Monday, May 26, 2014

Hazards of PvP

I've been looking into issues of bullying and harassment in various organisations to try to find a way to limit their presence in the LARP group I'm helping to set up.  While the stories can be fascinating exercises of the imagination, no less valid than any other art form or hobby in our lives, they still should be a source of satisfaction and enrichment for all those involved.  When bullying enters the equation, the source is tainted and sometimes destroyed.  While researching the culture of bullying, however, I noticed that many of the listed techniques in the Wikipedia entry all cover successful PvP tactics that can be used within the game itself (objectification, character assassination, etc.).

This article isn't intended to lambast PvP games as unsustainable bully-prone activities that will automatically become toxic to all concerned.  It's intended to analyse why it can sometimes go that way and how to reduce those causes so that we can enjoy PvP games, even political ones (which have the highest emotional risks attached to them).

I may add more articles to this series but for now it will include:

Objectification
Humiliation
Destabilisation

PS. I'm not done with the demon lore write ups.  They're just taking awhile to get to the point where I'm happy with them ... especially Lore of Patterns, which is up next.

No comments:

Post a Comment