Play

Origins of Play Johan Huizinga. Homo Ludens (1950) “Play is older than culture, for culture, however inadequately defined, always presupposes human society, and animals have not waited for man to teach them their playing.”

“It goes beyond the confines of purely physical or purely biological activity.” ”In play there is something “at play” which transcends the immediate needs of life and imparts meaning to the action. All play means something.” What is play?

Magic Circle “The arena, the card-table, the magic circle, the temple, the stage, the screen, the tennis court, the court of justice, etc are all in form and function play-grounds ie forbidden sports, isolated, hedged round, hallowed, with which special rules obtain. All are temporary worlds within the ordinary world, dedicated to the performance of an act apart.”

Definition of Play “ Summing up the formal characteristics of play we might call it a free activity standing quite consciously outside ordinary life as being not serious, but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity connected with material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner.”

Roger Caillois. Man, Play and Games (1961) “After examining different possibilities, I am proposing a division into four main rubrics, depending upon whether, in the games under consideration, the role of competition, chance, simulation, or vertigo is dominant.” AgonCompetition. AleaChance MimicrySimulation IlinxVertigo

Two opposite poles. “Rules are in separable from play as soon as the latter becomes institutionalized. From this moment on they become part of its nature.” PiadaiLudus Piadai Ludus.

Play and Games “It is a common idea, that the main difference between those two categories is that games have rules and plays do not.” Gonzalo Fransca. Ludolodgy Meets Narratology: Similitude and differences between (video)games and narrative. (1999) “Many games do not imply rules. No fixed or rigid rules exists for playing with dolls, for playing soldiers, cops and robbers, horses, locomotives and airplanes” Roger Caillois. Man, Play and Games (1997)

Functions of Play The Ambiguity of Play Brian Sutton-Smith (1997) Progress Personal / Social Growth, Games Fate Devine Intervention, Magic, Luck, Gambling Power Politics / War, Skill / Strategy, Athletics Identity Tradition, Festivals, Folklore Imaginary Romanticism / Fantasy / Acting / Narrative Self Personal Best, Solitary Games. Frivolity Playfulness, Nonsense, Comedians, Jesters

Functions of Games Jesper Juul. Half real, between real worlds and fictional worlds. (2005) Ruled Based, formal system. Variable / quantifiable outcomes. Different outcomes, different values. Where the player exerts effort to influence outcome. Player is emotionally attached to the outcome. Consequences of activity is optional and negotiable.

Not everyone agrees: Greg Costikyan. I Have No Words & I Must Design: Toward a Critical Vocabulary for Games. (2002) ‘An interactive structure of endogenous meaning that requires players to struggle toward a goal.’ Sale and Zimmerman. Rules of Play. (2003). ‘a game is a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict defined by rules that result in a quantifiable outcome.’