High Resolution Larp

High resolution larp is a concept used to describe the fidelity of interactions between players in a larp. It points out two dimensions of fidelity.

The first is about how much of a player's communication like spoken words, body language, actions or lack of actions is interpreted as part of the game - in a high resolution game, almost all player signals would be interpreted as communication inside the frame of the game, whereas in a low-resolution game, the player needs to state with more effort that their actions should be interpreted as playing.

The second dimension is about how many aspects of human life are playable in the game. If large ranges of human emotion like love or anger are either not playable or regulated by rules agreed between players outside the diegesis, the player is forced to spend more effort negotiating what is playable, and as a result has a lower resolution experience inside the diegetic reality.

Articles

The concept was coined by Andie Nordgren in the article "High Resolution Larping - enabling subtlety at Totem and Beyond" in Playground Worlds 2008.

Video Presentations

Presentation about the concept by Andie Nordgren focusing on how to maintain high resolution roleplay using he game mechanics Ars Amandi and Ars Ordo when playing on sex or violence - High Resolution Larping from Nordic Larp Talks 2010.