"Almost like the character is possessing you”

#1

Dr Steven Brown, the first author of the research from McMaster University in Canada, said: “It looks like when you are acting, you are suppressing yourself; almost like the character is possessing you.”

I was excited to stumble across this Guardian article, as it reminded me of ideas and ideals that enraptured me when getting into the local larp scene in Norway, back in 2001.(1)

Back then there was a strong ideal of “remaining in character” throughout the entire game, that would typically last 2-4 days.(2) I remember the first larp that really clicked with me had that kind of intensity.

There has been a lot of back-and-forth regarding the term “immersion”, and also regarding the potential troubles the “24/7 - all-in” approach can bring, safety/comfort-wise. In this thread, I’m more interested in opening the floor for topics like (not restricted to):

  • If the observations reported by the Guardian are valid for acting, can they (sometimes) be true for larp or rpgs?
  • Have you experienced perspective-shifts similar to the “possession” reported in the article? Is it something you aim for?
  • What happens to you when / if you reach these states in RPG/larp?
  • What are typical design choices or preconditions that will help you reach such a state?
  • Do you learn something new when in such a “possessed” state? Has such information been useful in your daily life?
  • Other interesting takeaways?

In my twenties I was also fascinated to imagine what such methods/perspectives could mean for daily life. My conclusion for years was “not very much” or “it’s bloody hard work to change yourself/your ingrained patterns, not matter how well you ‘play’”.

Perhaps more esoterically, I found this paragraph intriguing when thinking about flow or meditative states, and how larp/rpgs have always provided me with a very welcome and important “escape from myself”. The study:

While all people play multiple roles in daily life—for example, ‘spouse’ or ‘employee’—these roles are all facets of the ‘self’ and thus of the first-person (1P) perspective. (…) Compared to responding as oneself, responding in character produced global reductions in brain activity and, particularly, deactivations in the cortical midline network of the frontal lobe (…) Thus, portraying a character through acting seems to be a deactivation-driven process, perhaps representing a ‘loss of self’." (My emphasis)

(The study is available here, I have only read the abstract and conclusion.: )

I’m not a neuroscientist, I’m not a method actor, and it’s been 18 years since I studied philosophy. I approach this on a “fascinated layman” basis. But I see some striking similarities between these findings and some of my (most intense/“best”) larp and rpg experiences.

  • Are there any wider existential (potential) takeaways here? Could you/do you construct/define more conscious roles for daily life, rather than mindlessly “accepting” or stumbling into roles defined by the workplace, family context etc?(3)
  • Are there any similarities to religious “obsessions” or glossolalia?
  • I can’t find the keyword “empathy” when searching the study, but this also seems a relevant term when considering such findings/approaches to role playing.

In many respects, [Theory of Mind] is the perceptual counterpart to role playing as an overt behaviour. It is about decoding the intentions of others, whereas role playing is about displaying those intentions to people in the context of either everyday role playing or theatrical performances.

(1) And thoughts that have been important to me since my early 20s regarding freedom, personality, power, self-hood, the breaking-down of stereotype, free will in a metaphysical sense, whether roleplaying can be more than a past-time, etc.
(2) The reasons for, ethics of and limitations to this approach have been discussed at length elsewhere, and are not the topics of this post.
(3) I think there are probably powerful tools for this kind of consensus reality hacking/reframing in queer/feminist discourse, theory and tactics.

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#2

Character bleed is very real.

Bleed := The state where you do not know where the character begins and you end.

This is sometimes viewed as a good thing, and sometimes as something to be avoided. I think this depends both on the type of bleed, and on the tradition of gameplay.

There are traditions meant to make us as close to our characters as possible. I’ve participated in this in a couple different ways. The first is simple immersion – when you take on the character for a long time, the character’s thoughts and feelings become paramount. The second is nearness to home – I’ve played a character that with a braver version of myself, and the bleed was well.

Hell, my entire adult life is kinda larping. I changed my name when I moved far away from where I grew up, and intentionally acted and thought different.

Lastly, here’s a specific instance that happened recently. During @Jmstar game of Tipford, I was playing a worker and someone else was playing my daughter. We both worked in the factory. As the game progressed, I became aware that her job was dangerous and that the Factory really didn’t care about her.

There was this moment where my perspective shifted, and the character was suddenly all in for the union. That has pervaded my own beliefs afterwards in largely positive ways. I mean, not positive for my advancement as a servant of capitalists, but as an ethical human being.

In short: LARP for me is about exploring other perspectives and discovering what it is to be that person.

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#3

Ole, we should talk about masks…

#4

What do you mean, Jason?

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#5

Masks are stupid powerful. Ole and I used them to great effect in our game Old Friends. When you put on a mask it changes you. It provides alibi for interaction. It is a little scary how effective it is.

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#6

Hell, my entire adult life is kinda larping. I changed my name when I moved far away from where I grew up, and intentionally acted and thought different.

I’d love to hear more about this! I did some of the same when I moved from [rural area] to [capital] for high school at 15. I somewhat deliberately, and not very gracefully, dis-identified myself with a place I’d come to feel as limiting/a trap/ that I wanted to un-identify with. I did this by deliberately not identifying myself as from [rural place], cut contact with the few friends I did have in [rural place], got into politics, latched on to New Friend from City etc. More subtly, I think my accent and vocabulary was transmuted slightly, even though [rural place] was only 30 km away. I don’t think this is unique for an adolescent, but I haven’t thought about it in role playing terms until now.

