It is no secret that live action role playing has been under the scrutiny of the public eye for many years so it came as somewhat of a surprise when I saw a line of foam swords being distributed to the masses – not mass larpers, but the every-day joes and janes out there that don’t LARP.
My first thought was giddy amusement as I held the extremely light weight weapon in my hand – this could be the next evolution to live action role play being accepted. This could be the next evolution to LARP technology!
And then my thoughts turned to a darker path for indeed this cheaply constructed version of a LARP sword could be, at it’s worst, the weapon that brought down the entire LARP empire in the public eye.
Consider thousands of children running around in backyards everywhere hitting each other with poorly constructed swords until inevidably one of them gets hurt, but if course it doesn’t stop at one because the masses are not just a few children – they are all children. And of course this means that we will have a handful of children getting hurt in the course of a few years.
If there is one thing that the role playing community has learned its that the media doesn’t need any evidence to convict in the eyes of the public. Dungeons and Dragons was enjoyed by hundres of thousands of people over the years and unconfirmed reports (most of which turned out to be urban legends) put the community into a frenzy against role playing.
A few incidents with actual injuries caused by kids doing what kids to best (and that’s anything dangerous that they shouldn’t be doing in the first place) and the media will cause a frenzy simply because 4 hours ago they were wielding these little foam swords.
Live action role playing is like the little brother of table-top role playing and much like any little brother we have learned from watching our big brother take a pounding in the community school yard. Taking this information in stride we have learned how to avoid the pitfalls of yester-year and we have learned to use the media to our advantage.
If the power of the masses and the companies that pander to them can be used properly this could be a very good thing for the LARP community. It has been the dream of many LARP companies to get corporate sponsorship so they have a larger budget to run their larp the ‘right way.’
And who is better and making it in the big leagues of the gaming industry? None other than Hasbro of course!
Here is my short list of the things both good (+) and bad(-) that could happen with LARP style weapons going mainstream:
- (+) LARP style weapons and shields can be made far less expensive by mass production.
- (-) Mass production leads to cookie cutter weapons however most latex weapon manufacturers already do this.
- (+) Standardized safety regulations on weapons which can be backed up by the extensive research and testing facilities that most LARP companies can’t afford.
- (+) A variety of weapon lines to compliment the various styles of live action role playing.
- (+) LARP gear could be readily available at a department store near you.
- (-) Readily available at a department store near you also means readily available to every other person, child, thing who wants to touch and possibly mangle the stuff you want to buy
Ultimately I don’t think that it’s a bad thing that a major company wants to get in on the action as long as it’s done right. Are the N-Force Swords truely a LARP weapon? If the late mid-late teenager holding them says anything to me via their marketing platform – yes. It reminds me all too easily of that movie “Gotcha!” that launched paintball guns as a sport for mass integration outside of the paintball fields.
Say what I will about the N-Force Swords I have to hand it to Hasbro; they have been around for a long time and as far as I know they aren’t planning on stopping any time soon. This has to mean that we LARPers were onto something good when we started this thing!
For get a better look at the N-Force Swords that Hasbro has created visit their website here.
All the best in your future LARP endeavours,
Kevin Tjia
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