Subjective Book Review: Larp, the Universe and Everything.
It is time to say a few words about this year's Knutepunkt book, which is already online. It was supposed to be intentionally light, good-looking, and relatively non-academic. In most parts, it succeeds in all of these goals. Whether that is a good thing, I will discuss below.

First of all, the visual side is indeed impressive, as soon as you get past the covers (from the outside Lifelike still looks cooler). Color photos, many of them of professional-level quality (especially, but certainly not limited to, those by Britta Bergersen). The font is bigger than before, increasing readability. And most of the pre-reading/proofing issues of which I complained are now gone (some are still left, as are original errors, but not too many - no complaints from me there). Now to the problem: The increase in accessabilty comes, in many cases, at the expense of reliability. What I mean with this is that when the contributors were asked to make less references and go more semi- or non-academic (not all did, more on that later), they also dropped stuff which could be used to measure whether what they say is true.

For example, Axa Dzervite's article on the history of larp in Latvia is really interesting, but there is no data to really back things up. So we are left with just her take on the truth. (Not a problem for me, as I personally trust her just fine, but in general I feel it's bad form when talking of things like local playing habits.) Axa's other paper, a humorous look at having fun at Latvian larps, is just about perfect - a collection of believable anecdotes that makes no real claims. Just what I wanted from the book.

In contrast, I hated (not just disliked) both of Morgan Jarl's articles. They're basically both attempts at imposing acting standards and habits on role-playing, instead of seeing it as a sibling of which acting is just a part. (As I've said before, in Caillois' terms, in my opinion, larp isn't mimicry. It's ilinx, presented through a mixture of agon, mimicry and attempts at controlling alea). The first one is a manifesto on acting-based larping, the second a character-construction manual with exercises. Both are something that would have seemed credible as knee-jerk reflex reactions when the Turku manifesto was first published, but appear really outdated now.

Hyltoft and Holm, from the Danish role-playing school, give us a Harry Potter edu-game, and ground it in stuff like frame theory. It's nice and quite holistic documentation, and goes to the border of academia, but I was left wanting more contextualization. Comparisons with not just Konzack's larp use of frames, but also those of Brenne, Schick and Stenros, would IMO have been appropriate. Still, not at all a bad article, and a good contribution.

Cartwell compares some French and British larps, seemingly oblivious of what has been written on British larp before in, say, Playground Worlds. This is understandable, but it reduces credibility quite a lot, especially since the article's look on both countries' playing cultures is quite limited. It's one of the papers where I most was left wanting for references to back things up. Other than that, it's a nice and enjoyable read, if not something really spectacular.

Strangely enough, the article on (a) larp in Belarus did not leave me wanting for references - it's captivating enough by its own right, has a game to describe, and is effective grounded through both the game description and the links to Nordic works which worked as an inspiration to it. In essence, it is very good game documentation with little analysis, but does what it is supposed to do very well.

Another very interesting piece follows it, being on educational role-playing in Brazil. It's got the references (though not comparison with Nordic edu-game stuff), and is a really good introductory piece on the subject. I liked it a lot. A follow up should have a much wider reference range (starting from Henriksen and some S&G stuff), I think, but there's plenty of time for that later.

Of my own paper I won't say much this time, either. It was more academic when I first wrote it, but I am pleased with the way it turned out in the end. As with many articles in the book, it's a bit vague and tries to avoid sounding too authoritative. Too bad Claudia's pictures from Serpent didn't make it to the book. Heidi's PW paper (2008), which I mention, is missing form the reference list (my bad), but it's now been added to the electronic version.

Florian Berger's long text succeeds where Jarl's failed: It shows the combination of role-playing and performance in a proper context. In addition, it discusses different approaches to the equation. And, once more, a paper that doesn't really seem to need more references, and therefore fits really well in the book.

From Juhana Pettersson comes a paper on game documentation. It's nice, in many ways, but suffers from one fatal flaw: Juhana has already listed and describes his own works several times in other places. Therefore it looks like he is just repeating himself, while forgetting contributions other people may have made over the years to the subject at hand. There are nods towards others, yes, but really almost solely as comparison.

Eirik's interview of Britta, on in-game photography, is well placed in the middle. It's mostly just great pics from games, and that's fine by me. Makes the who book look lighter - and better.

Now, to the really academic piece. Bill White provides the first big step forward on role-playing as discourse since Hendricks' "Negotiation of Expertise" (which I, in turn, see as the only big step after Fine, 1983...). Game description stuff, a wide selection of references from sources both Nordic and not, and definite professionalism in the work. I would have liked it to go further on some issues, particularly the potentially unmediated nature of tabletop game ("announcing an intent is the action itself"), and personally think tabletop play is one of the key instances where normal dissociation pairs do not necessarily exist. But it's a really fine piece, and I am happy the editors did not force him to de-academize it.

Andrea Castellani's text is a manifesto on one style of larp, and says so. Lots of commonalities with the works of other, but it's obviously an individual design style, and thus deserves to be explicated that well. Nice, and concise.

The pervasive games piece is actually something Markus, Jaakko and Annika have had around for quite a while, put together as an article. That considered, it is surprisingly solid. I found it a nice, not-precisely-academic to the stuff of which their soon to be published book talk about. A good teaser, and a layman-friendly introduction.

As is the norm, if there's an Eirik Fatland article in the book, it'll be the best. So, too, this time. His analysis of the larp AmerikA (done in 2000!), is simply great. The descriptions of situations, circumstances, design, triumphs and failures, is simply exquisite. And the photos make it truly great. Short-text larp documentation at its finest.

To wrap things up, there is another text with great pics: Katri Lassila's paper on designing games for fun. I agree with the idea's importance, and see the point of the article, but as a whole it looks more like just recycled parts of a pre-discovered wheel, written from a very slightly different slant. Does work in the book's context, though.

As a sum: A good-looking book, with several nice texts, and some important ones, in it. Would have benefited from a few things, such as the requirement for some more references despite the overtly light and easy-access tone. (And it would look a damn sight more credible from an academic viewpoint, too, if the references that are there were edited to a uniform system of presentation. Now it gives a patchwork impression.)

At the price it costs, this book really should find its way to the shelves of many larpers, also those not interested in game research. It's too pretty to pass up, despite being available in pieces online.

Holter, Matthijs, Fatland, Eirik & Tomte, Even (eds.): Larp, the Universe, and Everything. The book for Knutepunkt 2009.