Why Do We Larp?
I pretended to care about the NFL for most of my high school years. I developed this poorly thought-out mindset: If I talked enough about football, my peers who enjoyed the NFL would think I was cool enough to hang out with because we shared this passion. But these relationships never went far because their foundation was built on a lie. I did not, and still do not, care about the NFL, but it seemed like the only way to get in with the cool kids. I wasn’t looking for something I liked, but something I knew they liked, forcing a fit that was never there. The internet has since developed a word for this behavior: larping.
Larping used to mean something different. It was originally used as an acronym, L.A.R.P., which meant live-action role-playing, innocuously so. In 2026, the word has taken on a new meaning online: someone who, in front of others, performs an interest they don’t actually have. Larping can be harmless, but when enough people start to notice, the consequences aren’t just towards the larper. Most people can look at larpers and roll their eyes, but its ubiquity may be telling of a deeper cause. Larping, at its core, is a plea for validation that transcends age, status and fame.
NBA superstar LeBron James is an apt example of how larping knows no status. James has been seen reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Phil Knight’s Shoe Dog and more. Without doubting his actual reading of said novels, it seems like no coincidence that whenever James props up these books in front of a camera, the books appear hardly cracked. In 2011, James purchased a share of Liverpool Football Club and later reinvested it in 2021. Around that time, an interview surfaced online of James on “Crouchy’s Year-Late Euros: Live,” where he seems visibly flustered at any question directed to him about the club. It’s in these moments that his reason for larping is revealed.
James’ displays of enthusiasm reveal an attempted identity expansion. Growing up as a basketball prodigy and his self-imposed “King” persona may have left him feeling like a one-trick pony. To alleviate that, James positioned himself towards other pursuits: literature and global sports. These additions to his resume are but thin veneers on James’ basketball-centric career; he doesn’t seem genuinely interested in these topics, and their relevance to him is seemingly only for the cameras. For James, larping may not be about deception, but rather a deeply human urge to break free from what he’s been classified as.
James’ betting his reputation on these performances, while many new Knicks fans have nothing to risk. The 2026 NBA finals featured the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, with the Knicks winning their first title since 1973. It was during the Knicks’ finals run and subsequent victory that thousands surfaced as Knicks fans. There’s nothing wrong with a growing fanbase, but when a fan is dishonest about where their love is coming from, it can make it about themself instead of the team.
In 2024, before a playoff game against the Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers forward Kelly Oubre Jr. told reporters his thoughts on the Madison Square Garden crowd. He said that the Knicks hand off six-figure courtside seats to celebrities who don’t care for the game. He was exaggerating, as celebrities like Ben Stiller and Spike Lee have been diehard Knicks fans for decades, but he was onto something.
During the Knicks’ 2025 playoff run, writer Annabel Iwegbue broke the seal and shared a revelation that many new fans share. She admitted that she doesn’t care for the NBA and only watches it to see Timothée Chalamet, and then stated, “Suddenly, I’ve found myself a degree more interested in securing vintage Knicks merch on Depop than I was last week.” Nobody asked her why she was a fan, but she said it anyway. Iwegbue didn’t stop watching the Knicks; she just started being honest about why she watches. There’s room in a fanbase for viewers who show up for the celebrities, as long as they’re honest about it.
Since 2021, Logan Paul has been publicly spending millions of dollars on Pokémon cards. He wore a Charizard card on a chain to his Floyd Mayweather match and later told reporters it was worth a million dollars. He did the same with a Pikachu card he purchased for over 5 million dollars, when he turned it into a diamond necklace for WrestleMania. He even announced he paid $3.5 million for a box of 1999 Pokémon cards, only to find that they were full of G.I. Joe cards.
Each of his card purchases and pack-opening videos has inflated the Pokémon market so much that StockX dubbed it “The Logan Paul Effect.” Logan Paul knows what he’s doing, telling his fans, “Although I bought [a box] in September for $200k, they’re now selling for the price point that I set: between $300k-$400k.” Five years later, he told Bloomberg that the Pokémon market had never been hotter, just before putting his $5 million Pikachu card up for auction and selling it for over $16 million. While that’s great for Paul’s wallet, there are consequences to the market’s inflation.
Fans of the trading card game have expressed their disdain for Logan Paul’s involvement in the Pokémon space. ScreenRant gathered fan reactions to Paul’s initial purchase of the Pikachu card, where one commenter says, “This right here is why the hobby has just gone downhill.” Fans blame Paul’s spending and spectacle for being priced out of a hobby they’ve been a part of since childhood. Logan Paul wasn’t trying to engage in the hobby, but to use his fame and wealth to inflate it, and larping was his way in.
Being seen is the whole point of larping, whether it’s by purchasing expensive cards or claiming a false interest to peers. On a trip to Poland, I realized that pretending to like the NFL would take me nowhere socially. I had been quieter than usual, and a classmate noticed. I told him I was tired of trying to be someone people wanted to be around. He told me I was seeking when I should be wandering. I was seeking interests I could use to talk to people; the healthy option was to wander and find my own interests that I could eventually share with others, creating that sense of belonging. Since then, I’ve been a full-time wanderer; I engage in the hobbies that excite me and am curious about those that don’t excite me.
They all wanted the same thing: recognition. James wanted recognition as more than just a basketball icon. Paul wanted recognition as someone worth paying attention to. The new wave of Knicks fans wanted recognition as a part of something bigger than themselves. I wanted recognition from six guys at a lunch table. Real recognition comes from interests built for yourself, not for anyone watching.
Photo Caption: Being seen is the whole point of larping
Photo Credit: Mahmut Yildiz / Unsplash
