19.5.08

Cyberpunk LARP / games culture / millions of shotguns

Well, this is from Russia, I think. I'm hoping something is just lost in translation, but I'm betting that's the least of the issues here. Self-proclaimed as "Cyberpunk LARPing", the video starts off slow, but those who persevere will be treated to the full range of bizarre music choices, not least of which is the "Ghostbusters Theme" accompaniment to a squad of would-be androids' (kids in sheet metal robot suits) loitering and running around with two or three shotguns apiece. Props, as you'll see, are hard to come by, to the point where these kids may not have been able to get their hands on any appropriately futuristic toy guns, and instead had to made do with a sizable arsenal of real weapons: pistols, sawed-off double barreled shotguns, banana-clipped assault rifles.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U6HZ2GgKHQ

I don't know much about the whole Russian cyberpunk LARP scene; is videography an integral part (i.e., besides the chemistry goggles) of the game being played here? I see the futurism of the tin man suits some of the players are clanking around in, but as for the rest of m-e-s— few props (besides the arsenal of weaponry everyone's waving around), overgrown, abandoned buildings —the vision here is of a world of poverty, bleakness and low technology. Are the glitsy, crowded futures encountered in the texts we've read so far limited to the cyberpunk mainstreams of wealthy Asia and the west? Are the Estonian cyberpunks (below) merely making do with a barren setting, or does the real world on which their play is staged look "about right" in their minds as an accurate representation of the imagined cyberpunk game world? Not cyberpunk, but Tarkovsky's Stalker's futuristic "Zone" comes to mind here, also filmed in Estonia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QOX5h1Gwdg&feature=related

Is there an actual narrative, or is this just footage "of" their play?

Higher budget (but just as disorganized and incomprehensible) World of Warcraft LARPing for comparison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l16Mx_bnj4&feature=related

I'm not sure one could dig up that many assault rifles in Davis on short notice, but does anyone know if this sort of play is often staged locally?

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