This Is Your Game - Building The Culture You Want

Photo by Shawn Smith

At Dystopia Rising, we often talk about our Community, and we’re proud of the group of people who create and attend our events at Dystopia Rising New York. But a community is more than a group of people with a common pastime: together, we create a culture, a collection of norms and behaviors that drives our events and allows us to come together to play safely and effectively. As we enter the home stretch of our second year of live games, we want to talk about the culture we - both staff and players - are creating together, and how we can continue to excel in 2023 and beyond.

You Are Dystopia Rising New York

Nine times a year, we schedule an event where a couple of directors and a handful of storytellers build a plan, a few dozen guides provide the structure, and a hundred players create a game. We’ve achieved tremendous growth since we reopened eighteen months ago, and that’s not just because of our storytelling, or marketing, or logistics. It’s because of the enthusiasm and effort that the players bring month after month, co-creating with us, and lending their support during set-up, throughout the event, and clean-up. We want to thank you for this - we get a lot of credit for Dystopia Rising New York’s success, and we want to share it with you. Specifically, we want to thank you for what you do, and point out the specific things that make our culture a success.

A Culture of Safety

First and foremost, we, as a community, have to provide each other with a safe and accessible space to play. You’ve been a key part of this in two very important ways. First, you’ve consistently brought your concerns to us in an open and honest way. Our staff between events is relatively small and we can’t see everything. Your emails and conversations serve as our eyes and ears, and let us address everything from inappropriate comments towards other players to logistical concerns at the site. Your inputs have helped us successfully introduce initiatives such as topfree equality, made our site more accessible, and allowed us to manage the risk for events such as The Feast of Flesh. Second, when we respond to your concerns by offering tools to mitigate risk, you use them. We can’t thank you enough for your preparedness during the cold winter and spring of 2022, particularly when we had unique challenges on site. Again and again, when we communicate our problems and our solutions, you work with us as a team to make sure our events are a success.

As we go forward in 2023, we want to formalize this process. As our culture matures and we iron out large problems, we increasingly see individual issues arise that require our attention. When you have a problem, we want to work with you to create a reasonable accommodation that is specific to your needs. This is a flexible and interactive process, and relies on you continuing to bring us your concerns. Remember, when you come to us with an issue, we’re going to assess whether this is a general or specific issue, and likely work with you to establish a solution that allows you to play safely and effectively. Please understand we can’t always implement the specific solutions you ask for; this is a back-and-forth where we work together, and we have to consider the larger picture with all of our solutions. 

A Culture of Accountability

Over the course of 2022, our staff worked very hard to make sure that when we had to make a correction to behavior, we did so to improve everyone’s play in the future, and not to punish past actions. And for having nearly a thousand players, we had very few problems. It’s not that you avoided bad behavior… you actively supported the games. You showed up for early set-up, stayed late to help with other clean-ups, and gave us your all on NPC shifts. Most importantly, you took care of each other, and we knew that if we weren’t there when something happened, our players would step up until we got there.

We can always improve, and as the game grows, we also know we’ll have more instances where people need reminders to do the right thing. These are not call-outs, they’re call-ins; we know people come to our games with the intention of being a positive addition to our community, but sometimes get tired, or distracted, or have problems. Part of our initiative for 2023 is empowering our guides to talk to people on the spot if they’re late for a shift or not engaging in clean-up: we know it’s not because you don’t care, but that we just need to refocus. We’re also going to address underlying issues rather than just telling you to do more: if you’re tired on an NPC shift, expect us to ask you to go to bed and come back, or if we’re worried about an injury, we might ask you to non-com for an event. We understand that sometimes people push themselves too hard, and we’re accountable for your well-being at an event. Accountability isn’t just making sure people do what they’re supposed to, it’s also about taking care of each other.

A Culture of Play

We’re extremely proud of the culture of play at Dystopia Rising New York. You all have handled challenging mechanics such as Compulsion and Unstoppable, long-term plotlines that have taken months to pan out, and altered your playstyle in some cases to buy into the storyteller’s vision. As we prepare for our premiere event in June and Honor’s Fall in August, we’re confident you’ll have a good time, as we all have cultivated a culture of play where we support each other’s choices and come together as a group.

