Informal Poll: How do you define play?

[gatopreto]

I am curious how people define the word "play".

I have decided not to provide context on purpose. If you require context, email me. You can use gatopreto@livejournal.com if you don't have another means to contact me. Otherwise, comment here.

Comments

Posting belatedly

[allessindra]

Play, for me, seems to be identified as such almost after the fact, wherein I fall into a particular state of mental effort that correlates and combines the non-rational and the rational parts of my cognition.

yeah, I said it that way cause going into the $2 words was the only way I could find to do it in less than essay length.

But I get the same sense of 'intuitive focus' as a top reading my bottom and choosing what to do next from some criteria not readily apparent to the top of my mind, when writing (whatever topic/style) and having it flow from hindbrain to fingers with little interruptive editing by the verbal brain, when discussing various things with my children and listening to their responses and manipulating their thought processes (be it in a socratic or more subtle or obvious way) such that they come to conclusions that *I* find interesting (and usually discussing said conclusions in contexxt of my opinion, societal opinion, and the relevant discipline's opinion, if know them), and when enjoying a board game that I know well enough to no longer be processing the rules such that I'm feeling my way through to becoming adept at working the mechanics, and (hopefully, but rarely) interacting with the other players in ways that gain me benefits. Yes, I'm avoiding the term 'win' because we tend to play, as much as possible, not competitively -- we tend to prefer games that at least have us all working towards a goal wtih minimal impact on each other, if not actively cooperating.

and yes, I've thought about this too much. And you got the essay, anyway. :)

even if it's late