During @Jmstar game of Tipford, I was playing a worker and someone else was playing my daughter. We both worked in the factory. As the game progressed, I became aware that her job was dangerous and that the Factory really didn’t care about her.

There was this moment where my perspective shifted, and the character was suddenly all in for the union. That has pervaded my own beliefs afterwards in largely positive ways. I mean, not positive for my advancement as a servant of capitalists, but as an ethical human being.

It’s so interesting when this happens. Sometimes, it will last and linger for a few weeks, for some I know it has been life-changing experiences. I think larp has let me “see more” of the fluidity of social dynamics at work, in friend-groups/communities. I don’t know if that is always a helpful perspective. But empathy-wise, it must be, as you mention here!

Before I became aware of the term bleed, I sometimes phrased these larp experiences as “the shadow of real emotions”. When you deeply identify with the goals and struggles of the imaginary character (made easier or sometimes harder if those goals and struggles align with your own, for “bleed”/“close-to-home”).

Here’s the link for the game Jason mentions!

I’ve been to a couple of mask-work workshops, and read what Keith Johnstone has to say about the technique in “Impro”. It is very, very interesting stuff. I’ve had some of the same effect using make-up, wigs and accents for larp. Costumes are also helpful for getting in or out of character. I remember my friend Eirik making a point of getting out of costume as soon as possible after an early larp in this “all-in”-tradition, as part of conscious de-escalation, de-role. It seemed a bit strained to me back then (18 years ago), but now I understand what he was doing.

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#7

Our stories seem pretty similar. After college, I moved from Oklahoma to Pittsburgh for grad school. I was in an entirely different city, with different people and different expectations. I sold my car and rode the bus. I stopped eating meat. I did these things to intentionally and willfully distance myself from my birth state’s dominant culture.

I intentionally adopted a difference stance, a different outlook, and went by my middle name.

Still do.

This was the early 2000’s, and I was somewhat enamored with Fight Club. So I became my own Tyler Durden, moving from narrator to protagonist of my own story. Things worked out much better for me in Pittsburgh than they ever did in Oklahoma - grad school was hard but great, I found and lost loves, and learned lessons that I carried forward into adult life.

Not that I’m done learning lessons, but the jarring change and near absolute freedom meant I could live life how I saw fit, and was able to largely set aside 25 years of acculturation.

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#8

I can add an instance of perspective shifting for myself: When I was younger, I was very dismissive of religion, especially of Christianity. It was quite en vogue with the people I was associated with and the zeitgeist itself. I’ve never been a fervent atheist, I’ve mostly categorized myself as an agnostic who doesn’t care about any higher beings (I still do), and I did not understand why people seemed to want or need faith.

Then I started playing a very faithful and religious character who was fighting with and for his faith, who drew a lot of strength from it, and who actually loved God. That was a bit strange, because I hadn’t expected that, but it also gave me an insight into why someone would want to be religious and what strength they might draw from faith.

So I found new respect and empathy for this perspective, even if I don’t share it. And I think this is one of the great gifts RPGs can give us - empathy for another perspective, the feeling of ‘yes, I know what that feels like’ even if you haven’t.

(I hope this makes sense and was even something you were looking for in this context?)

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#9

(I hope this makes sense and was even something you were looking for in this context?)

It makes perfect sense, and I’ve invited to a broad discussion!

My first “spiritual / religious” experience as an adult was at that first larp where it clicked. I saw God in nature, after three whole days of play-acting slave in the roman antiquities. for whatever that’s worth. It turned me from staunch atheist to a more softened agnostic. Spirituality is still a work in progress for me, a work where techniques, methods and approach from larp /rpg may come in handy. . :slight_smile:

I’m interested in both deliberate and existential use of these tools for perspective /change.

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#10

Not that I’m done learning lessons, but the jarring change and near absolute freedom meant I could live life how I saw fit, and was able to largely set aside 25 years of acculturation.

I think “that sense of freedom” was something that kept drawing me back to larp the first several years. Not to escape, necessarily, but to feel free in a different way…

Your story feels … also very American, and I mean this in the best possible way. In the sense that your country is so huge, but has a similar enough language and system all over, that its possible to make such a change and such a leap, without being haunted too much by the place you’re trying to leave? I don’t know if that made sense.

Thanks for sharing!

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#11

I’ve had some wonderful and intense experiences RPing both Larp and ttrpg. I don’t get to Larp these days as I have two young kids and it just doesn’t fit in with their needs right now. But I hope to get back to it one day.

I’ve read about the masks technique in Improv but never played with it myself so I’m really interested to see how that works in an RPG space.

But experiencing bleed is probably one of the biggest gifts that RPGs have given to me. Being open to bleed is a vulnerable thing and sharing that vulnerability with other people who respond supportively has gained me some of the most important friendships that I have to date.

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#12

I understand what you mean! There’s quite a few different American dreams, one of them is the ability to reinvent yourself. I had the privilege of living that one.

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