Immersion in a Wizarding World

It turns out that setting aside a large chunk of quiet time to read the books or watching the movies is not the only way to immerse oneself in the Harry Potter experience. Apparently a Polish company is setting up a Live Action Role-Playing (LARP) festival in a beautiful castle and grounds that will have the look and feel of the Potter universe. The events are set to take place in April in Czocha, Poland. (A search on any of these terms brings up videos and enactment photos.)  As an aside, I just watched the light and amusing “Austenland” where the main protagonist fulfills her weird obsession of all things Jane Austen by participating in a LARP holiday experience themed around the Austen universe.

When I was in graduate school, there was an annual Renaissance Faire LARP out on the lawn next to my building. Colorful tents would be pitched and the inhabitants dressed in medieval clothing. There would be knights in armor carrying swords, long tables for food with drinking goblets, and a variety of flags and pennants. Although I saw barrels, I don’t know if there was mead or ale or some other alcoholic drink given there might be minors in the vicinity. There were also never any horses, for which I’m thankful – I don’t think the smell would have gone over well. I’ve personally never had any interest in LARPs, even though I’m a huge fan of the Tolkien world. Nor have I been to Medieval Times where apparently there is jousting, which means there are horses present.

In any case, the Czocha experience apparently allows one to take on different roles: professor, student, groundskeeper, janitor and possibly others. Students can experience being in Hogwarts classes. Potions class is explicitly mentioned. I bet I could teach that class – it would be chemistry lab with fun loud experiments and probably improper safety conditions. I wonder if the school robes are flame-retardant. Monsters may be lurking in the woods. There is broomstick and Quidditch, although notably one’s feet stay on the ground in this case. The pictures and videos suggest that students also learn how to cast spells, i.e., effect some sort of magic. It’s unclear how exactly they are going to accomplish this.

Let me speculate on a possible example. In Book 1, the first years learn how to levitate objects using the Wingardium Leviosa spell. It requires you to swish your wand in a specific motion and pronounce the spell correctly. Now one could set up a contraption where a feather lies on a mesh. This mesh covers a tube that can blow air to lift the feather. Release of the air is voice-activated, such that the correct “magic” words will cause the feather to rise. This is fairly straightforward. A little more tricky is to coordinate this with a particular hand motion. But one can do this if the wand sends out signals to a sensor similar to a Nintendo Wii remote. In fact the Nyko company makes a third-party remote called a Wand. How appropriate! So if the words are said simultaneously to the correct wand motion, the contraption is triggered and the feather is raised.

There are probably several other spells you can carry out using a variety of contraptions but there are significant limitations when dealing with actually manipulating physical objects. It would be much easier to have an immersive experience as a spellcaster through a simulator, possibly utilizing an Oculus Rift Virtual Reality (VR) headset for 3D gaming along with a Wand. Given the evolutionary speed of computer games in my lifetime alone, and the advanced graphics and sound, I think it’s simply a matter of time before we get to the point where you will immerse yourself so fully in the experience, you might have trouble differentiating fantasy from reality. VR gaming is probably the next step in the evolution of the computer game. It will be much easier to implement the manipulation of virtual objects than clumsy contraptions manipulating physical objects. But if the physical experience is what you are looking for, the Czocha version apparently has 180 spots for fans.

What other options are there for now? For the theme park feel, there is also the Universal Studios Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida. Apparently there is a 3D simulator ride although I don’t think you really do anything but take the ride. I haven’t had a chance to visit, or maybe I should say an excuse to visit. I’m still waiting for an appropriate conference not too far away from Orlando that will push me to go visit. In the meantime I’m quite happy with my books!