What is play?

I don’t plan to create a new definition of play because many have already tried that, and I still feel like I don’t have a total grasp of all necessary concepts. But I do think that play is very important, and I want to know how I can isolate it and introduce more of it into my life as a daily practice.

What are the potential attributes of play?

• is play fundamentally unserious?
  • “Engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.”
    • https://www.encourageplay.com/blog/16-different-types-of-play
    • This means that watching a movie is playing. (Unless you build out the concept of engage to be active)
• does it have to result in fun?
  • fun isn’t or shouldn’t be the only necessary and sufficient condition because you can have fun doing your math homework
  • doing math problems for the sake of themselves would be play
• must it be non-goal directed?
  • what you’re playing might have a goal, but what is your goal with play?
    • games have a clear goal
    • improv and acting have a goal to continue the scene or to express an artistic concept through the medium
  • autotelic versus instrumental (Suits)
• is play active or can be it be passive?
  • imagination is still active even if you aren’t moving your body
  • watching as an active audience member at an improv show versus watching a movie in your house seems like one could be more like play than the other
• is play intentional and voluntary?
  • do we have to understand/know that we are playing?
    • this would mean that children aren’t really playing (which doesn’t seem like an indefensible position, but does seem to greatly diverge from folk concept of play)
• can we play by ourselves?
  • yes of course there are many single player games for instance
• can one person be playing while another isn’t?
  • does everyone have to be having fun?
    • is the bully playing when hurting someone and deriving pleasure from it?
    • it isn’t voluntary from the victim’s perspective so perhaps this is more the disqualification

Game-Centric Notion of Play

I think we primarily play through games.

• Suits: “Playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.”
• When we are playing a game, are we always engaging in play?
  • No I don’t think so
    • Ex: What if you are playing cards just to pass the time before going to the airport?
• Are sports games? Are sports play?
  • There is overlap, but are they the same?
  • not all sports are games, some are performance
    • some are judged competitions like figure skating so is no different than a county fair pie contest
    • sports rely on an institution of sorts: you can figure skate on your own for fun, but that is very different than choosing to compete
    • some sports may have evolved from primitive to sophisticated play (Suits)
    • sports are about skill, in ways skill is more tangential to play
  • games and sport are competition but also play? can they be both at the same time?
    • does competition crowd out possibility for play?
    • professional football players are playing the game of football, but since they are getting paid so much, i do not think they are really engaged in play, they are at work (and someone can enjoy their work, but that does not make it play)
    • competition doesn’t matter, but the fact that they are engaging in the game for reasons (primarily) outside of the love of the game

Can we play at non-games?

• Flirting as play, but maybe we could phrase flirting as a Suitsian game
• Physical play like play fighting, sex, or exercise?
  • Calisthenics versus weightlifting as play? or just physical activity
  • Dancing / gymnastics
• Is improv/acting a game?
  • play acting house is a very early form of play for children — this is a socially conditioned / sanctioned form of play
  • is improv a game or it just happens to share the word game?
  • it is more an art form, but there is a lot of interpersonal interaction and humor involved, so could lead to play
• teasing and making jokes
  • is humor (incongruity) related to play? is the only connection laughing?

Further Reading

The Elements of Play Toward a Philosophy and a Definition of Play: Not super convincing, but I would still recommend it as a good introductory read because it explores a bit of the landscape of the theory of play.

The Grasshopper by Bernard Suits: A great exploration of what a game is

Tricky Triad by Bernard Suits: A interesting and funny paper trying to detangle play, sport, and games

Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility by James P. Carse

Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture by Johan Huizinga

Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart M. Brown Jr. and Christopher Vaughan