In 2023, you’re going to see more discussions where we talk about how to engage with our plots and mechanics, so you can understand our intent, and engage with them on those terms. We’ve found that if we just roll out a mechanic, you might not understand our vision for how it plays out. Likewise, we often get action requests or emails from players describing what their character does, without telling us the experience they want to pursue. Our goal is more open and direct communication, so that we can continue to build on our current culture of play.

No game is perfect, and we, as a community, have dealt with many problems over the last eighteen months. However, we have, as a community, built a culture where we address problems and continue to communicate about potential solutions. With many of our policies and mechanics now set, we want to work with you to fine-tune our culture, and eagerly await the opportunities to do so in the coming months.

Winning & Losing In Larp

Photo by London Belli.

“Playing to Win” gets a bad rap in larp. Larp is a cooperative act, where we gather and agree to a common story and context, and yes, competition gets in the way of that sometimes. Approaching a larp in a play to lose manner overcomes this, and is a valid (even encouraged) playstyle. But many larps, and Dystopia Rising in particular, are games, and games have optimal and suboptimal outcomes. So when you play a larp where you can “win” or “lose,” you have to understand the game and how it affects you.

Disclaimers

First Disclaimer: This isn’t a post about Character versus Character (CvC) conflict… this is actually a post about Character versus Enemy (CvE) competition. This is about fighting that horde of zed, unraveling an in-game mystery, or solving a problem presented by the storytellers. If you’re trying to overcome a challenge in Dystopia Rising and invested in the outcome, you’re playing a game where you can win or lose. 

Second Disclaimer: The term “you can’t win a larp” is superlative… there’s some merit to the statement, but it undermines certain playstyles that are completely valid. If Raiders attack a cabin, you can save the people inside - that’s a “win.” Remember, this is about CvE - when you’re playing “against the NPCs,” you’re still competing against people. 

The Storyteller’s Dilemma

When you’re playing to win against NPCs, the NPCs and the storytellers are in a dilemma. On one hand, typically, they’re not playing to win. They want to present a challenge to the players to overcome, one that is appropriately difficult. On the other hand, they need to make the challenge feel real… and that means that sometimes, the storyteller has to win. After all, if a player never suffers defeat or setbacks, then how does the storyteller maintain the illusion of a challenge?

This is a tricky balance, and it’s made tricker because the storyteller doesn’t know how good the player will be at the game they present. With many variables, the storyteller can present an excessive challenge, or one that’s too easy. Further, the player might expect a completely different challenge, and not realize the particular type of game they’re playing. The answer to this problem is communication: where the storyteller presents the information they have, and the players respond with what they understand and what they want. However, this communication is blocked by the player’s dilemma.

The Player’s Dilemma

The player in a game wants to “win.” They want to kill the zombie, or solve the puzzle, or find the buried treasure. But realize it’s the action that’s important to them: they don’t care nearly as much about dead zombies, revealed secrets, or treasure in hand. They want the experience of accomplishing a goal. And just like people may resent getting a hint at a puzzle, players want to solve it themselves. So instead of saying “we want the solution,” or “we want a hint,” or even “we’re not sure what to do,” they keep trying different solutions, taking stabs in the dark even as the storyteller tries to figure out how to get them back on track. There’s a solution to this problem, which we call the HULK check.

The HULK Check

Just like we have the OK Check-In to address other people, particularly in the middle of conflict, we have a check-in we’ve developed for people in the middle of CvE conflict. The HULK check is something you do by yourself, to check how you’re engaging in the player’s dilemma. 

H - Having Fun Am I having a good time right now? Is this activity fun and causing me excitement? Or am I beginning to get frustrated, angry or hurt?

U - Understanding Do I feel like I understand what’s going on? Do I think I know the next step of the plan? Or am I taking shots in the dark with no idea how to succeed?

L - Losing Am I ready for the plan to not succeed? Have I considered how I’ll roleplay if I fail?  

K - Kindness Have I considered how I’m impacting other players? This isn’t a matter if other people are being kind to me, it’s a matter of am I being kind and considerate to other players.

If the answer to any of these questions is negative, do one of three things:

1. Take a break! Sometimes you just need some space.

2. Ask for a hint. Talk to a guide and tell them you need some help. Don’t tell them you’re not having fun or the module is bad… ask for actual help. Try “I’m not sure what to do next… can you give me a hint?”

