This is a master thesis in the discipline of psychology of religion, with a focus on the psychological and psychosocial functions of rites/ritualization and myths/narration in our lives. The main aim was to investigate adolescent male live acting role-players rites/ritualization and myths/narration, generally in their personal life and specifically in the world of the role-playing phenomenon, to see how they used the rites/ritualization and myths/narration in the role-playing world to create and maintain their sense of coherence and meaning in life. Theoretically were Erikson’s theories about ritualization, Stern’s theories about narration and Antonovsky’s theories about our sense of coherence (SOC) and general resistance resources (GRRs) used. The results point to that the six male informants, anyway when it comes to worldviews, ideologies and religions, lacked significant ritualization and narration outside the role-playing world, and that the role-playing interest in some ways could be a response by the informants to the lack of coherent and significant ritualization and narration in the family as well as in the Swedish society. In the world of role-playing was it specifically significant ritualization and narration that were related to having a place geographically-historically in a (age-)hierarchical network that seemed to be positively correlated with the informants sense of coherence and meaning in life. However, an important aspect was also that they could enter different episodic narratives together in game where they were able to express and explore personality traits and feelings they could not normally express or explore. This outlet seemed also to be used to unconsciously communicate and come to terms with intra- and interpsychical conflicts as well as existential questions. This scientific paper is a partial requirement of the European Union (EU) Diploma Program in Psychology of Religion. This paper has been administered through the Nordic Profile Program: Meaning-making, Culture, and Health, at Uppsala University, Sweden. Included in this program is the granting of a Masters Degree in Meaning-making, Culture, and Health through Uppsala University. The Diploma Program is a first research level program that can be integrated into doctoral or other advanced study programs in Europe and internationally.

In this work I focused on the possibility to develop LARP in the means of participation and performance. Furthermore, I focus on the continuity of individual games (segments) and the possibility of connecting various, already existing, LARP genres. In this series of games, the most striking of the genres is the political LARP, whose political charge has been intermingled by other LARP genres in my work.

ERP larp is a live-action role-play game designed to make exposure and response prevention therapy for people who have obsessive compulsive disorder more accessible. Although it is not meant to substitute therapy, it is a self-help guidance that can be applied at home. The research and design combine studies regarding OCD, game design core loops, and larp studies and is an experimental game design. In-depth interviews, quantitative data from the playtester and autobiographic observations are applied to assess its effect on the playtester. The analysis demonstrates that ERP larp is successful in lowering the effect of OCD on the playtester by lowering their anxiety and improving their sense of agency / control. However, the results are not conclusive. It is a pilot study conducted with one playtester and as only two playtest sessions were conducted and data shows that the changes are not substantial. Future research and additional playtests are required to develop and assess the efficacy of ERP larp.

“Playing pretend” is often regarded as childish, but many people continue to role-play well into adulthood through various forms of games, activities, and experiences that become an established part of societal norm. In this study, I attempt to establish links between marginalized identities, self-discovery, self-acceptance, and role-play. My findings may help in development of serious and applied games, as well as role-play’s use in therapeutic settings. I surveyed players online from a specific Art Role-Playing Game (ARPG) community, Pouflons, to find out how their characters’ personas and identities spillover and bleed into the player’s primary identity. Existing literature has reported instances of bleed between character and player identity, but usually in an autoethnographic report, small study, or only in theory. I intended to confirm the phenomena of identity bleed and emancipatory bleed by using a larger sample size, at 138 complete responses. I found that this community had a large population of people identifying as LGBT and that a clear majority of players report that their identity has been affected by their role-play.

This study contributes to the specific segment of the research field of peace and conflict studies (PACS) pertaining to the use of art as a tool for conflict transformation towards a positive peace. It is original for its choice of subject - live action role play (larp) as a potential tool for conflict transformation. The purpose of the study is to explore, describe and interpret the conditions for, and the content of, larp in present-day Palestine in order to construct a normative framework for how larp could be used as a tool for conflict transformation. In order to answer the question on the uses of this art form in Palestine, and the effects it has on the participants, their immediate surroundings, and the larger society around them, original empirical material was produced during a two-month long minor field study in Ramallah. It consists of ethnographic observations and ethnographic field interviews, as well as ten in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted between 14th of February and the 12th of April 2014. The material was analyzed with regard to Galtung’s theory of positive peace and Lederach’s theory of conflict transformation as well as to other selected theoretical and empirical work on the role of art as a tool for conflict transformation.In the specific context that has been studied, the normative framework constructed through these findings show that larps and the larping community is encouraging a personal (norm-questioning) development within its participants. It also shows that larps could be used as a tool for evoking the moral imagination, helping people to imagine a future in peace, but also as a tool for rehabilitation and processing strong emotions. Within this framework, it is also suggested that larps could be used as a tool advocacy work as well as nonviolent resistance. Finally, larps could be used as a tool for creating a liminal space and social platforms where Israelis and Palestinians could interact on neutral ground. This thesis claims that larp is a potentially significant tool for conflict transformation and therefore deserves further research within the field of Peace and Conflict Studies.

