Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz

Larp Typology

This extended abstract, presented at DiGRA 2018, proposes a unified typology of larps and larp games to address the confusion created by informal, organically evolved category names within the European, Polish, and American larp communities.

• The report proposes a unified typology of larps built on thirteen classification attributes, to replace informal and inconsistent community labels such as "blockbuster larp" and "gra terenowa" that can describe very different experiences.
• The typology defines fourteen types of larps and larp games by the necessary presence of a minimum set of attributes, and it is explicitly open to future expansion.
• Genre labels alone fail to convey practical information such as the physical effort a larp requires, which the attribute-based approach is designed to make visible.