Here’s a post I made on facebook to the french community a few weeks ago, but that fits right here, right now :

For some time now, especially in the more international community, there has been talk of leaving Facebook, raising many questions.

So first, why leave Facebook?

Quite simply because Meta aligns itself with Trumpist policies, and Trump stands in opposition to the values that we must uphold in LARP—such as self-identity, gender equality, tolerance, and many others.

Through Larpalot, I specifically defend these values, and the core purpose of my website is to offer an alternative to network effects, whether in real life or via Facebook.

Why is Facebook the most popular platform for the LARPing community?

There are key features that make it essential:

• The ability to create events
• The possibility of connecting with each other and recognizing people in real life (as opposed to interacting through pseudonyms)
• Community discoverability—so that newcomers can find resources easily
• Photo sharing
• Discussion that is asymmetrical, targeted, and ergonomic: whether it’s asking a carpooling question in an event post, creating a listing to sell second-hand armor, or promoting a LARP event that has last-minute dropouts
• The ability for an association to share news on a dedicated feed

So, what alternatives meet all these needs?

• Discord – The first option that comes to mind: many love it, many hate it. When it’s well-organized, it’s great. But when you have 35 servers with 150 channels each, it becomes a nightmare. Additionally, photo sharing is less convenient than on Facebook, discussions are too symmetric, and 700 messages can be posted in 3 hours. Discoverability is also very poor, since you need to be invited to a community, and servers are very isolated from each other.

• Bluesky and Mastodon – If 700 messages can be posted in 3 hours on Discord, microblogging platforms make it even worse. Event organization would be a disaster. Totally incompatible.

• Reddit – Not widely adopted by the LARPing community, but arguably the best fit among the options. However, recognizing people in real life would be impossible, and the lack of a personal space similar to a “Facebook feed” is a drawback. If Facebook is individual-oriented, Reddit is community-oriented, which comes with its own usability issues.

So, what’s the solution?

Well, before Larpbook, I had identified one social media that would fit all the requirements mentioned :

• Individual feed
• Real-life identity usage
• Community groups
• Event and album sharing
• The ability to create pages for associations

Yep, if all things go wrong with Larpbook, we will be able to move to LinkedIn.

But please, larpers. Make Larpbook work, grow, and attract all of our friends, before we have to talk about our swords ROI.