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Reposted by Jonaya Kemper

The Golden Cobra Challenge @goldencobra.bsky.social · 12h

ssssssssss

Gamess are due THISS coming Monday, the 13th.

Let'ss ssee your larp ideasss cook!!

www.goldencobra.org

Golden Cobra Challenge

www.goldencobra.org

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 3h

We denigrate play and make believe as frivolous and unserious so our language uses these terms to make facism seem unserious. How about we just call them for what they are...liars.

Evan Torner @guyintheblackhat.bsky.social · 5h

"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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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 22h

Yesterday I presented to our senior seminar students and realized that I've written and published poetry, plays, ttrpgs, videogames, boardgames, card games, larps, academic articles, news articles, novels, novelas, blogs, and film scripts. The only thing I haven't tried is comics. And I wanna.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 1d

Do you find yourself at the intersection of performance, games, and design? Do you want to work with world class artists in research, pedagogy, and games? Then maybe apply to work with me at UCSC! We're hiring a Assistant Professor of Interactive Art, Performance & Games

recruit.ucsc.edu/JPF01998

Assistant Professor of Interactive Art, Performance & Games (Initial Review Date 11/14/25)

University of California, Santa Cruz is hiring. Apply now!

recruit.ucsc.edu

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 3d

Thanks for this insight. I went to one of their haunts last year and had a similar experience. The historical space felt underutilized and narratively thin. I was deeply surprised how much of the copy of the event (1920's Masquerade Ball) and the actual event didn't match.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 3d

EXACTLY. It didn't need any projections and the tech was glitchy and got in the way. They could have spent more money on people and had a deeply terrifying experience.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 3d

Ironically Disney's Haunted Mansion was based in part on The Winchester House and the Haunt felt like a walkable downgrade of The Haunted Mansion Ride. My favorite part of the entire experience was The House. It definitely made me want to visit it during the regular season.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 3d

The Winchester Mystery House Haunt had some cool things, like neat animatronics and like 20 scare actors doing their damned best. But now imagine they promise you a ball and speakeasies and you get no ball and overpriced bars. As someone who designs immersive experiences...this made me disgruntled.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 3d

It was so bad I didn't even take a picture.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 3d

One of the haunt's biggest stumbling blocks wasn't the switchback stairs, but the lack of enough scare actors. The ones they had were working their asses off with very little, and then to see the big third act be glitchy AI? It really made my whole party unimpressed. They could have paid two actors.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 3d

They used AI projections at the Winchester Mystery House Haunt. If I was a ghost there, I'd ask to be exorcised.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 4d

Wait let me phrase it better, The Fun Tax described is a marginalized person just being able to exist in the space but being made aware that by existing they will be discriminated against in game. The Fun Tax increases in "type 2" fun. nordiclarp.org/2020/06/08/l...

Larp and Prejudice: Expressing, Erasing, Exploring, and the Fun Tax – Nordic Larp

Designers of larps with a real-world setting face questions about how to deal with prejudice. This article looks at three possible approaches.

nordiclarp.org

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 4d

Like, Type 2 fun applied to larps can quickly be Type 3 fun for the marginalized person at the larp. Mo Holkar called this the Fun Tax.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 4d

I don't like this scale when applied to things outside of the original context. Jason mentioned it first in another thread, but I think describing "fun" in a roleplaying sense is way more nebulous than say a hike.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 4d

Hard agree. It's much less subjective in the original context, for me.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 5d

Random fact, I myself have done APs and can tell you that the same reaction people have to me on screen is literally the same reaction people have to me if I do a large international larp. My body and presence makes people confront internalized misogynoir. Ugh, I'm gonna have to write this myself.

Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 5d

Has anyone written a paper on investigating fandom's internalized racism, homophobia and sexism using Actual Play* fans reactions? If not, it's going on my list. 🤌🏽

*I wish my new line of research on performance and bleed didn't mean I have to occasionally read reddit, but here we are.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 5d

I almost feel like if I looked at this through the lens of larp it would be much easier to tease out. I hope this section gets a bit easier over time. <3

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 5d

I can see it happen so clearly based on performers identity, and if it was larp it would be a lot more obvious within the sphere by the articles and studies that have been released. But there's so much fan created data (polls, character art, locked threads). It's kind of just...right there.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 5d

All this to say I will absolutely hear your hot take rants. 👀

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 5d

I haven't done any academic work around APs because I worry about conflict of interest, and is one of the reasons I don't tend to watch it. However, they've been going long enough that I think I can see a fundamental connection between bleed, performance, parasocial behavior and internalized isms.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 5d

@friede.bsky.social I feel like you'd know the answer to this, actually.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 5d

I should also say that writing for Vampire was a literal childhood dream come true, so you can actually buy my childhood dream come true right now.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 5d

Has anyone written a paper on investigating fandom's internalized racism, homophobia and sexism using Actual Play* fans reactions? If not, it's going on my list. 🤌🏽

*I wish my new line of research on performance and bleed didn't mean I have to occasionally read reddit, but here we are.

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 5d

Fun facts, you can get the scenario I wrote with @juhanaonparas.bsky.social in this bundle. Other fun facts I learned:
The most requested game for Storytellers in Santa Cruz is Vampire. So, I'll be gearing myself up to run Vampire locally!

Juhana Pettersson @juhanaonparas.bsky.social · 5d

Renegade has a massive World of Darkness bundle on offer, with plenty of books I've worked on too!

www.humblebundle.com/books/world-...

Humble RPG Bundle: World of Darkness: Month of Darkness 2025 Digital Bundle by Renegade Game Studios

Pay what you want for the hottest Vampire: The Masquerade game nights with the Month of Darkness 2025 Digital Bundle by Renegade Game Studios!

www.humblebundle.com

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 5d

You know it's Halloween because I felt summoned. 😅

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