Play is not a new concept or idea, it is something we are around in our everyday lives. Play is also not just games; games can be play, but play is not always games. It is also a principle that is influenced by one’s culture. The definition of play is something I have never given much thought to. Reading not only the meanings but the significance and the physiological impact, play, has on us was very intriguing. Play does not have one singular definition, but according to J. Huizinga approach, Caillois has broken play into six different categories: It’s free, separate from our limitations of time and space, uncertain, unproductive, governed, and make-believe. Play also has no age. Anything from a board game, to a made-up story, or gambling is play.
Play is a voluntary activity. If it becomes something that is obligatory, then it is not considered play. Play is also separate from our world. In our three-dimensional world, we have limitations when it comes to time and space, but within play anything is possible or imaginable. The ending of play is uncertain. Without uncertainty there would be no play. This is a point I found very interesting because I had never thought about it. For instance, if one knew the outcome to a board game, then the game would be over. Play is also something that is unproductive. When engaged in play there is no value gained, although this might be argued with gambling, but it is normally an equal exchange of money, or loss, it’s not always a guaranteed gain. Also, Like the creation of separate rules from our world, a new set of governed rules can be created in play. There is also a sense of make-believe. For instance, growing up, even from a very young age, play is differentiated with what is real and not real. This differentiation is what allows the imagination to go wild.
I agree with most of these points, and when read at a surface level they all seem to define play perfectly. However, some of his points could contradict themselves. For instance, thinking about the impact play has had on my personal life was really brought out in this reading. Up until my senior year of high school I was constantly playing, being involved with theater and acting. It has been an activity I enjoy. I consider this type of activity a play and putting on a performance is a game of sorts. But as actors or people working on production, the outcome of the play itself is something that is already known, but that doesn’t diminish the play, in my opinion. For the audience it’s a play, but for the actor’s its play as well. Being in that specific environment has developed my personal idea on what play is, and It might be different from someone who plays sports, or merely enjoys an activity like video games.
Game Studies 
I love how you mentioned that play is beyond games. This analysis provides even more of an understanding of the concept of play and how broad it is. I have always considered play to be something vary specific but yet it has various elements/ a criteria in which play is considered to be play. I also love how you mentioned that play does not necessarily have a negative outcome. I often associated play with something that is negative, but in fact play can have many positives in various aspects and dimensions. Overall, I find that you have a great analysis of the text and your analysis even helped me gain a deeper insight into the text and the flexibility of the concept of play.
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Your writing was impressive to read. I like how you describe the play with the Caillois’ definition of play. Also, your writing makes it easy to understand Caillois’ theory of play for me. I was very impressed while reading your writing because your description of the play was interesting. Also, it was nice to write about personal experience to show the contradiction that you’ve found in Caillois’ definition of play. In my case, I used my favorite game ‘League of Legend’ to explain Caillois’ definition of play. To me, League of Legend is my personal experience about the actual gameplay. I start the game in sophomore. And League of Legend fits perfectly with the Caillois’ definition of play. Also, the positive points of the game that you wrote in your writing really touched my heart. Thank you for writing the good side of the game because my family always think that game is a bad and useless thing.
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I found it interesting that play should be a voluntary activity. If it becomes something that is obligatory, then it is not considered play. Because sometimes as humans we tend to overwork ourselves in these video games to a point that instead of playing for fun, we began to play as an obligation to achieve the goal.
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