Kjærlighet i fornedringens tid

In-game photo of the Oslo 2009 run at Sagene Lunsjbar (Photo by Li Xin)

Kjærlighet i fornedringens tid (Love in the age of debasement) was a game run in Norway and Sweden in 2001 - 2010. It has been run in the following cities: Malmø (SydCon 2001), Stockholm (Knutpunkt 2002), Oslo (Larpfactory 2009), Vesterås (Prolog 2010), Fiskeboda (Knutpunkt 2010), Trondheim 2010 (Larpfactory).

Summary

In-game photo of the Knutpunkt 2010 run in the manor of Fiskeboda
(Photo by Håken Lid)

We are in Norway (alt. Sweden). The year is now. You are a couple living in Norway or are having a short, not especially spectacular holiday in Norway. You meet at a cafè. The meeting developes into a serious talk, an explosion or implosion of emotions. You are playing a couple that have been together for a while (6 month and up to 2 years). Not living together. It is about the confrontations that might show up, when we are forced or stumbled into making a stand. It is about our realtionships, when we grasp that somethings does not work. The critical moment when we have to understand that..

this might be the end
this might be the start of something new and perhaps more sincere

We are trying to grasp the moment when a couple realizes that their crisis is a fact, we are aiming at the very eye of the storm. At least one of the involved parties will be put to the test: How do we experience love in an age where it would seem that it so often don`t work out?

Techniques

In-game photo of the Knutpunkt 2010 run at the manor of Fiskeboda (Photo by Håken Lid)

• Slow take-off
• Slow Landing
• Monologue
• Ars Amandi (a prequel to the technique later known as Ars Amandi)
• Stream of Consciousness Characterdescription
• Pre-emptive characters
• Keyscenes triggered by music
• A Dogma 99 game

Setting and Themes

This is kitchensink realism in a modernday city. The location is a cafè playing music in the background. The themes are dysfunctions that might arise in a relationship. One partner wanting to be able to have sex with others, control-issues, conflict avoidance, not being able to tell the needs to a partner, feeling of loneliness, attentionseeking and more. It was originally coined as a critique on the lack of honesty around commitment in modernday relationships. The primary theme were lack of ableness to communicate and talk about the subject matter most of the characters being stuck in their own personal perception of what the problem in the relationship might be related to.

Characters

Characters were grouped in couples two and two. Some charactercouples might well be representing non-hetrosexual relationships, although a few is based on the societies expectations of behaviour according to gender in relation to pregnancy, male domination and or female submission.

Documentation

• Review of the 2001 version of the game by Lars Wingård - http://laivforum.net/entries/14-Review-av-Kj%C3%A6rlighet-i-fornedringens-tid

Articles

• The pre-emptive character - (Bloggarticle by Eirik Fatland about the characterconcepts) - http://larpwright.efatland.com/?p=214

Video presentation

• One of the runs of the game filmed by Jana Pouchlá (Czech Republic) at Knutpunkt 2010

External Links

• photos from the 2009 run for the Larpfactory in Oslo - http://www.flickr.com/photos/yunyard/sets/72157622244313213/
• photos from the 2010 run at Knutpunkt 2010 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/haakenlid/sets/72157624604603202/
• larpfactory description (in Norwegian) - http://laivfabrikken.no/love_in_the_age_of_debasement/index.html

• Gamedescription for the 2010 run at Knutpunkt 2010 - http://knutpunkt.se/Members/erlend/love-in-the-age-of-debasement-kjaerlighet-i-fornedringens-tid/