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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))

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H O W E2

BUT FIRST, A QUESTION …

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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

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H O W E4

PLAY IS A NECESSITY

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H O W E5

JOHAN HUIZINGA – PLAY IN CULTURE

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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

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play is an integral part of the

human experience & a

necessary condition for the

generation of culture

JOHAN HUIZINGA – PLAY IN CULTURE

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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

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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.

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H O W E10

BERNARD SUITS – LIFE & UTOPIA

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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.”

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H O W E12

STUART BROWN – PSYCHOLOGY OF PLAY

the opposite of play isn’t work –

it’s depression

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H O W E13

STUART BROWN – PLAY DEPRIVATION

violence is tied to

an absence of play experiences

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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

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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

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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

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H O W E17

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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.”

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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.”

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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?”

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H O W E21

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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.”

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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.”

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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

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H O W E25