There are immersive theater-type events that can scratch the same itch, although they tend to focus much less on participation than LARP events like this. The Starcruiser is probably much closer to poorly-executed immersive theater than live action roleplaying. Really well done immersive theater can be incredible - Sleep No More in NYC is one of the most mindblowing experiences I've ever had (although it closed earlier this year). Legitimately felt like I was stepping into a David Lynch movie every time I went. It only had limited, somewhat improvised audience participation with the actors.

In my experience, the best immersive theater experiences find very clever ways to make the atmosphere work. In Sleep No More and other Punchdrunk shows, all of the guests are given masquerade masks to wear, the venue is fogged, and the lighting is dim. The dim and foggy atmosphere hides stuff that would otherwise take you out of the dreamlike 1920s noir setting of the show - that the other guest walking next to you is wearing a graphic tee, for example. The masks cast the audience as a shuffling horde of vengeful spirits haunting the characters for the sins they commit throughout the show - so when you see a big crowd following a character, it doesn't instantly feel at odds with the setting the way I imagine seeing a 5 year old in a Pokemon t shirt on the Starcruiser would.

Interesting, I remember from I was young there was tons of fantasy LARPing in Russia. There was a subset of people (easily found in Youtube videos) who were into it due to some combination of making historical-looking armor and weapons, and then drinking and fighting with said armor and weapons with few rules and high probability of injury.

There were also tons of people that would LARP for the story/role playing focus, with wooden swords and tennis balls for fireballs, at very, very low cost. The former derisively called them "curtain people" (занавесочники) based on their cheap-ass costumes. Isn't the whole point of LA-RP is that you RP so production values shouldn't matter?

This type of consumption, at scale, is what I imagine will be commonplace in a post-white-collar scarcity world

Obligatory link to the Jenny Nicholson Galactic Starcruiser review[0] since there's really no better overview of the experience.

[0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0CpOYZZZW4

I’m the OP; I went to the Starcruiser later in its run and had a very different experience. Here’s my writeup: https://mssv.net/2023/08/07/star-wars-galactic-starcruiser/

It definitely sounds like it does work for some or a majority of people but some fall hard through cracks in the game setup. Even those who had successful trips had contradicting advice for what you MUST do to make the game work, it does seem to revolve around getting on an track pretty early and following it in the app.

Other spots Jenny's experience broke just seem like the game falling apart. Like getting invited to an event at a set time, getting there a little early and finding it's already over. Maybe they ironed that out later but that's a rough thing to have happen.

Thanks for that. Does sound interesting, I wonder if Disney will try something else similar or if they're going to run far away after they had to close Starcruiser.

Thanks for linking this, that was a fantastic read.

No better? Maybe something shorter. I love that little imp but it's quite a bit of time to invest in something that ended up failing.

That video lives rent-free in my head.