"Geek class" instead of psychotherapy

Nexus Noobs' three-month youth LARP course kicked off this weekend and is part of a psychological study looking at social relationships, self-empowerment and other developmental factors in young participants.

Psychologist Soffía Elín Sigurðardóttir runs the course, which is intended for 10 to 16-year-olds and includes role-playing games for young people who are interested in adventures and board games such as Dungeons and Dragons.

Lonely kids with nerdy hobbies

"I had teenagers with me in interviews who just had this kind of 'nerdy hobby' and I felt the kids needed companionship rather than therapy." Cool kids, just lonely because these hobbies weren't popular," Sigurðardóttir says explaining how the idea for the course came about.

However, she says that "geek hobbies" such as role-playing games and LARPs have taken a huge leap in popularity in recent years and have become much more visible and accepted. Today, Dragons and Dungeons are taught in almost all community centers.

"There was very little understanding about ten years ago of how great these games can be."

Similar to therapeutic techniques

LARP stands for Live action role-playing game or dynamic improvisation where the participants let the adventure world in e.g. Dragons and dungeons come true.

Sigurðardóttir has been operating Nexus Noobs since 2015 and says that the work has grown considerably since then. It is largely thanks to the LARP expert Helgi Thor Steingrímsson, as he takes great pride in planning the adventures for the courses.

"I just felt there was such an enormous opportunity to work with psychological intervention in the LARP."

LARP requires a lot of imagination, preparation and ability to solve all kinds of puzzles and deal with adversity, according to Sigurðardóttir, and is also a good way to step out of your comfort zone and meet people with the same interests.

Improves social skills

Research has repeatedly demonstrated the benefits of LARPing, which is often compared to a therapeutic technique used to improve social skills.

Sigurðardóttir says LARP is a great way to develop and learn to deal with challenges and adversity through role playing, which they can later transfer to experiences in the real world. The game is therefore a great way to learn about respect, boundaries, acceptance and social behavior.

"There is only karma in LARP. If someone misbehaves there are consequences. If you're going to attack others and do harm to someone, you're just going to get killed and no one is excited to revive you."

Getting out of one’s comfort zone

The kids create their own costume and character and then make the game their own. Some have acting skills while others are extremely interested in the plot, and through improvisation and play they solve puzzles and can even find play money with which they can buy various useful items in the game.

"This course is naturally a lot out of the comfort zone for many people. They are running on weekends for 5-6 hours a day in all kinds of weather and are solving puzzles."

All kinds of kids are interested in role-playing games and adventures, and that is really the only prerequisite for participating in the course. She expressed her hope that the work will continue to grow and that one day Nexus Noobs will be able to hold courses all year round.

"They get into character and play, fight, escape and form alliances and basically do everything like Dungeons and Dragons except for real."