RARP: RAVE ACTION ROLE PLAY - THE NEW RAVE TREND BEHIND THE RAVE

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RARPing is a fresh and somewhat secretive new rave form that involves costuming, hidden identities, and random missions while being an off-shoot of LARPing (live action role playing.) Those we interviewed about the subject were not very forthcoming, fearing they would be ousted by their RARP community. Read on to find out more.

The History of LARP
Live Action Role Playing, more commonly known as “LARPing,” is a free form of (mostly) unscripted role-playing (or live acting) that ranges from the purely theatrical through to combative, political or historical. Dozens or hundreds of characters meet in a decided location to freestyle through a framework of accepted scenarios, and live out an abstraction of their appointed avatar, whether it be magician, warrior, or other deviation from their everyday self. Gaining most of it’s momentum across the globe in the 70s with the invent of tabletop role-playing games. LARP identities or genres have since included science fiction, historical recreations, dystopian or zombie apocalypses, and even gender reconstruction scenarios.

"...reconstructed realities aim to
suspend or even rewrite
normal rules of behavior..."

Typically LARPing participants have identified with Medieval themes and battlefield scenarios, but as electronic music gains value in the 21st century, so LAPRing has spread a larger and more raving, music party goer.
 This is where I stumbled across a story about RARPing. Rave Action Role Playing; a re-reality where electronic music forms the backbone for leaving your real name and day-to-day personality behind. Of course it was only a matter of time until the more bookish genres of LARPing were re-appropriated into more approachable models for a younger social generation.

So what exactly is RARPing? Isn’t that just a veil for further party themes? Actually yes. Modes of this experience have often been portrayed by dedicated festival goers, people living in squats or communes, and other alternative scenarios in the vein of USA’s Burning Man Festival/City, where the variety-show and counter-culture freak-flag flies high. (I can attest to being one of the freaks).

The details that tie any of this to the LARPing category are that these reconstructed realities aim to suspend or even rewrite normal rules of behavior, through unscripted acting and deviation from those day-to-day identities the person possessed normally.

However even these communities have steered away from the complete submersion into the LARPing ethos, since there is not just one organized game under one scenario but too many, and rarely can the events be considered forms of interactive literature, as are many LARPing prompts. (I did however once sit in on a Last Supper at Burning Man, and many attendees there are actually living out “tribal” fantasies, but this was more impromptu than some long lasting role-play.)

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RARPing goes more niche, subtly scripted, and inclusive (or is that reclusive?) An insider told me about his ritual weekend of attending such RARP Festivals. He said that once on site at a secret location, where only former attendees can invite the new, everyone adjusts to the character and “power” they have chosen for themselves. Real names are never revealed. Upon entering the event, the characters are split into “families” and group activities, plots, and assignments throughout the day are supported by notes with clues to help one get through the various tasks. It’s kind of like a psychedelic team building, except no one is able to reveal their identities.

At some point during this fantasy rave, the whole thing breaks into a party, where you, the Space Cowboy or whatever you have come as, dances with your “family”, maintaining your secret identity, never to reveal your name, or participate with the society outside of this setting.

"...maybe our over stimulated minds
need more context than familiar
party models can deliver...?"

There are also not-so-secretive breakouts of RARP. Take the performative group Micro Rave for example, you might just see them at your next music camp-out. Born as an experiment in 2009, with a focus on “Free-party Rave scenes, Live Action Role-playing, Computer Games, Immersive Theatre and 8-bit Music” this micro-hub of RARPing focuses on creating mini, dance party, experiences at festivals with missions that include “8-bit sounds / 2-bit costumes / Inferior AI / Boss Battles” and of course “Rave Challenges.“

So what role do these modern re-appropriations serve? Certainly it’s an opportunity for interacting with a community more geared to your musical and social interests than the Game Of Thrones model.

But is it a form of escapism or extended meaning? Maybe our over stimulated minds need more context than familiar party models can deliver? Maybe we need to add theater and characters to our nights out? Just look at the British for example - they need the barest of excuses to dress up at any occassion. An art theorist researching game theory and LARPing recently suggested that “the terrible beauty of LARP's promise: “[is] you can play whatever rules you like, whenever you like, wherever you like. All you have to do is define them,” but well “we're all playing, and so involved... that we've forgotten that the rules are all our own creation.”

This refreshing reminder in real life philosophy serves to ask “who do you want to be today?” The answer: Whoever you want to be. This is no 90s rave, it’s 2014, and these are the questions that push the box past limitations, be it in music or other creative pursuits.