How to Recruit A Diverse Staff
So you’re starting a LARP or maybe you’ve already got one going. You’ve looked around and you’ve read articles here and you’re thinking “I want a more diverse staff, but how do I do that?” So much of this depends on your specific circumstances but we hope this article gives you a few thoughts to chew on to help you get to where you want to be.
What do we mean when we say “diverse”?
Diversity means different things depending on who is already on your staff. While we’ve seen a fair number of staffs that were all white cisgender men that does not mean that every staff is like that. Maybe your staff does have women but they are the extreme minority. Maybe your staff does have someone Black but no other ethnic minorities. Diversity can come in many forms and you should be thinking about how the life experience of people different than you can add to your game. Especially consider what cultures may be inspiring your game. Do you have a representation of Japan and no one of Japanese descent on your staff? If so, that may be a higher priority for you even if your staff is diverse in other ways.
Does that mean I have to accept anyone who applies just because they are different from my existing staff?
No, but you should make an effort and ask yourself why you would like to say “no” to them. For example, you might consider the show Game of Thrones to be a cornerstone to your LARP. During your discussion you find out this person does not like the show and/or books. Before you strike them out, consider asking them what other fantasy books they do like. Perhaps the reasons they don’t like GoT are rooted in their own marginalized experience and they could bring a passion for other works of fiction to add variety to your game. Don’t go looking for reasons to exclude but do look for ways they can add to your game.
Also, consider bending on rules that you’ve had for other staff members. If you’ve required that people be on staff previously for LARPs consider bending or breaking that rule. Often marginalized people don’t have the opportunities to be on other LARP staff so having this requirement will often have the effect of excluding minorities.
What if the game is already running or about to run? The new person won’t have as much influence as the original writers so should I even bother?
Maybe your game is next month and you feel “there is no way for me to find another staff member before that.” You’re probably right. You should still be looking at recruiting a new staff member with insights your staff may lack.
Set proper boundaries of what you expect from them
Bear in mind that if you are asking for emotional labor and advice that is a whole other job on top of being a LARP staff member. If you say “Dave is also making weapons in addition to staffing, what else are you providing?” then you’ve misstepped. Having them on your staff to share their experience and reaction to things is labor and should be respected as such.
Chicken and Egg Problem
What if they express concerns that they will be the only one and everyone else will be a man or everyone else will be white? This is a valid concern. Talk to them about plans to recruit more staff members and ask them if they have anyone they would be interested in joining the staff with.
Listen to their complaints and take action
Often people will give feedback on why they may not wish to join a staff and say what is making them uncomfortable. Anyone who does this is giving you a gift and extending trust. When they do this don’t argue about how “it makes sense in context”. Work on changing that for your game even if that person doesn’t join. In that moment they are giving you feedback that will help you grow as a game. That person may never join your staff but that feedback will likely make your game a more welcoming place.
What if you can’t compensate them financially?
First we need to delineate between two types of LARPs. First is the labor of love type LARP where no one on staff is being paid. First, do your best and try to budget to make sure your staff are not paying to be staff. Costumes and other props should be funded by game funds. This is probably a whole article in itself but make sure you’re not asking any more of your new staff members than anyone else.
What about paid staff members? Make sure they are not compensated less. If anything, check to see if their extra work means they should be paid more. How much do you pay people for writing? Their feedback and expertise is important. What if you’ve run out of budget for more staff members? It is time to have a serious look at how you recruited because you’ve now put yourself into a corner where you should have recruited with diversity in mind earlier on. This goes back to our old chestnut that the longer you wait to address diversity issues the harder it will be to address those issues. This can be a harder problem to address but instead of saying “We can’t do this,” ask yourself “How could we do this in the long run?”. Changes that are impossible in the short term become manageable over a longer timeline so start thinking about what changes you could make to build to where you need to be.
What are your thoughts?
We could probably talk about this for ten more articles but we want to hear what you think. What tips do you have for recruiting a diverse staff? What experiences have staff members have had out there good and bad that have brought them into running LARP? Tell us what you think in the comments!