The Play Ethic

Work, family and the dance towards a 'play ethic'

This is a piece I wrote for the charity Working Families, as part of their 30th anniversary celebration, marked by the publication of Tomorrow's World, an anthology of perspectives on work-life balance. 

Most of the pieces are well worth reading (apart from a few politicians posturing), and I decided to stay within their paradigm of the tension between "work" and "life", partly to speak honestly about my own 20 year history of balancing productivity, play and parenting. But regular Play Ethic readers will see my familiar agendas surfacing at the end... As usual, all comments welcomed. 

Work, family and the dance towards a 'play ethic'

Pat Kane

I guess I won't be the only contributor to this volume who's writing this piece under the very same wobbly conditions of 'work-life balance' that is our chosen topic.

In my case, I'm getting to grips with this piece as the school holidays begin: I'm four days over what (I hope) was a soft deadline. My daughter's been getting out of school at 12.15pm the last couple of days (was that a surprise announcement? Yes!). So I've had a few frantic mornings trying to master the inbox of self-managed tasks that face the average cultural freelancer. At the very least, this lifestyle demands clarity and efficiency when you actually do sit down in front of your interface.

After years of good and bad experiences, I've realised that I'm happiest when I can devote my energies fully to either 'work' or 'life' – however unsatisfactory those terms are - with as little overlap between the two realms as possible. Meaning that when my daughter emerges from the school gates, or after-school club, all of my affections and attentions are hers. And the best way to ensure that psychic commitment is to ensure that the anxieties of one's project-driven life are actually - or if necessary, forcibly - abated.

The necessity of a calm and tranquil mind (and heart, if possible) in the face of one's children also comes from a somewhat bumpy personal road. Post our separation eight years ago, my ex-wife and I made a binding pact to ensure that our children never had any sense of lacking access to either parent. We split our fortnight of care equally, weaving between each others' nearby households, allowing each other evenings and alternate weekends to sustain friendships and relationships (in different cities – Glasgow and London). But we've come together to ensure that none of our children ever returned to an empty house.

Das Karneval, London, October 2009

Better out of your iPhone than in, I say...

Playing at Spies (for fun and profit)

...but the signs on the wall don't lie (ie, it's all handholding) Taken at Queen Street Lower Station, 29th October 2009

Ludocrats - a new Play Ethic podcast. First show: Ren Reynolds

Subscribe to Ludocrats at Feedburner or directly at the iTunes store

Listen to Ludocrats 1: Ren Reynolds

A new, hopefully fortnightly feature on The Play Ethic - a series of podcast conversations called "Ludocrats". 

Who's a ludocrat? Someone who's interested in the power and potential of play, as it operates in their lives and their projects - and who also believes that an awareness of play can shape the public realm for the better. Why the podcast? Well, I'm having these conversations anyway - so I thought I may as well record them, smartphone in hand, and share them with the world. 

Our first ludocrat is Ren Reynolds, otherwise known on Twitter as RenZephyr. Ren's day job is helping government get the best deals from private IT contractors. But his day-and-night job is thinking quite brilliantly about the philosophy, ethics and governance of computer and online games (usually through his think-tank, Virtual Policy Network, but also on the collective blog Terra Nova). Ren also advises national and international bodies about how the law and politics should relate to what goes on in virtual worlds - and how not to crush, whether through fear or ignorance, the emerging potential of these global, creative spaces. 

My thanks to Ren (and the clarity of his good Northern tones in the hubbub!). Here's some links that Ren mentions in his piece:

Thomas Mallaby, Against Exceptionalism and Games, Meaning and Bureaucracy

Key quote: "[games are] domains of contrived contingency, capable of generating emergent practices and interpretations.". 

Ren adds: "My argument with Malaby is that I think the definition is incomplete without that game acts are backed by a ludic intentionality. This I think is critical and is not necessarily entailed by his definition."B

Bruno Latour's Actor Network Theory (Wikipedia entry)

Richard Bartle's Guardian piece on the triumph of the games generation

Bernard Suits definition of play (and Jesper Juul's summary of it in his round up of game theories)  ]

Raph Koster

30th anniversary this year (2009) of creation of MUD, first online multiplayer virtual world, by Richard Bartle

Jack Balkin - and paper quoted: Virtual Liberty: Freedom to Design and Freedom to Play in Virtual Worlds, 90 Va. L. Rev. 2043 (2004). 

Fable (video game)

Ian Bogost on distinction between code of game and code of its culture 

The Hooker Cheat in GFA - Ren's essay, Playing the 'Good' Game, discusses this. And more on the Cheat (google books).

Fallout 3

A tale in the desert (video game)

Eve Online "the most complex game ever created by humanity"

Dimitri Williams's longtitudinal study on gamers, turning to immediate friends and global news, and away from local news

More references to Ren's writings:

Reynolds R (2009), The Philosophy of Virtual Worlds, in Third Person: Authoring and Exploring Vast Narratives, eds Harrigan, P. & Wardrip-Fruin, N. MIT Press 

Reynolds R (2008), Hands off MY avatar - Issues with claims of virtual property and identity in Settlers of the New Virtual Worlds eds Bethke E and Hoffman E,  BookSurge Publishing

Reynolds, R., (2007), ‘MMO’s as Practices’, in DIGRA 2007 Situated Play - conference proceedings (ed Baba, A.), University of Tokyo

...and more at http://www.renreynolds.com

The Power and Potential of Play: presentation to LTS 'Play and Active Learning' conference, Oct 2009

Hi to everyone who watched this presentation at the Learning Teaching Scotland's conference on 'Play and Active Learning', at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow, October 3rd 2009. If you'd like to contact me about anything in the presentation (download it here), please mail me from the link above, or comment on the page below.

Below the Powerpoint, there's a list of article and resources mentioned in or informing the presentation.

Pat Kane: The Power And Potential Of Play

View more presentations from theplayethic.

Links and resources for presentation:

The Play Ethic - book and research

Stuart Brown - Play - book and interview Great synthesis of research on neurophysiology of play - and a lifetime of practical wisdom on the topic

Scientific American cover piece on play - also useful roundup of current research. This New York Times Magazine cover piece casts some doubts about how much the neuroscience backs up a "play theology".

Brian Sutton-Smith's The Ambiguity of Play - the greatest multidisciplinary work of play scholarship in the 20th century. And he's still refining the thesis - see this recent article on Play and the Emotions. 

Kevin Carroll with a corporate perspective on 'productive play' in The Red Rubber Ball at Work