good, dirty, fun outside.
Sure, putting on chainmail and a tabbard is geeky, so is burying your self in a mound of paper and dice. I just get to hit things with pipe, and you dont.

Cosplay people also fall into the same looney category as LARPers.

There is a difference between LARP and the SCA though. Those guys are nuts too, but in a tough way.

I think the looniest are those damn fools who actually shadowrun for real. I mean, sheesh.

SCA people are dignified loons.

LARPers have no dignity or class.

The headline calls it an RPG, but where are we all getting LARP out of this?

Guess he never heard the phrase "No Bet ."

No wonder the link doesn't come through, it's Yahoo News. If it's one anything else, or if someone could post the text, I'd appreciate it.

sorry - got a 'page not found' message