[Air-L] The Meaning of Play

Mon Feb 28 13:51:14 PST 2011

Ren,

You should check out Goffman's less read -- but more interesting --  
work that is actually _about_ games: the long essays "where the action  
is", "fun in games" and so forth. And remember Becker's -- or was it   
Louis Wirth's? -- line that  "originality is a product of a faulty  
memory". It may be that you are just reinventing run-of-the-mill  
theories of symbolic interaction. The more literature review the more  
better!

-A

Alex Golub, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
University of Hawai'i at Manoa
Department of Anthropology
2424 Maile Way Saunders Hall 346
Honolulu HI 96822-2223

808 956-6575
golub at hawaii.edu

On Feb 28, 2011, at 11:36 AM, Ren Reynolds wrote:

> All,
> A few commentators mentioned Goffman in relation to my post. I'd  
> never read the original text, now I have I found it uncannily  
> similar to what I'd written but I think not exactly the same, so  
> I've added an analysis of what I think Goffman is saying about play  
> and where I think I'm saying something different, but I'm aware this  
> might be simply my wilful interpretation of Goffman. Updated post  
> (now 4k words, sorry) here: http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2011/02/the-meaning-of-play.html
>
> Stephanie,
> My definition very much gets away from rigid notions of boundaries,  
> so I'm not sure how we are differing. So I'm a little confused about  
> how you are defining boundaries and object. For instance if one is  
> playing with 'identity' then the object is 'identity'. What's more  
> in any given play session one does not do everything e.g. In any  
> given instance I don't play in London and Tokyo nor at the same  
> time, so there are bounds at the very least in that sense. I thought  
> I noted explicitly that what I'm saying covers pure mental play with  
> ideas is a very free flowing way - it's exactly that which I'm I was  
> capturing.
>
> I also don't understand the gender bit in your comment are you  
> saying only female fans engage in this or you have only observed  
> females engaging in it?
>
> ren
>
>
> On 28 Feb 2011, at 15:58, Tuszynski, Stephanie wrote:
>
>> Ren - this is interesting since I don't think of "play" as  
>> something that applies only to gaming and your definition is very  
>> deeply rooted in that form and only that form. I've seen a lot of  
>> female fans engage in play, both with identity and with creative  
>> activities, that have very little to do with any of this. No rules,  
>> no boundaries, no object. I would still consider it playing but  
>> it's far removed from the idea of a game with rules and an object.  
>> Interesting.
>>
>>
>> Dr. Stephanie Tuszynski
>> Assistant Professor of Communication
>> Bethany College
>>
>>
>> Message: 6
>> Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2011 17:04:58 +0000
>> From: Ren Reynolds <ren at aldermangroup.com>
>> To: list aoir <air-l at aoir.org>
>> Subject: [Air-L] The Meaning of Play
>> Message-ID: <735A8F73-97A5-4ECC-A1EB-5FD2EAA0B857 at aldermangroup.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=us-ascii
>>
>> All,
>> & with apologies to games scholars and twitter followers for cross  
>> posting
>> & general apologies for shameless self promotion...
>>
>> I've been thinking about what play is for some time, I've now  
>> blogged these thoughts at a little length (3k+ words) over at  
>> TerraNova: http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2011/02/the-meaning-of-play.html
>>
>> As I note there, I did this for a general reason: existing  
>> definitions did not satisfy me; and for a specific reason: I'm  
>> looking at the governance of online play by researching the history  
>> of sports law and governance and needed a theory that explained  
>> what is going on when law does not intervene in contact sports,  
>> even when there is injury.
>>
>> So this is a very general definition which I hope is useful in any  
>> field where one is looking at what play is, I'm interested in  
>> comments to help de-bug it:
>>
>> Play is the recognised, negotiated, process of a purposeful shift  
>> in the dominant meaning; and contextual attribution of value, of  
>> acts.
>>
>>
>>
>> Games are normative forms of play.
>>
>>
>>
>> ludic-meaning - the meaning that has been shifted or attributed
>>
>> ludic-semiotics - the system of the signs product through play
>>
>> ludic-capital - the degree to which these ludic-meaning and  
>> semiotics are operational in a given context e.g. when set against  
>> institutional-capital.
>>
>>
>>
>> Magic circle - the term we use to denote the bounds of the context  
>> wherein the ludic-meaning of an act prevails over the co-existing  
>> non-ludic meaning (or lack thereof).
>>
>>
>> Ren
>> --8<--
>> web: www.renreynolds.com
>>
>> Think Tank: www.virtualpolicy.net
>>
>> blog: terranova.blogs.com
>>
>>
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