3. Double down on losing. Sometimes, it’s more fun to commit to tragic consequences than it is to struggle to win. Let your character make a mistake, and gain control of the narrative, even as you lose.

CvE conflict involves winning and losing - it’s a simple fact of Dystopia Rising. If you want to win, you have to be ready to lose, and the HULK check is there to help make sure you self-calibrate during the game, so that you can enjoy both outcomes.

To Run or Not To Run?

Photo by London Belli.

This post is about transparency - we want to address the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and how we’re managing risk in regards to it. Over the past week, we’ve released a number of policies to manage risk… now we’re going to tie our efforts together and explain how we will make our decisions. 

First, a short description of how we approach risk management. The only safe larp is the larp that never happens; every larp has the risk of harm. Our job as event runners is to reduce risk to an acceptable level, and communicate that risk to our players. Once we’re comfortable with the risk of the event, we invite people to participate, and they make a risk-informed decision. To do this, we identify hazards, determine their likelihood and severity, and implement controls to reduce that likelihood and severity.

In regards to COVID, we have a clear risk with a bunch of data - we can go to various websites (including the CDC and New York State Department of Health) and find statistics of all sorts. Because of this, we can identify controls that will reduce the likelihood and severity of COVID-19 transmission at our event. The single most effective control is an up-to-date vaccination. Prior to the emergence of the Omicron variant, Dystopia Rising New York (DRNY) relied on the effectiveness of vaccinations to control the risk of COVID-19 transmission. A good review of the effectiveness of vaccines was released by the Massachusetts Department of Health last month, which showed that vaccinations prevent hospitalization or death in 97% of all breakthrough cases, and that vaccinated people were 5 times less likely to be infected with COVID-19 (with a booster shot, people were 31 times less likely). 

This is what we would consider our baseline risk: we accept this risk until the probability or severity of the risks change. The Omicron variant changes this risk in two ways:

1. Increased transmission rate in the general population make it more likely that someone will contract COVID-19 at an event.

2. Vaccines seem to offer less protection against the Omicron variant than they do against other variants of COVID-19.

Our Enhanced COVID-19 Protections seek to address these risks: 

• We’re doing everything we can to make sure as many people are boosted, in addition to vaccinated. As of Friday, January 7th, we’re at 71% boosted for our next event, and we are expecting that to grow. Getting boosted returns the protection vaccines provide against Omicron back to acceptable levels.

• We’re instituting other policies (such as encouraging mask use and testing non-boosted individuals) to reduce the likelihood of transmission.

• We’re monitoring several keys statistics, primarily the 7-day rolling positivity rate in New York State.

Why the 7-day rolling positivity rate? Because it’s readily available, and provides us trend information. For example, here’s the statistics for the last five weeks:

• December 3rd, 2021: 4.8% (up by 0.9%)

• December 10th, 2021: 4.6% (down 0.2%)

• December 17th, 2021: 6.3% (up 1.7%)

• December 24th, 2021:11.0% (up 4.7%)

• December 31st, 2021: 19.8% (up 8.8%)

• January 7th, 2022: 22.2% (up 2.4%)

We’re also looking at the NYC 7-day rolling positivity rate, because it seems to lead the New York State rate (i.e. what happens in the City happens a few days before the rest of the state). Here’s what the NYC rate looks like as of January 6th…

Click for the latest update

What we see is what we’re expecting: the positivity rate increases rapidly, and then declines rapidly (as was the case in South Africa). However, there’s a lag in the reporting (you can see the gray area on the map). What we really want to see is the data around Friday, January 21st - that will give us a week of looking at what the trend is when we’ve removed the holidays and given the spike a chance to die down. If we’re trending downward (i.e. we see a slight decline in the 7-day rolling average this week, and 5 - 10% decline the week after), we’ll feel confident we’re in the “back half” of the spike, and that our controls - a highly boosted population - will work. If not… then we have to rethink our risk mitigation.

One question is “why have they not called off the event?” First, cancellation is only one risk management tool, and we have other controls in place. Second, we want to look at the data. At this point, there’s little reason (from a risk control perspective) to cancel the event weeks in advance when we can wait and check the data. Our primary concern is our travelers who have bought plane tickets, but as the vast majority of them are flying an airline that doesn’t have change fees (and have not been contacted by any travelers in regards to this concern), we do not feel pressure to make the decision right now. 

