The Definition of “Play”

PLAY. A four letter word that has various meanings, interpretations and is complex in its finest form.

I was rather intrigued by the article by Cail1ios and how he broke down the different levels of play if you will. Play is a term we are all familiar with and can testify that one has engaged or experimented with activities associated with play. Caillios organizes and discuss play in 6 forms;

“1. Free: in which playing is not obligatory; if it were, it would at once lose its attractive and joyous quality as diversion; 2. Separate: circumscribed within limits of space and time, defined and fixed in advance; 3. Uncertain: in the course of which cannot be determined, nor the result attained beforehand, and some latitude for innovations being left to the player’s initiative; 4. Unproductive: creating neither goods, nor wealth, nor new elements of any kind; and, except for the exchange of property among the players, ending in a situation identical to that prevailing at the beginning of the game; 5. Governed by rules: under conventions that suspend ordinary laws, and for the moment establish new legislation, which alone counts; 6. Make-believe: accompanied by a special awareness of a second reality or of a free unreality, as against real life.“

In my years of studies, “Play” has only had one activity that I chose to associate with the word and that is generally playing “school yard” games. Now my fully enlighten mind has a deeper understanding and interest in the constructs of “Play” and diving more into its roots. An interesting thing that I gained from the reading was that; Playing is a waste of time, and yet it is one the greatest experience life has to offer.