In the course of 20th century, various subcultures became important part of our society. They were formed by mutual belief and shared interest in values often dissonant to those of majority. This paper describes larp community, fellowship that creates and organizes theatre- like role playing sessions. Live action role playing is about establishing new fictional worlds and retrieting legendary tales with main focus on joy experienced during the game. A radio documentary "Fenomen larp" (i.e. Phenomenon LARP) complementing this paper provides detailed insight. Main goal of the work is to put together the overview of the means of communication within larp community with accent on zines, webzines and Facebook. It also describes the way mainstream media covers the topic and what is the public opinion towards larp together with content analysis of texts published in "Pevnost" (i.e. Citadel) magazine. In appendix there are photographs from documentary shooting, interview with Helena Jiskrova (creator of Common sign social network) and overview of media outputs on larp in Czech Republic during 2014.

This dissertation concerns live action role-playing (larp). Larp may be described as improvised theater without an audience, as participants simultaneously embody both audience and actor in their constant interaction with one another.  Hence, larp can be seen as a participatory culture.  The study is based on participant observation, interviews and online ethnography in Denmark, Latvia, Sweden and Norway. The aim of the thesis is to analyze how bodies materialize, take and are given space in larps. At the heart of the study lie questions on how processes of embodiment are enacted before, during and after the game. Two central concepts - larp chronotope and matrix of interpretation – shape the analysis. The first denotes the specific timespace in which a larp takes place, e.g a Soviet military camp or a fantasy world. The second concept stands for a general matrix of norms that informs participants on how to enact their characters in the larp chronotope. The thesis shows that participants strive to act in ways that are intelligible according to the matrix of interpretation that reigns during the game days. In addition, although game and everyday matrixes of interpretations are always inseparable, while attending a larp the participant’s ordinary lives are temporarily allowed to fade into the background. Thus, larps are complex combinations of objects, spaces and bodies that are given new relations and new meanings. Furthermore, the thesis shows that larp embodiment is conditioned by normative ideas of what it means to be an intelligible live action role player. White male bodies are more likely to access the sphere of larp intelligibility than others, which is evident in many of the stories and made up worlds portrayed in the study. Yet, the collaborative narration of game worlds that take place before larps can include all sorts of bodies. Consequently, larps provide an opportunity for alternative forms of embodiment and experiences.

Denna studie utgår från transpersoners och icke-binära personers erfarenheter av lajvande i Sverige under 2000-talet. Lajv är en typ av performance, liknande improviserad teater utan publik, där deltagarna gestaltar och förkroppsligar olika karaktärer, en roll eller alternativ identitet. Även om lajvs potential att förändra har tidigare studerats har ingen forskning gjorts om transpersoners erfarenheter av hur lajv och karaktärer har förändrat dem. Denna studie undersöker därför hur lajv och erfarenheter av att förkroppsliga karaktärer har påverkat hur de ser på sin könsidentitet och använder sig av könsuttryck i vardagen. I fokus står deltagarnas aha-upplevelser om sitt kön före, under, kring och efter lajv. Med intervjuer och queer fenomenologi visar studien att lajvande och karaktärer har hjälpt dem att hitta, utforska, testa och orientera sig mot nya könslinjer, könsidentiteter och könsuttryck samt gett dem verktyg att börja följa dessa könslinjer i vardagen. Studien visar även hur de har hindrats och hjälpts av andra lajvare, samt hur gränsen mellan lajv och vardag läcker och transformerar. Studiens resultat bidrar till en ökad kunskap om hur lajvande kan ha en förmåga att förändra och hur svenska lajvkulturen har utvecklats under 2000-talet. / This thesis concerns trans and non-binary persons’ experiences of live action role-playing (larp) in Sweden during the last 20 years. Larp is a form of performance, similar to improvised theater without any external audience, where the participants (larpers) play and embody characters. The characters are similar to theater characters, but are also a form of persona or alternative identity for the larpers. Although earlier research has shown that larp has a potential to transform and change larpers, little research has been done on transpersons’ experiences of how larping and characters have changed them. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how larping and experiences of embodying characters have affected how they understand their own gendersex and use gendered expressions, clothes, and behaviors in everyday life. A central part of the analysis is the participants' feeling of wonder over their gendersex before, during, around, and after larping. By using interviews, queer phenomenology, and the concept of bleed, the study shows how larping and characters have helped them to find, explore, try, and orient themselves toward new gender lines, gendersexes and gendered expressions and also given them tools to help them following these new gender lines and embody their gendersex in everyday life. Furthermore, the study shows how they have been hindered and helped by other larpers, and how the borders between the larp worlds and the world of everyday life are porous and transformative. The findings of the study gives new insights of transpersons’ experiences of larping. Furthermore, the results deepen our knowledge of larping’s transformative potential, how role-playing can be used in identity processes, and how the Swedish larping community has evolved during the 21th century.