Developing a Hybrid of MMORPG and LARP Using Usability Methods: The Case of Takkar

This paper investigates whether a Live Action Role-Playing game (LARP) and a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) can be fused into a single hybrid experience, using the prototype game Takkar as its test case. The authors developed three iterative versions of the game, moving from an initial Java-based engine to Neverwinter Nights, and tested each with groups of LARP players aged twelve to twenty-five through semi-structured group interviews. Their central argument is that the hybrid succeeds or fails largely on how well it supports embodiment, which depends on rich, multimodal communication and the ability to perform actions concurrently.

The findings highlight several specific difficulties. Players valued avatar customisation and virtual gestures, but they struggled with controls that left avatars facing away from one another and found that the interface's default running movement scattered groups, undermining cooperative role-play. The inability to walk and talk at the same time, and the loss of tone of voice as an expressive channel, were identified as the most serious gaps. Participants also reported that a character's accumulated development over time created strong attachment, and that character deaths carried a cost in player time that made arbitrary killing demotivating. The authors conclude that LARP should be the dominant partner in the hybrid, with the online component adapted to its rules, and that a minimal level of role-playing is needed to bind the two parts together.

The study also evaluates user participation in game development. Its authors contrast the traditional game industry practice of involving players late in development with a Participatory Design approach that treats users as co-designers from the outset. They report that early user testing helped them abandon flawed concepts and clarify the feature set, and that Neverwinter Nights made playtesting inexpensive. The paper also proposes a combined player typology, drawn from Bartle's MUD categories and Bøckman's LARP categories, to guide content and feature decisions. The evidence rests on a small number of play sessions with a single user group, so the typology and the generality of the conclusions are acknowledged as requiring further testing.