Comments on: New Theory: People Need to Play More

By: Michael Chui

Michael Chui — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:19:49 +0000

Hmm… I guess that depends on what you think of as “free play”.
I think MOOs are the closest we get to “free play” in games, but are they games? *shrugs*

Unfair, Ola. You can’t definitionally make them mutually exclusive and then ask for inclusive examples.

Personally, I think of Cosmic Encounter, Diplomacy or Munchkins. It is very strictly structured, and intentionally designed to be difficult to win on your own. But the competition has never felt sincere, and the nuance of cooperation feels more interesting. That could just be my gaming groups, though.

By: Cheeta's Mom

Cheeta's Mom — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 06:16:38 +0000

I know little Cheeta and his friends were always good little chimps, until that mean ol’ adult Tarzan showed up. Then he introduced us to score keeping in Banana Boink, and that’s when all hell broke loose with the territorial thing and all.

Seems that theories based on a complete lack of evidence can be thrown in where they aren’t needed, just for some odd irrelevance. Typically Homo sapien. Neanderthal was more grounded.

Pan

By: len

len — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 04:01:05 +0000

All these toys. Who can sit around and not play???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnw3TQwPEOg

A long time ago far far away a group of geeks decided they just had to go for it for the children and the fun of doing it.

By: Ola Fosheim Grøstad

Ola Fosheim Grøstad — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:30:44 +0000

Hmm… I guess that depends on what you think of as “free play”. I think Sims has too much structure to it and doesn’t allow enough improvisation to be truly free play. (I haven’t played the PS3 games) I think MOOs are the closest we get to “free play” in games, but are they games? *shrugs*

By: Raph

Raph — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 22:07:46 +0000

LittleBigPlanet, Sims, NobyNobyBoy? The social aspect often happens online or on a couch, but in terms of free play, non-competitive entertainment, there are many more examples…

By: Ola Fosheim Grøstad

Ola Fosheim Grøstad — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:10:20 +0000

Of course, plenty of video games do in fact provide this style of play

Well, I suppose some online communities could come close to free play, But uh, videogames? Examples, Raph. Provide some examples.

By: Mitch Wagner

Mitch Wagner — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:46:51 +0000

I remember when I was a kid, we did a lot of what we’d now call RP today. Cowboys & I/n/d/i/a/n/s/ Native Americans, superheroes, etc. It was very much like LARP, complete with OOC planning and arguing.

By: Scott Moore

Scott Moore — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:38:48 +0000

“though it can be drowned out by the constant emphasis on numerical achievements.”

And for a moment there, I thought you were talking about twitter.

But seriously, it seems reasonable to say that we (people who care about writing and reading comments on blogs) tend toward competitive play because we are no longer a hunter-gatherer society?

And still seriously, the idea of social play seems important when new online communities are forming in order to help them support each other until a point where competitive play might be useful to the continuation of the community (helping people find experts and mentors or a certain quality of created content).

By: larryr

larryr — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:05:57 +0000

“The Lord of the Flies” wasnt on the authors reading list?;)

Mob – 1 Piggy – 0

By: Sodeguruma

Sodeguruma — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:34:48 +0000

I really ought to go read thee article before commenting, but just to pick a nit… Whoever gave the author the idea that kids are non-competitive in the absence of adults? They may not necessarily come up with a complex scoring framework, but you can bet there is a lot less formally structured competition going on.