I’m probably revealing my inner geekiness if I reveal that I know what live-action role-playing games or “Larps” are, although I’ve never played one. I did once read a good book on Larps, Lizzie Stark’s Leaving Mundania which I thought did a fine job in reporting on what Larps are, including their popularity.
Larps are games where people assemble in a place, are given a scenario, and then proceed to construct their own drama. Think of them as a kind of improvisational theater that can last a weekend and you’ll have a rough sense of what happens. According to Stark, Larps are popular enough that some organizers have bought former Boy and Girl Scout camps near big cities and converted them into places where people can spend their weekends playing Larps.
You may wonder what this has to do with philanthropy. The answer is that educators are starting to use Larps in their classrooms—and the Gates Foundation is giving grants to develop them.
James Clasper, in this Financial Times piece first went to Denmark. The Scandinavians have developed a variant of Larp called “Nordic Larp,” which I believe is more like theatre and less like Dungeons and Dragons. According to Clasper, Nordic Larp is the third most popular organized activity in Denmark, eclipsed only by soccer and handball.
Clasper goes to a boarding school called Osterskov Efferskole, which houses 90 students in a building that used to be a nursing home. “Hand-painted coats of arms decorate the dining room and its basement houses a costume shop.”
Each week the teachers introduce a theme. When Clasper visited, it was H.P. Lovecraft week, and the students pretended to be British spies (in tuxedos, like James Bond), or the Illuminati, who were battling Lovecraft’s scary monsters.
Now of course one can see why this school would be popular. Who wouldn’t want to go to a school where you can play games all day? The teachers explain that the students do learn things. Trigonometry could be as dry as dust for many students—unless you’re told you’re a military engineer who has to rapidly construct a bridge. In fact, one student displayed a peerless knowledge of the intrigues of the Roman Senate—because the conflicts in her Larp showed her how politics in the ancient world worked.
According to Aalborg University professor Lisa Gjedde, the students at Osterskov are up to the national average on grade nine and 10 exams and above average on others. (The article doesn’t say on which subjects Osterskov students are above average.)
Clasper discusses some American organizations that are supposedly implementing edularps. One of them, GameDesk, is the one that got Gates Foundation grants. Another one, The Game Academy offers after-school sessions in role-playing games, as well as a summer camp that first began in 2016. They seem to be primarily devoted to role-playing games, which are board games and something less interactive than a Larp.
More Larp-like are the programs developed for college history classes by Barnard College historian Mark C. Carnes, Reacting to the Past, as a way of making college history courses more interesting. Carnes, who has been developing these programs for over two decades, summarized his findings in his 2014 book Mind on Fire. James C. Lang, an English professor at Assumption College, reported on what these programs are like in a three-part series in the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2014, beginning with this article where he played a module about Indian leaders’ plans for obtaining independence from Britain in 1945.
The programs are popular enough that the professors teaching them have formed the Reacting Consortium, which has gotten grants from the Endeavor Foundation to develop more modules.
The idea is that the professors buy the workbooks (published by Norton) which include primary readings. The module then climaxes with a Larp-like event where students pretend to be great men and women from the past.
The modules may well seep with political correctness; the one on “Greenwich Village 1913” asks, “Can corporate capitalism allow an economically just society or must it be overturned?” which asks the wrong question because none of the bohemians in the Village would have referred to “corporate capitalism” – they just didn’t like capitalism. They seem like a cross between a Larp and high-school debate to me.
But I see no reason why college professors couldn’t have programs that actually were Larps. Here’s what I’d do if I was an English professor getting students excited about Shakespeare.
Imagine you’re teaching the plays about the Wars of the Roses, from Richard II to Richard III. You’d have the students read the plays, of course, and perhaps watch the fine “Hollow Crown” adaptations the BBC recently produced. You tell students they can get extra points if they read Shakespeare’s sources for more background on the characters.
