Geekery is in fashion right now, what
with big-budget comic book movies dominating the cinemas of the
nation and fantasy epics like Game of Thrones capturing the public
consciousness. We have entire television networks devoted to video
games. Cosplayers become memes. Most people even know now that dice
can have more than six sides. Being a geek is cool, and everyone
wants to be one.
However, even in this era of geek chic
there are certain subcultures within the geek community who remain
maligned and misunderstood. Role-playing gamers, and particularly
live-action role-playing (LARP) enthusiasts, are often consigned to
being the butts of jokes told by non-geeks, and even fellow geeks.
This truth has been thrust into the spotlight this week, with the
revelation that Florida Congressional candidate Jake Rush, a
Republican running as a “straight shooter within the law
enforcement and legal communities,” is himself a LARPer.
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| Jake Rush, in character as Chazz Darling |
Headlines referring to his “bizarre double life” as a “sexy vampire” have been de rigeur throughout
the media reporting on the story. Rush is affiliated with a group
called Mind's Eye Society, a gaming and charitable organization
devoted to games from White Wolf Publishing, specifically their World
of Darkness collection. World of Darkness is a collection of
role-playing games featuring vampires, werewolves, mages, fairies,
and other assorted mythological creatures, in modern and historical
settings. Though it is primarily a table-top gaming system, it is
also known for an extensive and enthusiastic sub-culture of LARP
fans.
In LARP, players dress as their
characters, use props and real-world settings, and employ acting and
other theatrics to enhance their gaming experience. To that end, a
typical LARP session for a World of Darkness game will typically
feature players clad in leather and lace, corpse paint and corsets,
and a plethora of other looks with a distinct
gothic/industrial/fantasy bent. Knowing this, the pictures making
the rounds showing Rush dolled up in black leather and novelty
contact lenses as one of his characters, Chazz Darling, wouldn't be
terribly shocking to the average person. The amusement appears to
stem solely from the fact that Rush is a GOP candidate and a
self-proclaimed “practicing Christian.”
Numerous commentators have accused Rush
of hypocrisy, as though either his political or religious beliefs
somehow preclude him from enjoying LARP games, vampires, leather,
or...something. This is a patently nonsensical line of reasoning, to
put it bluntly. Role-playing and, by extension, LARP makes no
distinction where such factors are concerned. The entire purpose of
role-playing, at the gaming table or in the gaming space, is to bring
people together so that they can play at being someone else for a few
hours and tell an interesting and exciting collaborative story.
Anyone can join, anyone can play, and everyone can have a good time.
Plenty of conservatives play and plenty of Christians play, though
perhaps not many politicians do, I will concede.
Some have also taken issue with the
controversial turns storylines can take in a World of Darkness
campaign, specifically pointing to an online bulletin board post
written by Rush in which his character expresses a desire to rape or
invite the rape of the character of another player. Taken at face
value, it is absolutely a shocking statement and I am not remotely
surprised by the condemnation it has garnered, though the fault for
that lies partially with those writers who neglected to mention that
Rush was writing in-character.
Having been involved in several online
role-playing groups for over a decade, I can attest that my
characters were frequently guilty of words and actions which I,
myself, would never engage in. I've written my own attempted
murders, animal sacrifices, sexual seductions for selfish ends, and
countless other unsavory and despicable acts, all in-character. A
story needs a villain, after all, and villains are known for nasty
deeds. To write a villain as a villain does not necessitate or imply
that the writer has fantasies of doing such things. The only thing
it means is that the player is portraying a villain as being
villainous. Role-playing is, at its core, collaborative fiction
writing.
This is not to say that Jake Rush
warrants no criticism. A brief visit to his campaign site will tell
anyone that he is anti-choice, anti-immigrant, and anti-Obamacare, a
free market capitalist and a gun nut. I'm sure he has plenty more
abhorrent positions to go along with those listed. Those positions,
however, are not a reflection of the LARP community. He may well be
a truly vile person, but it isn't because he occasionally likes to
dress up as a vampire and play-act occult ceremonies.
I would encourage the media to take a
step back from sensationalism and novelty at the expense of thousands
of decent, upstanding gamers and, instead, dig into something meatier
where Jake Rush is concerned. Click-baiting headlines, shoddy
research, and “scandalous” photos are the norm of the day, but
that does not make such practices superior to legitimate reporting
and writing of substance. Picking on an underdog community to garner
hits is both easy and low. We should all be better than that.
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