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Sacred Play

Posted by Tug Brice on 19 Oct. 2020

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Today I wrote a dear friend of mine a letter of recommendation. They are applying to a Ph.D. program to get their doctorate in education, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. They are just an amazing person and this is a great next step for them. Writing that letter got me thinking, and it reminded me of a few things that I want to address here.

I am a big believer in lifelong education. I am also a big believer in education through play. I should be, considering my Master’s degree is in Games for Learning. If I wasn’t, I definitely chose the wrong program to study. But no, I definitely found the right place for me. So today, I am going to talk about something that I think that we could all use more of these days, and that is play.

Play is a universal thing. It is found in every known society and in many animal species. It is found in both old and young, in both predator and prey, and happens both in isolation and in social groups. It is done for many different reasons and sometimes for seemingly no reason at all. It is something we have all done at one time or another, in many different ways, and it is an internationally protected right (Article 31 of the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child). Research has shown it has a host of benefits from increased socialization, positive mental and physical well-being, increased academic performance, and increased problem-solving skills. It has even shown positive outcomes when properly integrated into a work environment, something that many of us regard as play’s exact opposite. Yet there are many who see play as something that only children should do, and that should be left behind as soon as childhood is over.

When it comes to the study of play, it is impossible to escape two names, Roger Caillois and Johan Huizinga. These two individuals devoted much of their careers to the study of games and play and kickstarted much of the work in the field. Caillois devoted his time to the classification of play, while Huizinga studied its impact on culture and society. Pretty much all modern work in the field stems from these two individuals. I could (and in grad school, did, at length) go on about the work of these two men, but the important takeaway for this post is this: both of these giants in the field, men who dedicated much of their lives to the study of games and play, equate play to freedom.

Defining “play” is deceptively hard. It’s like when a judge tried to define obscenity. “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it”. Still, both Caillois and Huizinga tried. And in both of their definitions, the first thing they defined play as was free. In Huizinga’s Homo Ludens he makes the statement “Here, then, we have the first main characteristic of play: that it is free, is in fact freedom.”  In Caillois’ Man, Play, and Games, he states “There is also no doubt that play must be defined as a free and voluntary activity, a source of joy and amusement”. For both of them, play represents a state of freedom. 

At the same time, they both also agree that play is defined by rules. However, these rules are separate from the rules of the real world. Caillois describes the play space as “sacred”, elevating it from the mundanity of real life into something beyond it. Which is interesting, because Huizinga describes play as something that has existed for far longer than humans have. “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.” Animals have played for thousands of years, and not just within their own species. There have been documented cases of animals that should by all rights have killed each other (like dogs and polar bears) that have started playing without any human interaction. Play signals work across species.

So why am I bringing this up? Because play teaches. Everyone has heard the saying “Practice makes perfect”. It’s not actually true. What is true is that whatever you practice is what you do in real life. If you practice throwing a punch in a sloppy way, when you need that punch, it will be sloppy. Play is the same way. One of the main forms of play is mimicry. Kids imitate what they see their elders and those around them do. This is how bad habits are passed on. It wasn’t too long ago that one of the main games of childhood was “Cowboys and Indians”. Thankfully that has been confined to the dustbin of history, but I can certainly see some of today’s kids playing “Cops and Antifa”. Be careful what you fill your sacred space with. If your freedoms involve destroying the freedoms of others, or if the thing that gives you joy is hatred, then when it comes time to be serious, that’s what you will put out into the world. And worse yet, anyone who is learning from you will do the same.

Play should be joyful. Play should teach others to be joyful. Play should be free. Play should teach others to be free. Let your play fill the world with freedom and joy, not repression and hate. Play teaches. Be careful what your play teaches.

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