Video Games: New Form, Old Practices

We have all had the experience of play. Many of our happiest memories are probably about playing. The ways we play have changed as we have gotten older, and the ways younger people play now have changed. The simple play of a young child gradually evolves into much more complex and organized activities. Play has had an important role in all our lives, but have you ever stopped to reflect on it? What is “play”? Why do we do it? Is it just something for children? How does society evaluate and value it?

Before we approach the topics of video games, virtual worlds, and interactive media, it is useful to briefly reflect on these questions. Doing so will help us better understand some important issues related to the treatment of video games and their audiences.

Play

What is “play”? It’s not easy to define. Scholars and philosophers have yet to agree on a single definition, but there are many common elements.

Are people (or animals) using play to build skills that they will need later in life? Think about children (or puppies, or lion cubs, or baby seals). Would you say they all “play”? Mammals, at least, seem to play. Do other life forms like fish or reptiles “play”? Many people (not animals) have tried to answer these questions. Some say it is for enjoyment, or to practice survival skills, or to burn off excess energy. Some say play provides good cognitive training for the unexpected, and for flexibility in behavior. Others say play contributes to social bonding, or to establish dominance in a social setting, or to pass on cultural norms.

Definitions for play generally emerge as a contrast to work: an instrumental activity in which the end purpose or aim does not reside within the activity itself (Suits, 1988). We work because it is a means to other ends. Play, however, is an intrinsically rewarding activity—also known as an autotelic activity—where the aim or reward is participation in the activity itself. We could therefore when a person plays, they are voluntarily engaging in an activity for the purpose of experiencing the activity.

Two Kinds of Play: Unstructured and Structured

Unstructured play is a freely chosen, intrinsically motivated, and personally directed form of play. Unstructured play has also been called primitive play (Prensky, 2001; Suits, 1988). Unstructured play exemplifies the notion that one of the key characteristics of play is freedom (Huizinga, 1950)—in that it is an activity not bound by external or real-life structures and rules. When engaging in unstructured play, we have the freedom to engage in the activity at our own discretion, by our own rules, with meanings and values prescribed solely by ourselves. It has long been recognized as an important aspect of childhood and child development. Unstructured play has been shown to increase children’s creativity, academic potential and social skills, stimulate the development of problem- solving skills and help children grow into happy, well-adjusted adults (Wenner, 2009).

Structured play is also freely chosen and intrinsically motivated but tends to be more rigid in regard to rules and action possibilities. People are mostly free to choose what games they want to play (Hide-and-Seek, Monopoly, Super Smash Bros). After that however, the rules of the game generally regulate how one plays the game and what he, she, or they are allowed to do within the boundaries of that game. Structured play (also known as sophisticated play; Prensky, 2001; Suits, 1988), introduces children to rules and order and teaches them how to navigate worlds dominated by systemic requirements. Video games (and most other forms of games) fall under the category of structured play because video gameplay is always bound by the restrictions set in place by the game’s programming or the technology on which the game is run and engaged with.

A kid in a sandbox may use the sand in any manner to engage in unstructured play. However, in a video game—even a perfect simulation of that sandbox is limited by what the game developer intended. Sandboxes at your local playgrounds are seldom designed with the intention for the sand to be eaten—and yet children have always found a way to ingest sand as part of their play. In a video game simulation of a sandbox, unless the action of eating sand was designed and implemented by the game’s developers, that action would simply not be possible.

Keep in mind that the importance of play is not limited to children. Although often perceived as a frivolous and non-serious activity, adults at play often display a transfixed seriousness and entranced absorption while engaged in it, and playing continues to have effects on our thoughts, emotions, and behavior—as we will discuss in Unit 3.