Students in Dr. Nicole Pfannenstiel’s summer Games and Writing class crafted blog posts exploring play theory. Over the next several weeks, we will share their theory posts in this space to offer a variety of perspectives on play, games, and writing, written by current graduate students in the MA and M.Ed. English programs.
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What is Play?
by: John Leininger
Being human is complex. Concepts such as consciousness, freewill, purpose, and ethics have been scrutinized since ancient times, and every century brings new theories regarding the human mind and its capabilities. One element of the human condition has yet to have time in the spotlight though: play. Play is so common that scholars have overlooked it when discussing other, ‘heavier’ aspects of life. But what is play? Why do we play? Everyone plays, but play looks different for everyone. One glance reveals that play is important in both child development and adult life, but can we define it? The few theories that exist disagree on many points. Three characteristics appear consistently however, and we will focus on these, namely that play is a tool for asserting control, exploring, and understanding the world as an individual.
Humans like control. Tantrums have been thrown, shouting matches held, and wars fought over control. We like it. It feels bad if we don’t have it, but, in general, there isn’t an awful lot to go around. Miguel Sicart, in his book, Play Matters, presents play as one way we gain some control. He calls it “appropriation” (11) and says that when we choose to play, the original purposes of our environment no longer matter to us; they have been replaced with whatever purpose our play gives them. Control! Imagine a stamp collector. They take government issued pieces of paper, intended for the utilitarian purpose of funding shipments of written communication, and turn them into hours of tedious, detailed fun. Play doesn’t care what the stamps were intended for – they’re going in a cool glass case to be looked at and shown off! The stamp collector is in control!
Through this control, play also allows us to explore the world. While a stamp is just stamp, stuck on an envelope and shipped to who-knows-where, there isn’t much point in analyzing it too closely. I may want to check the cost, but that’s about it. As soon as I start playing with it though, a lot more potential is revealed. Are there flowers on it? Is it from France? Could I include it in my “Famous Poets” collection? The possibilities are endless, just because I decided to play. Christopher Stuart, a professor who uses play-centered learning, sees play as the “way to move from actuality to the possible…” (48). The stamp is actually just an expensive piece of paper, but play lets me see the possibilities, and it doesn’t just stop at stamps; most things are boring until you play with them.
Finaly, play builds understanding of the world we have controlled and explored. Nothing is more frustrating than seemingly arbitrary behaviors or expectations, but Sicart says that play can help us find the ‘why.’ As we explore our newly appropriated toys, the new perspectives can reveal things about us and the world. Sicart says that play allows us “to see our values and practice them and challenge them so they become more than mindless habits” (Sicart 5). A stamp collector might wonder, while looking at their stamps, why humans decided to put pictures on them (can the government play too?), or they might suddenly realize that they have a disproportionate number of blue stamps (their favorite color, maybe?), or they might even stop to think about why collecting stamps is fun at all, thoughts that would not have occurred to them if they just mailed a letter. Play helps us understand.
Play, like everything humans do, is complicated. It is different for everyone, and nobody can agree on a definition, but perhaps its roots are simple enough. We like to be in control, we like exploring, and we always ask why. What would the world be like if we didn’t? What would the world be like without play?