Near-future setting, a society on the verge of “cybernetic” breakthroughs, although not quite there yet - especially not for the big consumer masses.
The society extrapolates from today; democracy has been severely hollowed out and the world is run by corporations and corporate friendly shell states.
The internet, and the world of information and information services, has been completely segmented into a few big corporately owned "networks". All information is controlled, packaged, and sold for a fee. Surveillance is ever-present, everywhere. Only the information and services the big media conglomerates approve of (and can make a buck from) is available. But there's plenty of entertainment for everyone.
Here and there, dissidents try to create zones that are outside of government and corporate control - both physically and digitally. On the net these zones are called "darknets", and in meatspace they are called "enclaves".
Our larp is about one such enclave, run by an unlikely alliance of dissidents, outcasts, outlaws, rejects and antisocial groups both high and low. Here, you can be free, as long as you give something back to the community.
We believe it's about time for a cyberpunk larp with high ambitions. The current technologies gives us extremely powerful tools we can use to create the props and environment needed for a cyberpunk larp, relatively cheaply.
We want to create a larp that combines themes that resonate today; surveillance, freedom of information, outsidership, poverty, the growing power and influence of corporations and the diminishing democracy in the western world and adding some futuristic extrapolations to the mix, such as rudimentary AI, cybernetics, genetic engineering, life prolongment and transhumanism - and the effects of those technologies on the society as a whole, especially for those who can’t afford it.
We believe in creating a small, bustling "outsider" enclave, full of colourful people of all walks of life, exploring subculture and counterculture of today and the future.
This would be an all-out project - building an immersive and fantastic set using everything from containers, scaffolding, dilapidated buildings to big projector screens, noodle stands, neon signs and computer terminals. We believe cyberpunk deserves to be massive and appeal to all senses, and we want to create that both physically and digitally.
A project of this scale takes quite some time to organize, so we’re looking at 2016 at the earliest.
This project would be a major undertaking. It would be an international event, it would require hundreds of players, lots and lots of technology, props and set building, not to mention money. The first phase would be to solve three major issues:
This would need to be an urban location, for several reasons: access to high speed internet, water and electricity, easier for players and visitors to get to and from, easier logistics and communications, and not least being able to use the city as a backdrop and possibly to expand gameplay outside of the game site. The perfect location would be a yard, and abandoned building or similar somewhere in the city. Current leads are for instance Atlasmuren (Stockholm), City Docks (Göteborg) and the Öresund Bridgehead (Malmö), but we are in no way restricted to Sweden.
The core team would be those who, initially, pull the load. It'd be the ones scouting locations, talking to land owners and getting any permits signed. It'd also be the people writing the base fiction and designing the game mechanics, and maybe most importantly, securing funds for the project - we believe a well-produced cyberpunk larp would probably be able to attract some quite heavy sponsorships. The core team would also sort out all the work and tasks needed to be done, and make sure to recruit great people to deletage this work to. Lastly, the core team would also need to have a few very skilled tech people to decide on what tech can and cannot be realistically built/purchased/used.
Maybe the biggest issue for the first phase would be how to budget an event on this scale and complexity. Can we get sponsorship deals? Are there any public funds available, locally, regionally or on EU level we can get? What other options for securing funds are there - do we bring in outside visitors, non-larpers, for the event (like for instance Futuredrome did)? Do we organize this event as non-profit or a corporate event?
Do you want to create a cyberpunk larp? Do you have the time and energy to put into first phase work?
We want to recruit a core team that really feel passionate about the idea of a well-produced, high resolution cyberpunk larp. We have an idea for this larp, but we can never pull it off ourselves, so we’re reaching out very open mindedly and invite everyone to join on an equal basis. Let’s create this thing together.
So, recap: We need a location, we need a core team to get down and dirty with all the boring details long before we get to the fun part of creating fiction and hype, and we need money.
At the moment we’re just a few people who’ve been thinking and tinkering with this idea for a few years, and it’s in no way given that we’ll take lead positions or anything. We are Sebastian Utbult, Olle Nyman and Andreas Amsvartner.