Going Camping

This is a pretty common conversation between LARPers and non-LARPers.

"What are you doing this weekend?"
"Going camping."
"Really? Where at?"
"Somewhere down south, don't remember the name."

LARPing is demonized and a lot of us are afraid to admit what we do. A few years ago, I let my co-workers know what I did and let them know I'd answer any questions about it. I haven't received a lot of grief about it. On the other hand, I've got a new boss now who doesn't know, and I totally use the camping line on him. It's hard to explain why I feel I need to.

Some of us suffer from the dreaded facebook circles of Work and Friends connecting, which would out a lot of us. I imagine it would be hard to explain a picture of you in full dark elf makeup to your HR department.

We were discussing this topic after the Exiles event, and one of my friends came up with a brilliant idea.

We, as LARPers, should have a secret handshake.

How amazing would that be! We could find out when first meeting someone if they were a LARPer, or at the very least a LARP sympathizer.

So someone who's got a degree in handshakeology should come up with something, and we should embrace it. Then we'd know who we could talk to and who we'd have to be in "Camping" mode around.

Any ideas?