On the Anthropology of Play

Authors: Wulf C and Wulf C

DOI: 10.23880/phij-16000257

Volume 5, Issue 3

Abstract

Games are voluntary actions that have their own intrinsic goal and differ from actions in the normal everyday world. It is in play that people form their cultural abilities; it is here that they create themselves as individuals, express emotions, and creatively deal with the demands of the outside world. In play, people generate social relationships, develop their own personalities, and create community and culture. Games are different and diverse and they are unlimited in number. New games are constantly being invented; it is very hard to classify them all. Since many games and ludic arrangements are often physical enactments and performances, they often carry more social weight than mere discourse. With their physicality, the players contribute “more” than merely linguistic communication. This “more” is rooted in the materiality of their bodies and the physical existence of other people. With the staging and performance of games, differences are processed, and commonalities are created. People stage themselves and their relationships to others in play. By inviting people to “play along”, games invite them to accept the structures that are revealed in the games as acceptable. Those who do not accept the invitation to “play along” in a community segregate themselves, are excluded, and can become scapegoats and thus the target of negativity and violence. Games require movements of the body, which result in closeness or distance between the participants of the game. Social attitudes and postures are often expressed in the participants’ body movements. Competitive relationships require movements of the body that are different from those in friendly or even intimate relationships. By shaping ludic situations with the help of body movements, the body is also shaped. There is often a performative element in the staging of games; the participants want their play to be seen and appreciated in a fitting way. In the movements of their bodies, they wish to display and express themselves. The following twelve structural elements can be used for a structural and impact analysis of games: space and time, rules, imagination, the as-if, flow, mimesis, performativity, practical knowledge, community, functionlessness, gamesutensils, uncertainty of the game outcome. 

Keywords: Game play; Performativity; Body; Mimesis; Practical knowledge; Community; Space; Time

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