What is Love?

relationships, feel-good, karaoke

Designers: Tova Gerge and Mikael Hansén Goobar
Number of participants: 8-10
Duration: 4 hours
The presenter feels that this larp IS suitable for young people aged 16+

About the larp

We all have different ideas about the essence of love. This game tells the story of how these ideas shape the encounters between a group of karaoke enthusiasts meeting up for their annual club competition. You are welcomed to dance, discuss, play around, be true to yourself, laugh, cry – and sing if you want.

What Is Love? This is an urgent question for this year’s participants in the annual competition of the karaoke club. In fact, much more urgent than the competition itself. Because after all, pop music is about what you feel when you listen to your heart. And about what happens when you meet others who do not at all feel the same way, but still have the power to move you.

Join a silly and serious game about the nature of love. What Is Love welcomes you to dance, discuss philosophy, play around with clichés, be true to yourself, laugh, cry – and sing if you want.

Content Warnings: All characters will at some point be singing karaoke and the players will need to represent it. This can be done through actually singing karaoke yourself, singing along with a regular track, or just lipsyncing/pretending to sing. Singing is encouraged, but not enforced. The larp is designed so that the other players aren’t paying particular attention to the signing and there is no competitive aspect, your signing won’t be in any way assessed.

Karolina Soltys: Karolina is a larp designer especially interested in creating emotionally immersive experiences, often inspired by literature or film. Her designs include Together Forever, The Glimpse, Our Last Year, The Castle, Arsenic & Lies.

Parameters

Physical contact Moderate contact; e.g. hugging, formal partner dancing
Romance and intimacy Symbolic kissing or sex; e.g. stage kisses, abstractly representing sex
Conflict and violence Themes of conflict, but not enacted by players; e.g. quiet threats and vengeful stares
Communication style Lots of speech
Movement style Walking
Characters Players build their characters around a predesigned skeleton or archetype
Narrative control The shape and direction of the story is entirely, or almost entirely, determined by player choice
Transparency Fully transparent – players will, or at least can, know absolutely everything in advance
Representation The fictional space is pretty similar to the play space
Play culture The concept of rivalry or cooperation between players doesn’t really apply
Tone Moderate

Saturday afternoon, Studio 6