However, there are factors other than COVID-19 statistics and controls that go into a risk-informed decision for our participants. One is mental health. Uncertainty leads to anxiety, and right now, we’ve had two years of uncertainty. We’re going to continue to prepare for the January event while we monitor the situation, and will continue to provide you updates. We ask that you make a decision that you’re comfortable with, and if you have questions about our process, contact us directly. 

Thanks, and still planning on seeing you in January (numbers willing)!

Cold Weather Larping

Cold-weather larping requires more work than just carrying extra socks: while larping in the heat can be rough, the cold offers unique problems that can wear you down. Huddling together in the dark can make for great role-play, but not if the player is uncomfortable or unhappy. Here’s some tips for staying warm enough to enjoy a cold-weather larp.

Stay Dry

Unlike hot weather, you’re unlikely to get a serious injury in the cold… unless you get wet. Your body can produce heat much more efficiently than it can cool you down, but if you’re wet, it can’t keep up. Not only will you be more comfortable if you stay dry, you’ll also avoid hypothermia and frostbite. 

While you hear the advice, “change your socks” often, what you’re actually doing is removing sweaty clothing and replacing it with dry clothing. Sweat is your biggest enemy in the cold; if you’re warm walking around, you’re probably sweating as soon as you start fighting. You need a base layer of clothing that wicks sweat away from the skin, and it’s essential to stay hydrated. Be hyper aware of any damp clothing, and change it immediately.

If You’re Cold, You’re Thirsty; If You’re Tired, You’re Hungry

Your body regulates temperature with fluids: your blood warms your extremities, and your sweat cools you off. If you’re not well-hydrated, this system doesn’t work as efficiently. You need to drink as much water when the temperature is below freezing as you do when it’s hot… only it’s harder to do so because you’re probably not as thirsty. Similarly, it’s a lot of work to keep you warm, and your body needs fuel to do it. If you feel tired or rundown, it’s probably because you didn’t eat enough.

A common scenario in cold-weather larp: early in the evening (about 8 pm), people start going to bed early, exhausted. Usually, it’s because they didn’t eat enough throughout the day. Without food, no amount of rest is going to refresh you. Make sure that if you’re tired, you get some calories in you.

More Layers Does Not Equal More Comfort

You only need your clothes to do three things in the cold: keep the moisture away from your skin, trap the heat around your body, and protect you from the elements. Generally, this means three layers of clothing: a base layer to wick sweat away from the skin, an insulating layer to create pockets of warm air around your body, and an outer layer to keep the wind and precipitation from stripping that warm air away. A good pair of thermal underwear is designed to do the first two, but generally, you want to add a loose layer of warm clothes around your arms, leg, and torso as well. Then protect that layer with a waterproof (and windproof) outer garment, and ensure you have as little exposed skin as possible. 

Adding additional layers doesn’t really help, especially if there is no air between layers. For example, two pairs of socks aren’t really warmer than one pair of socks (there’s no space between them). Further, constricting your blood flow will make your hands and feet cold, and might make you vulnerable to frostbite. You should look “puffy” when you go out in the cold, as you surround yourself with air pockets your body will warm up. Don’t add layers that don’t have space between them; they’re just more likely to make you sweat when you come inside.

Also: when you come inside, take the outer layer off, and open up your insulating layer. You don’t want to overheat. Remember, sweat is your number one enemy.

Why You Wear Your Hat & Gloves

You don’t lose most of your body heat through your head (that’s a myth). Instead, your head and hands are the most likely parts to be left uncovered, and exposure is the second easiest way to lose body heat (the first is moisture). Your wool hat probably isn’t that much warmer than your baseball cap: it just covers more of your head. 

You do lose a lot of heat by breathing, which is why a face covering is a good idea for more than just the pandemic. Also, be careful what you touch with your bare skin. You can probably put your hands in your pockets and be fine (they’re close to your body and pockets trap heat), but when you take them out, they’re going to get cold quick when you touch something. 

Think Systemically

Your clothes, your hydration and nutrition, and your location… these all work together. Limit your time outside, and when you are, make sure you have as little exposed skin as possible, and all your layers are zipped up. Once you go inside, realize your location has changed. Now you want the heat to get to your body, and you don’t want to overheat and start sweating. Drink water before you go outside to hydrate, and eat when you come back in to refuel.

