Markers of Subjective Perception in Larp

Mochocki's paper extends Jan-Noël Thon's framework of subjective representation, originally developed for film, comics, and video games, to live-action role-playing (larp). Its central argument is that spatial point-of-view goes unmarked in larp, since players physically inhabit the perspective of their characters, so subjectivity markers signal only the other forms of subjectivity. To cover what the existing framework misses, the paper adds a fourth, "metasymbolic" marker category grounded in game-specific symbolic codes. Throughout, it stresses player-character perceptual unity and the danger of metalepses, breaches of diegetic coherence that occur when markers are mishandled.

The theoretical groundwork proposes iconic-identical, iconic-representational, symbolic, and indexical sign types, along with four kinds of quasi-perception: higher perception, hallucinatory quasi-perception, quasi-nonperception, and quasi-misperception. Subjective perception is treated as a scalable quality that may belong to a single character or be shared among several. The paper distinguishes narratorial markers, generated by gamemasters or players and including metatechniques such as the monologue box, from content markers, which consist of live acting and tangible elements introduced by the gamemaster. Each carries its own metaleptic risks for perceptual unity.

Applied analysis finds that content markers for simultaneous perceptions are most reliable when only one regular player occupies a shared space, because co-players may otherwise physically interact with another player's imagined elements. Mixed and symbolic markers, such as red-painted props or crossed arms signaling invisibility, can preserve unity by communicating to co-players what their characters cannot perceive. Because the physical game area persists, internal worlds such as dreams, hallucinations, and memories are typically staged in separate off-game "metarooms," communicated through other media, or role-played in freeform or jeepform. The Polish larp Stairway to Heaven exemplifies this approach with single-player blackbox rooms, which the author judges especially powerful when combined with a prototypical larp storyworld. The paper concludes that perceptual overlay, as in the third-person view of films like Fight Club, is largely incompatible with larp's first-person audience, and that the choice of subjectivity markers is ultimately a design decision.