- Talked to a lady who'd been put off by most paper-and-pencil RPGs because rules assumed a male audience. But the Vampire game rules examples used ladies in half their examples; this helped her feel welcome.
- When designing a game, ask yourself: Who's it for? Who will feel welcome? Who won't feel welcome? Who won't even be able to participate?
- His day job is LajvVerkstaden, which he can totally pronounce, which runs educational LARPs for schools. The kids can't opt out, so if the game doesn't make them feel welcome
oh well, the little stinkers have to play anyhowhe feels extra sorry. - The Three Ways
- 1. No Wall of Text In LARPing as in life, copious documentation is not a feature but rather a warning sign.
- 2. Gender-neutral roles The kids can pick their roles, so don't build a gender into any role. [I guess this means I could role-play a fishwife, perhaps the only historical role I have the skills for -ed.]
- 3. Elf ears for everyone He ran a LARP in which some kids played goblins. He got some costume-ish elf ears for the goblin players to wear—but the ears were all colored for white folks. Not even in Sweden does that work for all kids.
- Listen to your players. If you're messing up on the inclusiveness and your players try to tell you, will you pick up on it?
- Think about your design choices; don't get complacent.
[If you're guessing that inclusion's on my mind as I try to figure out what features of puzzlehunts are off-putting to potential new players, you're right. The good news: already pretty gender neutral. The bad news: nobody gets elf ears -ed.]