Sleeping

Last, but most important: the time you’re most vulnerable to the cold is when you’re sleeping. Your body temperature naturally drops, and you produce less warm air around you to regulate your temperature. It’s imperative that your bedding is warm enough for the weather. Luckily, the cabins at our site are heated, but make sure you can cover your arms and neck, and consider an extra blanket for your feet.

What do you wear? Just your base layer. Your sleeping bag is your insulating layer; your cabin is your protection from the elements. You don’t want to wear much more or you’ll cut off circulation, or worse, start sweating.

Consent and CVC (Part 3)

Survivors fight for their lives. Photo by London Belli. Pictured: Michael Bruni.

In Part 2, we talked about explicit consent, and how it was required for fighting, theft and infection loss. But how do we signal, obtain, and confirm explicit consent? Luckily we have tools described in our rulebook to obtain them. They include negotiation, the Conflict Check-In, and the Wasteland. We also have the Survival Ethos System (SES), also called the Red Ledger.

Negotiation

You'll always have the option of talking to other people out of character, which is recommended if you have any doubt about the CVC. If you go over an action with another player, and they agree to it, then you have consent from all people engaged. You can put any restrictions you like on it: for example, you agree to lethal CvC at any time except while you’re sleeping, or say “take your shot after sunset on Saturday,” or “it’s okay if you take all my stuff or my infection, but please not both.” Negotiation is your most powerful tool for obtaining consent. Negotiation is strongly recommended for any CvC that would result in infection loss (but see the Survival Ethos System, below).

The Conflict Check-In

A simpler option than out-of-character negotiations, the Conflict Check-In (also called the “C Check”) is described on page 155 to 156 of the rulebook. Without negotiation you have to use the Conflict Check-In before initiating any fighting outside of the wasteland. Even in the wasteland you still have an option of giving a “thumbs down” sign to opt out of CvC. Remember, the Conflict Check-In relates to a particular instance of CvC and you can thumbs down at any time. For example: you can give a “thumbs up” to fighting and get knocked into bleed-out, but then give a “thumbs down” to the killing blow. The limitation of the Conflict Check-In is that it only transmits a “yes” or “no,” and not other restrictions. If you want restrictions on CvC, go out-of-character and negotiate.

The Wasteland

Dystopia Rising New York (DRNY), like every other chapter, has a defined wasteland - an area where players can expect CvC to occur. This has two big implications. First, you don’t need to use the Conflict Check-In before initiating CvC. If you’re attacked, you can still give the thumbs down, but CvC is opt-out. Further, if you’re a person watching CvC, and you don’t want to be around it, you’re expected to leave the area, because the other people are in the “right place” for it. 

The Survivor Ethos System (SES) and the Red Ledger

The SES is an opt-in system that signals you consent to any and all CvC. When you opt-in to the SES, you should expect that anything can happen: someone can kill you in bed at night, or on your way back from the shower. It’s important to understand this is “no-quarter” CvC: if you want to negotiate boundaries for CvC, you might not want to put yourself on the SES. Realize that if you attack someone on the SES, you’re giving implied consent to no-quarter CvC with that person… if you want restrictions, you should still negotiate with them. In DRNY, the SES is along side an in-character organization called the Red Ledger. Red Ledger missions are reserved for people who want that no-quarter CvC. You don’t need to be in the Red Ledger, if you’re on the SES, but you have to be on the SES if you want to join the Red Ledger (the SES is a prerequisite for the Red Ledger).

These tools are just that… tools for you to use to navigate conflict. As long as everyone involved consents to the activity, have fun. The purpose of these tools is to remove ambiguity so please make sure to clarify with the DRNY staff if you have questions.

Consent and CVC (Part 2)

One survivor bests another. Photo by London Belli. Pictured: Victoria Gomez-Egger

Larpers (and people in general) like hard and fast rules that apply in all situations - it makes it easy to know what is allowed and what is not ok - but not all situations are the same. In Part 1, we talked about the different groups of people who have to consent to Character versus Character (CvC) conflict but we didn’t talk about how they signal, obtain, or confirm it. The key to any of those topics is this: consent should be appropriate to the risk of the action.

