Live action role-playing games new bonanza

Despite offline stores, puzzle-solving applications such as Wo Shi Mi soon gained traction as the COVID-19 pandemic restricted movement for many young people. Differing from offline games in that players sit around a table, each with a book and a pen to aid in plotting, players join each other in the application through videos for online LARP games.

"The essence of the LARP games market is a social entertainment industry driven by content," said Zhao Jiangbo, founder of LARP firm Tuili Dashi, literally translated as reasoning master.

"But the development of this industry knows no boundaries. It can be equipped with virtual reality, augmented reality, holographic projections, performances and much more to inject new impetus into the LARP games sector," Zhao said.

Tuili Dashi, founded in late 2017, started with online mini programs where the system acts as a guide to help offline game players process the whole game. In February last year, the company opened its first offline store in Beijing.

Industry experts said that for consumers, when they choose to pay for LARP games, the professionalism of the DM-Dungeon Master-matters greatly. The DM is host of the game and is responsible to provide basic plotlines of the story script.

"But at present, 95 percent of LARP game scripts are written by store owners, which is highly internalized and homogenized," Zhao said. "The LARP game industry has entered a watershed period as the speed of development is struggling to catch up with booming user growth."

Zhao said that more efforts should be made in content, offline scenarios and influencers. "For instance, organizers need to develop stories that are suitable for all ages, not merely for the young, and to diversify content and develop more stories that have educational significance.

In July, Tuili Dashi finished its pre-A round of fundraising worth tens of millions of dollars, which according to the firm will help to hit its goal of opening 300 stores by the end of this year.

"The LARP game market just finished its first period of reshuffling. Consumers began to have a preliminary understanding of the quality of story script, DM, brand as well as experience," said Wu Shichun, founding partner of Plum Ventures, a VC firm.

"Under this background, high-quality scripts and sound offline operations just emerged in the country, which also means the market has great development potential in the coming years," Wu added.

The booming market also enhances the tourism industry, especially when the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected offline tourism across the country. Many tourist destinations strive to combine LARP games with tourism for more interactive experiences.

In Anren town, Chengdu, Sichuan province, tourists can be involved in mega LARP games that last two days. They put on Chinese costumes such as qipao to explore the town that has been decorated as in bygone days.

Besides playing LARP games, the town organized a series of fun activities. There are also many NPC, or non-player characters, who act like residents from days gone by, to interact with travelers and make the game truly immersive.

As offline LARP games continue to grow, industry experts pointed out that problems like safety issues can also be triggered. Public security authorities from Shanghai conducted visits and investigations recently into offline LARP game stores to rectify potential safety hazards.