About
PLAY
When animals and humans play, they exaggerate and show off in order to impress playmates as well as non-players who are watching. In most kinds of play, in order to play successfully, all the players must agree to play. Players send messages that say, “We are playing.” In some ways, play is very much like ritual. Play is often an orderly sequence of actions performed in specified places for known durations of time. Much playing is narrational, with winners and losers, conflict, and the arousal and display of emotion. But there is also playing that is less formal—bursts of microplay that can lessen the tensions in a room or relieve the boredom of routinized work. Some play is “dark,” thrill-seeking and dangerous, or making fun of people, deceiving them, and leading them on. One group of play theorists sees playing as the foundation of human culture, art and religion especially. Others regard play as an ambivalent activity both supporting and subverting social structures and arrangements. However one looks at it, play and playing are fundamentally performative.
Classroom Activities
PERFORM
- Teach a group from the class how to play a game you played as a child. Play the game. Discuss the structure of the game. Does it have a beginning, middle, and end? How do you know when to stop? Are the rules stable? Or are they obscure and subject to change? What signals are used to send the message “This is play”? Was playing the game fun? Why or why not?
- Using Augusto Boal’s Invisible Theatre technique, prepare a brief scene and perform it in public. Have a designated observer or observers note how the scene is received. Taking the public's reactions into account, was what you performed play or serious?
- Fan play: Attend a professional sports event. Try to get as involved as possible, e.g., wear team colors, paint your face, bring a team flag, wear a clown wig in the color of your team, learn and sing the team’s song, comment on the action from the stand, start a wave, etc.
- Gamers spend enormous amounts of time in play worlds. Find a virtual world (Xbox Live, Wii, CAVE, Second Life, etc.) and take some time to play in it. Record your experience—i.e., How much time passed without you noticing? Who did you become in your virtual world? Etc.
WRITE ABOUT
- If you have a pet, spend some time observing its behavior. Write a description of your pet’s activities with attention to the ethological approach to play as described in Chapter 6. Does your pet “metacommunicate” the intention to play?
- Find an example of deep or dark play (from your own life, from popular culture, from current events) and write an analysis of the events involved. Does your chosen example conform to Geertz’s definition of deep play or Schechner’s definition of dark play? Explain.
- Compare James P. Carse’s idea of infinite games to the Indian philosophical concepts of maya and lila. How do these two schools of thought further compare to Victor Turner’s theory of liminality, or D.W. Winnicott’s idea of the transitional object?
- Find at least three people to interview about flow. Ask what activities they engage in where they experience flow. Ask them to describe the experiences in as much detail as they possibly can. How are their experiences different? How are they similar? Write about your findings.
Weblinks
- Two factors that have a very strong influence on the decision to engage in criminal behavior are procriminal associates and attitudes. Procriminal associates provide opportunities to learn procriminal attitudes and the techniques of crime.
- Inappropriate parenting can lead the youth to procriminal associations and the learning of procriminal attitudes. Lack of parental monitoring and discipline frees the youth to associate with procriminal others without fear of censure from the parent(s). Poor emotional ties to the parents may further exacerbate the situation. Antisocial parent(s) may also model and reinforce criminal behavior.
- Gang membership enhances criminal behavior. Most individuals who join gangs already have a well-entrenched criminal propensity. However, belonging to a gang appears to increase criminal behavior beyond what is expected from the individual.
- Procriminal attitudes can be reliably measured and changed. Assessments of antisocial attitudes fall into three general categories: (1) Techniques of Neutralization, (2) Identification with Criminal Others, and (3) Rejection of Convention. A number of treatment programs have demonstrated that procriminal attitudes can be reduced. Changes in attitudes may lead to reduced recidivism.
Sample Discussion Questions
TALK ABOUT
- Write a description of a dark-play experience. Do not sign your account. Select several at random to read out loud. Discuss how these examples fit the theories of Geertz and Bateson. What happens when the metamessage “this is play” is subverted?
- What is the relationship between flow, discussed in this chapter, and communitas, discussed in Chapter 5?
- Why is tragedy playful? Why are violent videogames playful? Can players keep the frame of play intact? Or does violent play somehow make violence? What about military training that uses videogame technology? Why is war sometimes compared to a game?
- Discuss the differences between deep play and dark play. Create a list of examples of each.
- Have a discussion about the bias against play. Is the bias warranted in some cases? Does “work” have to be separate from “play”? Is play a distraction?
Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsVuWAE1OCs