What does this mean? If we establish a protocol to handle consent then we want it to be used in every case. For example, let’s say we said we needed positive, verbal consent to any physical interaction. At first glance, this sounds good, but what about handshakes? It’s very difficult to shake hands with someone without their consent. If we add the additional step to handshakes, we have a high chance that people will ignore the protocol… and that leads to it not being used in higher risk cases. The protocol should be specific to the actions we’re trying to manage. As such we need to define levels of consent and how they relate to PvP. The three levels of consent are Inherent, Implied, and Explicit.

Inherent Consent

There are some things baked into Dystopia Rising, in terms of conflict - if you show up, you can expect to see these things, and have them happen to you. For example, you’re going to be attacked by zombies. In terms of CvC, it’s a role-playing game. People are going to get angry, yell and argue. With regards to the economy, people will compete for scarce resources, barter, and even exploit each other. You can always withdraw consent, but that only applies to you as a person engaged in conflict. If you’re a person watching a conflict and don’t want to witness yelling and screaming, then it’s on you to leave the area since that conflict is a core part of the game.

Implied Consent

Implied consent is consent that’s given as part of the actions you take. Generally, this doesn’t come up in CvC until you choose to engage in it. For example, if two people are fighting and you jump in, then you consent to the level of CvC they’ve already negotiated. If they’re fighting to the death, and you interfere, you’re giving implied consent to being killed as well (so be careful about jumping into physical CvC). Another example is theft: if you’re going around stealing from people, then you consent to getting your equipment taken from you. 

Explicit Consent

Explicit consent is when you need positive and continued consent to an action. Usually these are significant actions that can have lasting consequences for your character. We require explicit consent for fighting and infection loss. When we talk about consent in CvC we are usually talking about explicit consent.

Understanding these levels of consent help you understand when you need to obtain consent, and when you need to speak up if you don’t want something. In Dystopia Rising New York we need you to make sure to speak up if you want to withdraw consent from economic or social CvC - these are inherent to role-play and the other players need to know your boundaries. As for explicit consent, we’ll talk about our tools to manage it in next week’s post.

Consent and CVC (Part 1)

Two survivors face off. Photo by London Belli. Pictured: Dan Carione, Dan Gower.

“Consent is critically important.” That’s what the Dystopia Rising Rulebook says about Character versus Character (CvC) conflict (page 159). However, the rulebook doesn’t discuss exactly what consent means, or how to signal, obtain, and confirm it. As consent has to be clear to all people involved, we at Dystopia Rising New York (DRNY) want to talk about how it applies to our game. To begin our three-part series on consent and CvC, we’ll focus on the different groups of people who have to consent to CvC.

Whenever consent comes up at a larp, remember that there are three groups of people who have to consent to an action. This goes not only for CvC but any activity performed at a game. The three groups are the people engaged in CvC, the people watching, and the people running the game.

The People Engaged in CvC

The first, and most obvious, group of people who have to consent to CvC are the people actually fighting each other. Both the attacker and defender must agree to the conflict. Remember - if two people are fighting, and you’re not in the fight… you’re not the people engaged. You can’t barge into the conflict they’ve agreed to and say they have to renegotiate.

The People Watching

Your conflict doesn’t just affect you; it impacts everyone around you. They have to accept the presence of CvC as well. Everyone should have the option of leaving the area and still having meaningful role-play. If you’re in a central location and someone asks you to leave, you should relocate. Another important point: if you’re watching a conflict, and want to get involved, don’t ask the people engaged in conflict to renegotiate their consent. It doesn’t matter if your character’s best friend is about to die… you can’t jump into the scene without consent and change the rules.

The People Running the Game

One group players often forget: the staff have to consent to the sort of CvC you want in the game. They set the rules for a variety of reasons: liability, game play, and consideration of other players. Don’t change the rules without the staff’s consent. For example, we’ve seen people do “friends rules” where they actually fight. However, if someone gets hurt, it’s still the staff’s responsibility. Other examples include limitations on sexual contact that can cause the staff to lose their site. Remember, the staff’s rules are their statements on their consent, and they will not consent to actions they consider unsafe. 

As long as all three groups consent to a scene, you can do whatever scenes you want, including CvC. There aren’t hard and fast rules like “always negotiate out-of-character” or “never attack new players;” the only rule is “everyone makes an informed consent decision.” We’ll cover how to do that in larp in Part II.