A strange subset of geek culture is threatening to destabilise society by taking over the internet and blurring the line between reality and fantasy. A type of online information warfare, its objective is to sow discord and distrust. Yet it is masquerading as a live action role playing game, or Larp, and much of the population doesn’t even know it is happening.
The QAnon conspiracy that believes US President Donald Trump is battling an evil deep-state cabal is a prime example. The movement is gaining ground partly because its modus operandi — followers deconstruct cryptic clues from a government “insider” to uncover the hideous plot — emulates the addictive qualities of a Larp.
Larps, also known as alternative reality games, started off innocently. Back before the internet, they involved groups of people who either strongly identified with a particular fictional genre or historical era and wanted to recreate it; or who got a kick out of imagining they were the heroes of their own interactive and fantastical tales. They stem from role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, which took off in the 1980s. This was the first time that a manufactured reality of sorts — which followed its own rules and its own war-gaming agenda — began to intertwine with the real world in strange ways.