So far in class, we've learned how beneficial and impactful play can be to learning. Play may teach us strategy, preparation, teamwork, goal setting, and so many other valuable skills. When reading "Game Design and Meaningful Play", they state "meaningful play in a game emerges from the relationship between player action and system outcome; it is the process by which a player takes action within the designed system of a game and the system responds to the action. The meaning of an action in a game resides in the relationship between action and outcome" (Salen and Zimmerman, pgs. 60-61). I think this super technical way to explain meaningful play is perfect because it leaves room for subjectivity. Something meaningful for one person may not be meaningful to someone else. Not everyone frankly always has the same goal in a game as the next person, so an individual's personal actions influence their personal outcome, which creates whatever meaning they're trying to attain.
In applying these definitions, I immediately think of when I played volleyball in high school. Volleyball is a form of both controlled and aggressive play. It's not a contact sport, but it's super fast-paced and reactive. I found meaning in volleyball because truly every single play was a team effort. We aimed for 3 touches on the ball before we sent it back over. My job was covering the back row middle where to do my job meaningfully, add value, and support the larger group goal was to control whatever was initially sent over to us from the competing team. I was very much so our last line of defense. Other people had to be meaningful in different ways. One girl had to react to my play and set up our offensive players. Then those offensive players had to attract the ball to give themselves the best chance at scoring to make it difficult for the other team to respond to it. Sports are a great analogy for the subjectivity of meaningful play. Everyone interprets it differently and can play with different strategies and goals in mind. That's the beautiful thing about play.
Hi Lauren!
ReplyDeleteOverall great post. I really like how you talked about the subjectivity behind meaningful play and how there are various definitions of "meaningful" backed up by varying experiences of what makes this play significant. I also enjoyed reading about your connection to childhood sports and how different players brought meaning to the team. I also participated in sports growing up, specifically gymnastics. Gymnastics was an odd dynamic when it came to meaningful play, because it is simultaneously a team and individual sport. There is meaning behind competition as you want to perform well to better your overall team score, but at the same time, you are competing to beat your own teammates' scores to accomplish an individual title/ reward. This meant emotions were high, and control was confusing. However, gymnastics taught me a ton physically and mentally, as I am sure volleyball did to you as well. Great job!