Experiential Learning for Larps and RPGs (Part II)

The following is Part II of a three-part series on the experiential learning benefits of live-action roleplaying games such as Adventure Quest.

By Mark Hoge
Founder and director of Renaissance Adventures

3. Participants learn when faced with diverse tough challenges
Experiential learning that includes LARPS and RPGs help develop critical thinking skills and creative problem-solving skills by exposing participants to mysteries, riddles, puzzles, and ethical dilemmas. In this way, participants:

• Learn how to brainstorm ideas and share feelings. 
• Learn that you learn more by doing and from mistakes, and these “mistakes” are easily handled with acceptance and a light-heart. In fact, very often “mistakes” in a quest add to the drama and ultimately increase the feeling of shared victory when the quest is successful. 
• Develop cooperation, teamwork, and communication skills through challenges that require that the players to invest in each other’s unique perspectives and powers, both in-game and personally. Every player, as well as the character each participant plays, has unique skill-sets and perspectives that the team needs. When appropriate, facilitate the group to hear each participant’s perspective, and to make a decision together as a group, not as one boss ordering the rest to follow. 

Children often let their emotions create an “us versus them” structure of morality. The mentality for many kids is: If a classmate takes a toy, the classmate should be punished immediately and severely. If a villain attacks a village, the villain is evil and must be killed. Larps can reveal that most “villainous” motivations should not be viewed in such a black-and-white dichotomy. Villains do not need to be evil, and morality does not need to be portrayed as absolute. Instead, the so-called villains in a quest have complex motivations and goals. Astute Questers can puzzle out the true motivations of the characters they meet, and by seeking the best means of resolving a conflict, they can enact unique and creative solutions to the dilemmas they face in the quest and on the playground. This kind of discernment, and the resulting negotiations and problem-solving, translate into skills the players can use in real-life challenges outside of the game.

4. Participants learn when supported by a physically and emotionally safe environment

When the Quest Leaders and the Larp rules support an environment that is physically and emotionally safe, players can relax, engage, play, and learn. Physical safety is straightforward – if you are sword dueling with foam Swashers, point out potential hazards (such as rocks and trees), and get an agreement from the participants to follow the Swasher dueling safety rules.

Emotional safety takes a lot of experience and skill to support. If players are bullying, name-calling, taunting, putting down other people’s ideas, or teasing, then everyone in the group may not feel safe unless that behavior is dealt with swiftly, clearly, and with compassion and fairness. How to do that is a complex subject that is beyond the scope of this article – Renaissance Adventures has developed a program called Inspiring Invitations™, which explores this issue.


Coming soon, Part II of the three-part series, exploring the diversity of challenges and emotional safety of Experiential Education LARPs.