All animals play. The play was a tool for learning the necessary skills for survival. When it comes to humans, play was helpful to practice skills to adulthood. Another theory, we learn to practice for strength. For better control of our own actions and do not hurt others. We also could begin playing to satisfy our desire to dominate and compete. Maybe we instinctively try to imitate our elders. Some claims are just for relaxation or release of energy. Huizinga “The fun of playing resists all analysis, all logical interpretation”.
The five characteristics of play by Johan Huizinga. (The profit one was ignored)
• Play must be voluntary. One must have the freedom to play.
Freedom is play.
• Play is separated from real life.
• Play is pretend.
However, play should be taken seriously. " Play may rise to
heights of beauty and sublimity that leave seriousness far
beneath...play adorns life, amplifies it". Play has tension
challenges, and rules that create order. “These rules are a very
important factor. All play has its rules. They determine what
‘holds’ in the temporary world circumscribed by play. The rules
of a game are absolutely binding and allow no doubt”.
• Play require a playground, a locality and duration or start
and end. Play has a repetition quality. Which in the modern
world we call it “Core Gameplay Loop”. The local could be in
reality, a digital environment or in our minds. In these spaces,
the rules of the game apply. Not of the real world. "The arena,
the card-table, the magic circle, the temple, the stage, the
screen, the tennis court, the court of justice...are all in form
and function of playgrounds. Forbidden sports, isolated, hedged
round, hallowed, within which special rules obtain. All are
temporary worlds within the ordinary world, dedicated to the
performance of and act or part". More of Huizinga about spaces
and what we call of “The magic circle”. “Formally speaking,
there is no distinction whatever between marking out a space,
for a sacred purpose, and marking it out for purposes of sheer
play.”
The relations between culture, religion and more have become deeply obscure. Except to the careful observer. “The player wins at something more than the game... They have won esteem, obtained honor; and this honor and esteem at once accrue to the benefit of the group to which the victor belongs... success won readily passes from the individual to the group.” the seasonal interactions of tribes between one another to compete, lies on the domain of playfulness. They helped to create a more structured government later on each civilization development. Play and War. “Ever since words existed for fighting and playing, people have been wanting to call war a game.” Johan Huizinga.