The classic LARP video titled “Ogre Battle” (aka Lightening Bolt) was probably the first time I was exposed to LARP. I had heard tales of LARPing before, but never did I ever see actual footage of it. That being said, Ogre Battle was probably one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life. I showed it to a bunch of people that I worked with at the time, and they too thought it was hilarious. One day at work I said “I think I’m going to throw in some cheesy lightening bolts to try and make it look all epic.” I went home that night, opened up After Effects, got some sweet Last Samurai music, stole a quote from the back of the Ikaruga box and had a finished product.

Since that time, the video has gone on to have over 350,000 views on YouTube. Because it is still a fairly popular video, I always get pinged whenever someone leaves a comment. For the two something years the video has been up, I find myself sort of feeling bad for LARPers in general. Sure, the video is entertaining, but I don’t hate these people like everyone that leaves a comment seems to. Reading through the comments on YouTube once again shows that everyone on the internet has Internet Muscles. Comments like “you’ll never get laid” and “bunch of fagots” are the tip of the iceberg here. Hell, one person even said this is the reason he wish all white people would die. It’s somewhat amazing how much hate something gets just because it’s something they don’t understand.

Listen, I don’t really understand it myself, I tend to think it’s pretty funny to watch, but whatever, these guys are just out having a good time and aren’t hurting anyone. Also, last time I checked, these videos feature a decent amount of women (some lookers too) so I don’t think the virgin comments have any truth to them either. I mean, what woman into LARPing wouldn’t want to bang the guy who just, I don’t know, defeated a bunch of warlocks or some shit.