Since July 2024, when we held our first brainstorming meeting about bringing together Leland Masek’s LARP expertise and my reserch focus in socially impactful projects responding to current events, we began developing In Our Shoes.
In Our Shoes is a biographical micro live-action role-play, also known as a “kitchen table” LARP, using Ludic Inquiry to explore complex decision-making in critical situations and to foster empathy. It is based on interviews with people who faced the decision to flee their country during the full-scale war.
In this 10-minute game, players act as characters to navigate and resolve a difficult shared problem, inspired by real interviews with Ukrainian refugees and the tough decisions they were forced to make.
While the scenarios are grounded in true experiences, all names and identifying details have been changed to protect anonymity. The project aims to develop a methodology that supports empathy towards refugees and raises awareness of the complex realities faced by people living in or fleeing from war zones.
Currently, we already had the following playtests:
- Playtest 1.0, Tampere, Finland, 3 April 2025, Tampere University
14 participants, 5 scenarios - Playtest 2.0, Florence, Italy, 23 June 2025, European University Institute
30 participants 1 scenario x 5 teams - Playtest 2.1, London, UK, 6 July 2025, Independent playtest
5 participants, 1 scenario - Playtest 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, Rochester, US: Playtest 3 September 2025
Magic Spell Studio, ROC Playtesting Night - Playtest 4.1, Arts University Bournemouth, Crab Drawing Studio, October 2025
Video from playtest in Florence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPGWkg497eU
This video shows a summary from the session with one of the playtesting: “How can forced displacement research adopt a gender-sensitive approach?” during the Migration Summer School 2025, which took place on June 23rd in Florence, Italy, at the European University Institute.
The Summer School is organised by the Migration Policy Center of the Robert Schuman for Advanced Studies.
Game Design & Research: Leland Masek, Alina Potemska
Research: Iuliia Lashchuk, Mark Maletska
Illustration: Oksana Drachkovska
Production and Layout: Alina Potemska
Arts University Bournemouth, UK
Game As Art Center, Finland In Our Shoes
©2025
Cards of the “Birthday Decision” Scenario: