Just recently, i saw an interesting post on The Movie Blog about L.A.R.P. For those who are not familiar with this term--which sounds like a name of a disease or some high tech gadget the first time I heard it--it stands for Live Action Role Playing. As the name implies, it is a role playing game where you can dress up and act as one of your favorite movie or game characters. This is not a new thing; it may look and sound ridiculuous at first but it has grown to be very common these past few years. In Japan, it is known more as cosplay or costume player.
This particular L.A.R.P however, stands for something else; it stands for Live Avatar Role Playing. Well, the name kind of tell its meaning, isn't it? In this kind of live action role playing, you can role-play as the Na'vis from the movie Avatar. If you have never heard of Avatar before, then maybe you should move out from the place you are living now because it was the most talked about movie in 2009 and it still is (by some people, that is).
When I see people doing Live Action Role Play, I always feel that they are doing it because they like doing it, they want to do it, and they need to do it. But after that, I can't help but to ask: why do they need to do it? Is there something in their real life that they are not satisfied with? Is their life so heavy that they need to live in another role?
At least I can think of one reasonal background that pushes people to like L.A.R.P.ing. We know that life is hard. All of us experience the difficulties in life as we grow up. When we were little, we were fed with all the fairy tales told by our parents before we went to bed. As we grow up, it became so clear that reality is nothing like fairy tales. The fact that they are so different is why we need fairy tales in the first place. We need something to encourage us, to keep our hopes high.
So, we are basically nurtured with the idea that we live a life where dreams can come true when we try our best. However, is that really true? Does that really work for all of us? Yes, I have heard and read about the American dream, but we need to look at the numbers here; how many people have actually achieved their dream? Most of us are still chasing our dream, and most of us can't even get close to our dream. Having faced with reality which doesn't always go as we want it to be 24 hours a day, 7 days a week will surely put a lot of weight on one's shoulder. What better way to lose the weight than living another life? Living another dream, living another fantasy for a few hours by doing L.A.R.P doesn't seem like a bad option at all. Even though it only lasts for a few moment of role playing, we can surely get a brief of release. Nevertheless, this video here shows a higher level of role playing. It surely takes more than plain dedication to paint your whole body blue and run around half naked in the open like that.
I know i might be overthinking things here because not everybody is that stressful and rejecting their life to go as far as L.AR.P.ing. That could just easily be the way some people do to have some fun. Just like some people like working out or traveling, some people might just like role playing. Most of all, they are doing L.A.R.P. in their own time and expense and they shouldn't be judged differently just because of that. The way the world goes nowadays, we are lucky just to be able to think straight, and it doesn't matter how you get your engine running. The fact that it's running is the only thing that matters.
This particular L.A.R.P however, stands for something else; it stands for Live Avatar Role Playing. Well, the name kind of tell its meaning, isn't it? In this kind of live action role playing, you can role-play as the Na'vis from the movie Avatar. If you have never heard of Avatar before, then maybe you should move out from the place you are living now because it was the most talked about movie in 2009 and it still is (by some people, that is).
When I see people doing Live Action Role Play, I always feel that they are doing it because they like doing it, they want to do it, and they need to do it. But after that, I can't help but to ask: why do they need to do it? Is there something in their real life that they are not satisfied with? Is their life so heavy that they need to live in another role?
At least I can think of one reasonal background that pushes people to like L.A.R.P.ing. We know that life is hard. All of us experience the difficulties in life as we grow up. When we were little, we were fed with all the fairy tales told by our parents before we went to bed. As we grow up, it became so clear that reality is nothing like fairy tales. The fact that they are so different is why we need fairy tales in the first place. We need something to encourage us, to keep our hopes high.
So, we are basically nurtured with the idea that we live a life where dreams can come true when we try our best. However, is that really true? Does that really work for all of us? Yes, I have heard and read about the American dream, but we need to look at the numbers here; how many people have actually achieved their dream? Most of us are still chasing our dream, and most of us can't even get close to our dream. Having faced with reality which doesn't always go as we want it to be 24 hours a day, 7 days a week will surely put a lot of weight on one's shoulder. What better way to lose the weight than living another life? Living another dream, living another fantasy for a few hours by doing L.A.R.P doesn't seem like a bad option at all. Even though it only lasts for a few moment of role playing, we can surely get a brief of release. Nevertheless, this video here shows a higher level of role playing. It surely takes more than plain dedication to paint your whole body blue and run around half naked in the open like that.
I know i might be overthinking things here because not everybody is that stressful and rejecting their life to go as far as L.AR.P.ing. That could just easily be the way some people do to have some fun. Just like some people like working out or traveling, some people might just like role playing. Most of all, they are doing L.A.R.P. in their own time and expense and they shouldn't be judged differently just because of that. The way the world goes nowadays, we are lucky just to be able to think straight, and it doesn't matter how you get your engine running. The fact that it's running is the only thing that matters.
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