“free movement within a more rigid structure” -- Salen and Zimmerman (2004)

″free movement within a system of constraints″ -- Upton (2015)

“a way of operating a constrained system in a gratifying way” -- Bogost (2016)

Play is a verb. It’s an activity. Something we do. We play. Sicart calls play “autotelic” which means: an activity or a creative work) having an end or purpose in itself.

If we bring enough attention to an object or situation, anything can be played. Hence Bogost’s book title: Play Anything!

“rigid structure?” “constrained system?”

classroom

limitations or constraints of any kind.

game rules

social interactions

“to pursue an additional, aesthetic purpose of a given activity.” (York, 2022)

Playful is an adjective. It describes a noun, or, if we add “-ly” to the end and create the adverb “playfully,” it describes how we carry out an activity. A dog can be playful, so can the design of a computer, software, building or other objects.

Ludic as “being playful”

02 What is "Ludic?"

In game studies, “playful” is denoted as the attitude we bring to an activity (Sciart, 2014; Stenros, 2015).

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Because “being playful” is an attitude we bring to activities, we can do any activity playfully whilst still respecting the original purpose of the activity (see Sicart, 2014).

Why “additional?”

“Games, I claim, are the crystallization of practicality.” “When we design games, we can sculpt the shape of the activity to make beautiful action more likely” (p. 13)