UK Larp Awards

I find it kind of a pity that the people running the UK Larp Awards event evidently either don’t know about the sort of larp (uk-freeform-style) that we’re doing, or don’t care about it, or don’t consider it to be ‘larp’.

Steve Hatherley has recently suggested that early examples of our games were described as freeforms rather than as larps so as to markedly distinguish them from the mainstream of larp, which at the time was invarably boffers and so on. This theory makes sense to me, as it was only really a few years ago that I concluded myself that ‘it’s all larp’, after exposure to the traditions of other countries. That is why this article from back then now reads a little confusedly.

But it’s clear now that boffer stuff and uk-freeform stuff are both just regions in a continuum of larp styles and structures, and one could point to example games that occupy every point inbetween. So… it would be nice if whichever body it is that feels it speaks for the hobby authoritatively enough to issue annual national awards were to widen its own view a little. Rubbing shoulders together feels a lot friendlier than hunkering down in separate silos.