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Any study of "play" must take into account of the classic work, 'Homo Ludens—A Study of the Play-Element in Culture', by the maverick Dutch historian, Johan Huz
by kashyapc 6y ago
Any study of "play" must take into account of the classic work, 'Homo Ludens—A Study of the Play-Element in Culture', by the maverick Dutch historian, Johan Huzinga, from a 100 years ago. ("Homo Ludens" means "Man the Player" in Latin).
To quote the abstract of the said book by Huizinga:
[...] He identifies five characteristics of play: it is free; it is not "ordinary" or "real" life; it is distinct from "ordinary" life both as to locality and duration; it creates order; it is connected with no material interest, and from it no profit can be gained.
With cross-cultural examples from the humanities, business, and politics, Huizinga examines play in all its diverse guises—as it relates to language, law, war, knowledge, poetry, myth, philosophy, art, and much more. As he writes, "Civilization is, in its earliest phases, played. It does not come from play like a baby detaching itself from the womb: it arises in and as play, and never leaves it."
Starting with Plato, Huizinga traces the contribution of "man the player" through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and early modern world. With an eye for our own times he writes: "In American politics [play] is even more evident. Long before the two-party system had reduced itself to two gigantic teams whose political differences were hardly discernible to an outsider, electioneering in America had developed into a kind of national sport." With its remarkable historical sweep, Homo Ludens defines play for generations to come.
- tarruda 6y ago> He identifies five characteristics of play: it is free; it is not "ordinary" or "real" life; it is distinct from "ordinary" life both as to locality and duration; it creates order; it is connected with no material interest, and from it no profit can be gained. According to this, video games are a form of play. I've always been told that playing video games is a waste of time, it would be interesting to see scientific evidence that it is actually good for you.
- mhh__ 6y agoKids playing FIFA as opposed to loitering outside the shops, smoking etc. is probably good for them and society.
- _AzMoo 6y agoThat depends entirely on whether society prioritizes FIFA skills or in-person social skills, and I would be willing to bet that it's the latter.
- polytely 6y agoA lot of online games have a chat component to them so while not in-person in the strictest sense it's probably educational in some way. I learned English selling and buying stuff in RuneScape and I know a lot of my friends did too.
- TeMPOraL 6y agoEve Online is essentially training for careers in finance, logistics, corporate management and international politics. And I'm being serious here. That outlier aside, you raise a good point about language - I too learned my English mostly through videogames. Single-player, story-rich videogames, which hooked me enough to play them with a dictionary on hand. I learned most of my vocabulary trying to understand the games' lores and navigate dialogues.
- ozbead 6y agoRelevant, recent article on EVE Online as an engine for personal development: https://www.denofgeek.com/games/eve-online-players-lives-better/ https://www.denofgeek.com/games/eve-online-players-lives-bet...
- Jare 6y agoMay I instead ask for scientific evidence that it's a waste of time?
- kibwen 6y agoPlaying video games has plenty of benefits which you can find scientific references to by searching around. They can also be a waste of time if one uses them as a tool for procrastination or incessant escapism. As a medium, games are especially prone to causing such behaviors since they're so highly tuned to produce frequent small bursts of mental stimulation, in conjunction with a common focus on perpetual replayability. If, as the OP alleges, play is useful for preparing one for future challenges, then play can be counter-productive if an obsession with playing precludes one from ever encountering those challenges.
- feralimal 6y agoIts good for society. For the child it is entertaining and also entrains static sedentary behaviour. This will be useful for the future as we really have very little need of nature or vigorous movement - the longer the time we can remain still and mentally active, the more we will be able to contribute to society.
- feralimal 6y agoI'm glad this was voted down (for once). I put this comment out there as a sarcastic, antithetical opinion to my own - a little experiment. I half-expect the HN crew to vote it up.
- kashyapc 6y agoI'd only say don't be too quick to draw conclusions without reading the book. :-) I don't play video games myself; last I played was more than ten years ago. But I don't think it is a "waste of time" at all, when done with the "right mindset" (as kibwen alludes to in this thread). As the old saying goes, "moderation curbs all vices" (normally attributed to Leonardo da Vinci; but, of course, he was riffing on the ancient Greek virtue of "sôphrosune"—temperance).
- krageon 6y agoAnyone who tells you anything you do is a waste of time without a good foundational argument (as is implied here) is exhibiting abusive behaviour and should not be listened to.
- hyperpallium2 6y agohttp://art.yale.edu/file_columns/0000/1474/homo_ludens_johan_huizinga_routledge_1949_.pdf http://art.yale.edu/file_columns/0000/1474/homo_ludens_johan...
- messo 6y agoThanks for this book recommendation! If anyone else wants to read this book, I found a nicely cleaned up PDF here: http://art.yale.edu/file_columns/0000/1474/homo_ludens_johan_huizinga_routledge_1949_.pdf http://art.yale.edu/file_columns/0000/1474/homo_ludens_johan...