Post on 14-Jul-2015
01
TODAY’S COMPANION MATERIALS
R E A D I N G S
Bernie DeKoven –
• The Well-Played Game
Bernard Suits –
• Life, Grasshopper, Utopi
a
Johan Huizinga –
• Homo Ludens
O T H E R M E D I A
Stuart Brown -
• “Play” TED
Folk Games –
• ((Many))
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E2
BUT FIRST, A QUESTION …
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E3
WHY DO WE CARE?
“What do most Nobel Laureates, innovative entrepreneurs, artists and performers, well-adjusted children, happy couples and families, and the most successfully adapted mammals have in common? They play enthusiastically throughout their lives.”
- Stuart Brown
Cultural Necessity
Johan Huizinga
Psychological Necessity
Bernard Suits
Developmental Necessity
Stuart Brown
Spiritual Necessity
Bernie DeKoven
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E4
PLAY IS A NECESSITY
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E5
JOHAN HUIZINGA – PLAY IN CULTURE
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E6
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.
JOHAN HUIZINGA – PLAY IN CULTURE
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E7
play is an integral part of the
human experience & a
necessary condition for the
generation of culture
JOHAN HUIZINGA – PLAY IN CULTURE
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E8
… civilization is, in its earliest
phases, played. It does not come
from play like a baby detaching
itself from the womb: it arises in
play, and never leaves it.
JOHAN HUIZINGA
– PLAY IN CULTURE
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E9
… civilization is, in its earliest phases, played. It
does not come fromplay like a baby
detaching itself from the womb: it arises in play,
and never leaves it.
EX
ER
CIS
E
Think of an activity or
construct in our culture that
is play-like, playful, or
otherwise play-ish.
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E10
BERNARD SUITS – LIFE & UTOPIA
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E11
“The fact that this is the central
Utopian activity shows that game-
playing is the supreme intrinsic good,
the one most worth choosing for
itself, or apart from its effects.”
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E12
STUART BROWN – PSYCHOLOGY OF PLAY
the opposite of play isn’t work –
it’s depression
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E13
STUART BROWN – PLAY DEPRIVATION
violence is tied to
an absence of play experiences
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E14
STUART BROWN – PLAY SIGNALS
• We all have the capacity to Play Signal
• The basis of human trust is established through
play signals
• We begin to lose these as adults
• Body, facial, gestural
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E15
STUART BROWN
– PLAY SIGNALS
• We all have the capacity to
Play Signal
• The basis of human trust is
established through play
signals
• We begin to lose these as
adults
• Body, facial, gestural
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E16
EX
ER
CIS
E
What are some specific
play signals that humans
use to communicate a
willingness to play, a desire
to trust?
STUART BROWN – NEOTENY
• Neoteny – the retention of immature qualities
into adulthood
• Explore backwards to the clearest, most joyful
moment – and figure out how that connects to
your life now
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E17
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E18
BERNIE DEKOVEN
“The idea that there is such a thing as the well-
played game represents a profound synthesis. It is
a combination of the concepts of play and game, yielding a larger concept – the
experience and expression of excellence.”
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E19
BERNIE DEKOVEN
“Any victory, now that we know what it is we want to create
together, is shared. No matter who wins a game, if we have
played well together, we have accomplished what we set out to
do. The victory is not determined by who wins, nor what game
we play, but rather by the quality of playing that we have been
able to create together.”
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E20
BERNIE DEKOVEN
“How did it happen that I ever allowed
myself to believe that winning the game
was a more meaningful victory than my
enjoyment of how we were playing together?”
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E21
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E22
WHAT IS PLAY?
BERNIE DEKOVEN
“Play is the enactment of anything that is not for real. Play is
intended to be without consequence. We can play fight, and
nobody gets hurt. We can play, in fact, with anything – ideas,
emotions, challenges, principles. We can play with fear, getting as
close as possible to sheer terror, without ever being really afraid.
We can play with being other than we are – being famous, being
mean, being a role, being a world.”
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E23
ROGER CAILLOIS
“All play presupposes the temporary
acceptance, if not of an illusion
(indeed this last word means nothing less than beginning a game: in-lusio)
then at least of a closed, conventional, and, in
certain respects, imaginary universe.”
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E24
STUART BROWN
“Play is done without purpose;
if the purpose is more important,
it’s not play”
I X D P L A Y
C H E L S E A
H O W E25