Then you can spend a Saturday running simulations based on deep knowledge of Shakespeare’s characters. The professor could also be the game master, providing information and acting as director. I’d give students options: if they didn’t want to be characters, they could work on costumes or food if they also submitted papers providing the evidence for the costumes or the meals.
This class would be a little unusual, but I bet students emerge with a deeper knowledge of Shakespeare than in traditional classes—and they’d have a class they’d always remember. After all, what’s more fun: reading Henry IV or being Henry IV?
Readers should note that I am working on a book about the history of the US between 1910-14, and for that book I spent a lot of time reading John Reed, Max Eastman, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Randolph Bourne, Walter Lippmann, Walter Weyl, and other thinkers who were in Greenwich Village in 1913. I think I have a pretty good sense of what they were thinking.
Please let me to add a few comments. “Reacting to the Past” games are not merely used in history class, but in many academic disciplines, and in cross disciplinary courses, like first year seminars. Only a plurality of RTTP instructors are historians. Further, Reacting games are highly effective at motivating students to attend class, to work as teams with classmates, and to find creative solutions for complex problems. Reacting is no magic silver bullet, but its success at produced engaged students is consistent, at all types of institutions, from elite colleges to regional public universities. And it requires no expensive structure, aside from a classroom, students, and a dedicated professor.
Political correct issues? No — in 1913, in the United States, capitalism was not accepted by all Americans. Noting this truth in the Greenwich Village game is good teaching. Likewise, my own RTTP game, “Frederick Douglass, Slavery, and the Constitution: 1845” is based on the fact that for a long period slavery was actively supported by the nation’s institutions, laws, customs, and the Constitution. Play the Douglass game, and you’ll confront these facts in memorable and engaging ways.
The article should be amended to note that the Teagle Foundation has provided sustaining support to the Reacting Consortium for the past five years.
Mr. Wooster,
Thank you for your attention to the boom in game-based learning for undergraduates, and special thanks for your interest in Reacting to the Past.
At one point you note, “The modules may well seep with political correctness.” I suspect that if you read through a few of the other games you would find that this is not the case. One of the games that I’ve been working on, which is scheduled to be published by WW Norton in May 2017, is set in the Kentucky state legislature during the “secession winter” of 1860-61. True to history, essentially all of the legislators are devotees of white supremacy and the maintenance of slavery. This lack of political correctness has led to some challenging moments in the classroom, but it forcefully dispels some of the simplistic myths about the relationship between slavery and secession.
I encourage you to read some of the titles in the series, but it would be far more enlightening if you attended one of your conferences. Our Summer Institute is at Barnard College every June. In addition, there are at least a half dozen regional conferences scattered around the US every year. There’s also a large and enthusiastic group of faculty who use Reacting at hundreds of institutions of all shapes and sizes. If you are curious, I would be happy to find you a classroom to visit.
With best wishes,
The Reacting to the Past pedagogy is much more than a high school debate. They are not “like” LARP games, they are exactly live action role playing scenarios that emerse students into historical situations and events. Students first learn the historical setting and context of a complex turning point in the human experience and are then guided through original sources and further research about the issues faced by those involved at the time. All of the games have multiple factions. Two of the factions oppose each other and at least one other faction, moderates, help determine the outcome of the debates.
In one example, Revolution in New York, 1775-1776, students take on the roles of the New York Colonial Congress assembled to decide the political issues facing New York at that time. The main question is a vote to determine whether New York will join other colonies in declaring independence from Great Britain. Leading up to that climax, however, many other issues must be addressed. Should the woman in New York have the right to vote for their representatives? Does New York free its slave? Should price controls be put into affect to avoid the inflationary forces of upheaval and revolutionary times? And these are just a few of the questions. And a crowd of woman, laborers, and slaves also participate by bringing petitions to the Congress and even resorting to “mob action” if they deem it necessary.
