Solving the Larp Image Problem – Lizzie Stark!

Role-playing games have been covered unfavorably in the media for most of their 38 years of existence.

See Exhibit A:

And Exhibit B:

Tosh.0 Meets Larp

I mean, even Ethan Gilsdorf and Patton Oswalt as self-proclaimed gamer geeks are awfully self-deprecating when talking about live-action and tabletop role-playing games.

We in the RPG hobby have what you might call an image problem.

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Enter journalist Lizzie Stark.

She’s young, bright and holds advanced degrees from Tufts, Emerson and Columbia.

Rather than making loads of assumptions about role-playing as a hobby, she instead intensively researched and interviewed various larp groups around the United States and (later) in Europe to create a complex portrait of the individuals involved.

For example, here’s Lizzie reading about how 9/11 had a direct impact on New York larpers.

This form of dignified presentation matters, especially when it’s coming from neither the camps of fandom nor the halls of the cynical media machines.

Now she’s got a whole non-fiction book full of this kind of material.

Image problem provisionally solved.

Finally, one of the most maligned of contemporary art forms – live action role-playing – gets the high-powered, literary treatment it deserves.

I’m buying my copy at my friendly local gaming store Modern Myths when Lizzie comes to give a book talk on May 12th.

The question is: where and when are you getting YOUR copy?