For the past few years I’ve been tracking stats about larp attendance in New Zealand. The full dataset is available on the web here:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ … sp=sharing
This is the second year we’ve had good data and enough of a historical record to make some comparisons (2014 is here). So here’s the headlines:
[ul]
[li] Overall larp attendance was up marginally, by 1%. [/li]
[li] Attendance grew in only two regions: Christchurch and Auckland. In all others it decreased (see graph below).[/li]
[li] In Christchurch, attendance grew by over 60%, though from a low base. SAGA has established a new con, Phoenix, and integrated larp into its ongoing series of cons and minicons. [/li]
[li] In Auckland, it grew by 5%, with the growth being driven by new campaigns. Crucible ran almost exactly the same number of spaces as it ran last year, and was responsible for 40% of the larp in the city.[/li]
[li] In Dunedin, things pretty much stayed where they were, with OURS running an ongoing biweekly campaign and a larp at each of its cons. [/li]
[li] Attendance dropped 8% in Wellington, due to the end of both local campaigns. The conventions had a good year, which made up some of the slack, and theatre-style recovered a little. The general picture is more frequent but smaller events.[/li]
[li] Hamilton dropped by 35% due to Quest having a quiet year. The style of events also shifted, from one-off, theatre-style games to campaigns.[/li][/ul]