To accomplish their objectives, students must study great works of Locke, Paine, Jefferson, and other contemporary writers and philosophers. Then they write persuasive papers and make speeches, ask questions of speakers, and debate each question extensively. The learning that happens during these sessions is unmatched through any other pedagogy or activity I have seen in my 20 years of teaching. Students enjoy learning this way and actually work harder without believing it is more difficult. In addition to learning the key arguments on all sides of a relevant issue in society, they improve writing skills, speaking and debating skills, and listening skills, and gain empathy for positions they would otherwise never understand.
Not just for history courses. In addition to the approximately 20 published games, there are scores of other games in various stages of development. These are all available for use by professors from just about any discipline. Issues for political philosophy, science, global ethics, math, psychology, sociology, anthropology, archeology, and many others are covered in these games. Any educator interested in a way to get students excited and engaged in their field of study should take a close look at Reacting to the Past.
Larry Adams
Professor
Political Science
Amarillo College
I believe this characterization of Reacting to the Past pedagogy misleads readers. These are not “like” LARP games, they are exactly live action role playing scenarios that emerse students into historical situations and events. Students first learn the historical setting and context of a complex turning point in the human experience and are then guided through original sources and further research about the issues faced by those involved at the time. Students are given actual historical roles they must then study and prepare to react appropriately as the scenario plays out in multiple sessions of game play. All of the games have multiple factions. Two of the factions oppose each other and at least one other faction, moderates, help determine the outcome of the debates.
In one example, Revolution in New York, 1775-1776, students take on the roles of the New York Colonial Congress assembled to decide the political issues facing New York at that time. The main question is a vote to determine whether New York will join other colonies in declaring independence from Great Britain. Leading up to that climax, however, many other issues must be addressed. Should the woman in New York have the right to vote for their representatives? Does New York free its slave? Should price controls be put into affect to avoid the inflationary forces of upheaval and revolutionary times? And these are just a few of the questions. And I can’t leave out the crowd of woman, laborers, and slaves that also participate by bringing petitions to the Congress and even resorting to “mob action” if they deem it necessary.
To accomplish their objectives as they were in 1775-1776, students must study great works of Locke, Paine, Jefferson, and other contemporary writers and philosophers. Then they write persuasive papers and make speeches, ask questions of speakers, and debate each question extensively. The learning that happens during these sessions is unmatched through any other pedagogy or activity I have seen in my 20 years of teaching. Students enjoy learning this way and actually work harder without believing it is more difficult. In addition to learning the key arguments on all sides of a relevant issue in society, they improve writing skills, speaking and debating skills, and listening skills, and gain empathy for positions they would otherwise never understand.
One last note. These are not just for history courses. As Dr. Carnes points out, there are over 20 published games. But there are also scores of other games in various stages of development. These are all available for use by professors from just about any discipline. Issues for political philosophy, science, global ethics, math, psychology, sociology, anthropology, archeology, and many others are covered in these games. Any educator interested in a way to get students excited and engaged in their field of study should take a close look at Reacting to the Past.
Larry Adams
Professor
Political Science
Amarillo College
Dear Professor Carnes,
Thank you for the clarification. I was not aware that the Reacting to the Past series included English literature.
Yours, Martin Morse Wooster.
Mr. Wooster: Thanks for the mention of Reacting to the Past. Just let me add one point: English professors need not invent their own Larp to get their students excited by Shakespeare. Instead, English faculty (and any others) can use the Reacting to the Past game “Stages of Power: Marlowe and Shakespeare, 1594,” in which students play a complex game, based on the actual historical figures. They will write essays and give speeches, defending (or criticizing) the relative merits (artistic, religious, civil, and popular appeal) of particular plays by Shakespeare and Marlowe, culminating in the competitive performance of a scene by players from each troupe:
https://reacting.barnard.edu/marlowe-and-shakespeare-1592
Nearly 20 Reacting games, in many different disciplines, have been published. https://reacting.barnard.edu/
Mark C. Carnes
Professor of History/ Barnard
mcarnes@barnard.edu