Quote from: jibbajibba;321878Is this a game as in a game you play for fun or is it a game you play as part of a 12step therapy plan or a training program for social workers/police officers etc. This is a genuine request as I actually think there would be some genuine use in it as a therapy or training tool.

It certain uses techniques from both the therapeutic and theatrical.   There's no question that drama improv teachers use something similiar in actor training.

It's not my type of "fun", but other LARPers definitely enjoyed the small scale personal dramas - very soap opera from an audience perspective actually.

Quote from: jibbajibba;321878Is this a game as in a game you play for fun or is it a game you play as part of a 12step therapy plan or a training program for social workers/police officers etc. This is a genuine request as I actually think there would be some genuine use in it as a therapy or training tool.

A game like Drunk (which is about an alcoholic's impact on his family) isn't escapist entertainment, so by that definition it isn't fun.  But it can be cathartic, enlightening, surprising, funny at times, and give the participants empathy for people trapped in those relationships.  It isn't a therapeutic tool, though, by any stretch, and it isn't psychodrama.  It's a game; you play a series of characters, there are rules and an end point.

A game like The Upgrade! is totally played for fun.  All the situations are completely over the top, it spoofs reality television, and it always gets ridiculous.  There's a core of real human relationships, though, and I've seen games that were weirdly touching - a married couple realizing that they each need to move on can be played for laughs, but doesn't have to be.

Quote from: Jason Morningstar;321997A game like Drunk (which is about an alcoholic's impact on his family) isn't escapist entertainment, so by that definition it isn't fun.  But it can be cathartic, enlightening, surprising, funny at times, and give the participants empathy for people trapped in those relationships.  It isn't a therapeutic tool, though, by any stretch, and it isn't psychodrama.  It's a game; you play a series of characters, there are rules and an end point.

Something like this is pretty much the definition of psychodrama.

ie: "Psychodrama is a form... which explores, through dramatic action, the problems, issues, concerns, dreams and highest aspirations of people, groups, systems and organizations."

Rules and an endpoint don't make it a game, they simply define the paramters at which point you stop aping the issue at hand.

Psychodrama is a therapeutic tool used by mental health professionals.  As I said, Jeepform is not a therapeutic tool.  

Anyway, I'm happy to answer questions about Jeepform if anybody has any.

Psychodrama is not defined by who does it, it is defined by what it is. I'm not saying you guys don't honestly enjoy it (for whatever reason), but in the end, it is exactly what it is.

Quote from: Jason Morningstar;322002Anyway, I'm happy to answer questions about Jeepform if anybody has any.

Why does it seem so hard to tell what Jeepform is?

Quote from: boulet;322011Why does it seem so hard to tell what Jeepform is?

I think part of it is writing in a non-native language, straight up.  Also, the range is pretty broad.  Vi åker jeep  is a collective, and individual members are going in their own directions from a common source.  Describing the game play and body of techniques used in one game may not prepare you for another.   And there's an experiential component as well - it makes a lot more sense after trying it, or even observing it.  Sorry, I know that's weak sauce but it is true.

My personal definition:  Jeepform is a structured freeform mode of play built from a body of techniques emerging from, and reacting to, both LARP and tabletop traditions.

Quote from: Jason Morningstar;322017I think part of it is writing in a non-native language, straight up.  Also, the range is pretty broad.  Vi åker jeep  is a collective, and individual members are going in their own directions from a common source.  Describing the game play and body of techniques used in one game may not prepare you for another.   And there's an experiential component as well - it makes a lot more sense after trying it, or even observing it.  Sorry, I know that's weak sauce but it is true.

My personal definition:  Jeepform is a structured freeform mode of play built from a body of techniques emerging from, and reacting to, both LARP and tabletop traditions.

Would it be easier to say it is a form of improvisational theater focused on the exploration of real world issues where the primary audience is the other participants?

Probably more accurate as well.

Also: not a game.

Jeep games as a rule are heavily moderated, more than Johnstone-style improv even.  There's a level of transparency that's generally impossible in improv.  It's a different beast, although some techniques are helpful in both.  The Upgrade! is the most "improv-y" game I've played, and apparently works quite well in front of an audience.  Of course it's structured as a television show so maybe that's not surprising.

Quote from: J Arcane;321978I want to hear this story immediately.  It sounds much more interesting than more Morningstar shilling and pretentious Finnish wankery.

http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/104/braunstein-the-roots-of-roleplaying-games/

Arneson came into a Braunstein game set on a tropical island on the cusp of revolution in a minor role as a peaceful revolutionary. Instead of playing that role, he convinced everyone he was a CIA agent and that the island's treasury would be safest in his hands. He got points for distributing leaflets, but ignored that condition until the end of the game when he was flying away in a helicopter with the treasury, when he dumped all his leaflets out the windows and earned several thousand points.

Quote from: Abyssal Maw;322019Also: not a game.

Except both therapist and educators often use "games" in this vein as tools.   Actors engaging in improv games, even if its hardcore psychodrama, are enjoying this training.

Morningstar is correct - jeepform is NOT a therapeutic or acting tool, but it shares much in common with such tools.   Which is not surprising, the common ancestry is strong and the new thoughts in these areas have certainly bled over to each other.

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;322024http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/104/braunstein-the-roots-of-roleplaying-games/

Arneson came into a Braunstein game set on a tropical island on the cusp of revolution in a minor role as a peaceful revolutionary. Instead of playing that role, he convinced everyone he was a CIA agent and that the island's treasury would be safest in his hands. He got points for distributing leaflets, but ignored that condition until the end of the game when he was flying away in a helicopter with the treasury, when he dumped all his leaflets out the windows and earned several thousand points.

Heh heh.  Fun story.  Could've done without the reporter's revisionist attempt to claim Arneson and Wesely as one of their own however.  THe article sort of goes off into la la land there towards the end.

Quote from: Jason Morningstar;322017My personal definition:  Jeepform is a structured freeform mode of play built from a body of techniques emerging from, and reacting to, both LARP and tabletop traditions.

"Structured freeform", huh? No wonder no one can figure out what jeepform is supposed to mean. Around these parts, that's what we call a contradiction in terms.

Sorry, I could be clearer.  So if freeform is open-ended play without a formal structure, structured freeform adds conditions to that - a GM, an end state, specific techniques, thematic constraints and so forth as appropriate, without going all the way to a fully structured activity like LARP or tabletop play.  

For example, in The Upgrade! the play space is divided into past, present and future areas, and the game is organized into several clear sections, and there are particular activities the characters are asked to engage in. These constraints provide structure and creative hooks for players to build on, but when none of them are in active use, players have freeform-level freedom to invent and interact.

Functionally, I think the best description of Jeepform is that it is a small low-mechanics LARP where players can switch or modify the scene -- and that has a bias toward the mundane rather than action/adventure or fantasy/sci-fi.  

Enjoying mundane drama for entertainment really isn't that strange.  While gamers tend to be fantasy/sci-fi fans, there are lots of people in the world who enjoy straight drama or romance in books and movies.