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Reposted by Adrian Hon

Evan Torner @guyintheblackhat.bsky.social · 9h

"Cosplaying" and "larping" are real activities done by real people, and using these terms as slang for "pretending to be someone you're not, for political purposes" does indeed alienate those of us who take part in these activities.

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 10h

Oh, and Laura will be speaking about this in my panel at the Immersive Experience Network summit in just two weeks time!

From Blackbox To Blockbuster Larp: Lessons From A Global Phenomenon - Immersive Experience Network

From intimate blackbox encounters to multi-day blockbusters, larp (live action role playing) features many of the world's most innovative immersive

immersiveexperience.network

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 10h

I hope to talk to the organisers a lot more in the coming year about this, since it's really one of the most interesting developments happening in the entire "immersive" space.

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 10h

100% – I hope to talk to them more about this!

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 10h

Putting my business hat on (I guess it's never off tho), I'm also fascinated by what will be involved in the process of turning a volunteer organisation into one where everyone gets paid.

They've already had to sort out IP/copyright issues for volunteers' contributions, which I'm sure was a Thing.

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 10h

It is no longer that big an ask for people to spend €850 on a multi-day immersive experience. Even the Star Wars hotel had 70,000 guests, and they were paying $1200-5000 each.

I personally know several people who will *definitely* buy tickets to Odysseus who didn't know it existed back in 2024.

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 10h

The organisers are a little apprehensive about whether they'll hit their crowdfunding target, since 1000 people was the number who expressed an interest in 2024.

My take is that they'll have way more publicity next year, and also benefit from a dramatically rising interest in blockbuster larps.

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 10h

This is a huge deal for Nordic larp. There are other big larps that happen regularly, but not with Odysseus' level of tech. They are also usually campaign larps, meaning that the story carries over between events, which changes the kind of things you can do (e.g. you can't have everyone die)

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 10h

They've announced they WILL be going forward!

Their crowdfunding campaign will launch early next year, aiming to pre-sell 1000 tickets at €850 each to fill ten runs starting in the autumn.

It is plain to me tickets will sell out almost instantly. But now they can just do more runs!

Back to the Stars: Odysseus Awaits

#1 Blog post: Story of Odysseus continues. Welcome to follow the journey of Ellarion Tales.

ellariontales.com

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 10h

Earlier this year, I interviewed Laura Kröger about Odysseus, one of the most ambitious and technically advanced larps ever made.

Odysseus only ran three times in 2024 because it was entirely volunteer-powered. Afterwards, they debated turning it into a permanent space with paid roles.

And now...

The Collective Ambition Behind Odysseus, a Game-changing Sci-fi Larp

A conversation with lead producer Laura Kröger on the making of Odysseus and what it would take to become a permanent institution.

mssv.net

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 1d

There's interesting links here both to early 20th century Futurism, but the valorisation of agency also reminds me of how immersive experiences promise to restore audiences' lost agency

James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 1d

I wrote about whether or not you can really "just do things" — a meme that responds to a world in which institutional power is increasingly sclerotic and individual agency under threat from AI
thebaffler.com/latest/high-...

High-Agency Individuals | James Vincent

The exhortation to “just do things” is in part a response to the specter of automation.

thebaffler.com

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 1d

I just signed up for The Smoke larp festival in London!

Running from 9-11 January, tickets are £90 for the whole thing. I highly recommend it if you want to try out Nordic-style larp for the first time in a fun and friendly crowd!

Shop - Omen Star

omenstar.com

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 2d

DEI officers £2
Woke stuff £1
Essential services £100,000,000
Parks £2

someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this

Reform likely to raise Kent council tax after cost-cutting drive falters

Nigel Farage’s party promised to revive local authority finances by slashing wasteful spending

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 3d

I assume the author really did write up their own thoughts, perhaps in rough sentences or bullets, or perhaps as a full draft. Then they got AI to rewrite the entire thing, which is how it ended up in this constantly breathless prose.

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 3d

One commenter says it can't be AI because it uses italics and bold for emphasis. My brother in Christ, have you ever used ChatGPT/Gemini?!

Another says critics only think it's AI because it's well-written. If that means "doesn't have grammatical or spelling mistakes" sure, but that's a low bar.

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 3d

There's a common belief that we're getting better at spotting AI writing but I was astonished by how many commenters thought this review *wasn't* written/edited by AI.

Everything about it screams AI! The headings! The phrasing! Sentences like this: "It’s subtle, silent, and personal."

From the OculusQuest community on Reddit: I Bought the Meta Ray-Ban Display in the US. Here’s My Brutally Honest, In-Depth Review as a Tech Enthusiast.

Explore this post and more from the OculusQuest community

www.reddit.com

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 3d

I still love the Foocamp/Unconference setup to this day. It really democratises events and ensures people are interested and enthusiastic about the sessions they attend.

The problem is that it needs a ton of space, which is so hard to find now. A lot of them are totally private events these days.

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 3d

Right – and to forestall the inevitable "this is just millennial nostalgia" riposte, I don't want to be a pollyanna about this. There was way too much alcohol, it was too male-centric, a lot of the money came from untrustworthy tech companies, etc etc.

And yet! There was much that was good.

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 3d

Exactly. I feel like in the 2000s you could barely move in London without bumping into a dozen mixers, not *all* of which were about tech.

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 3d

I'm definitely not an expert on the area but yes, I get the feeling that people are a bit disillusioned with Meetup as a way to "discover" new hobbies/clubs/friends. TBH I don't think it ever really made sense for that use, there is something productive about introducing friction into the process...

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 3d

Obviously this is a place where the state could step in, but absent that, I think we've reached a point where digital replacements are so popular that most of the suitable venues have gone out of business or shifted to other uses (hotels, flats, etc.)

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 3d

I've had a hell of a time trying to find a place in Edinburgh that can reliably and affordably host regular events. Plenty will do one-offs but it's a drag to keeping renegotiating things.

The groups that do it well are often associated or run by venues themselves, or are just really old.

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 3d

Great if you want to scale your event as big as possible, not so great if you want people to keep coming back. How do you get people committed? You probably need a hybrid approach that uses social media to some degree, as many clubs do.

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 3d

So then the motivation is now "we want small, authentic, bounded communities" which I totally get – but then, is a talk or lecture really the best format for that? Maybe!

And then there's the question of how frictionless the experience of attending is; easy to get in, easy to slip out.

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Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 3d

Now, blogs/newsletters/YouTube/Tiktok replaces the information part, and social media replaces the discussion.

Obviously it's not a one-to-one match! But the digital replacements are so convenient and can scale so high, it's been tricky to make an case for real world events that gets bums in seats.

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