Even before we learn to speak, we play. It’s how we begin to explore the world. Games exert a primal power over us; after we’re fed, clothed, and sheltered, we must entertain ourselves. Harness that power, and what might we create?
Culture in the information age has taken a sharp turn towards play. Corporations seeking creativity from their employees set them loose to toy around, and reap big rewards from the results. Video games have exploded into a new entertainment industry, extending play deeper and deeper into adulthood. Games have crept beyond our consoles, arenas and arcades to suffuse all our entertainments, becoming reality shows on television and alternate reality games everywhere else.
Students of play will not only learn to exploit these cultural forces, they’ll unlock the cheat codes for the games that underpin everything—language, politics, science, faith, art. They’ll figure out how to approach goals as game designers—how to engineer systems of rules, scores, simulations and wagers that can transform everything from tax preparation to house-cleaning into recreation. They’ll discover how to tap our innate affinity for play to improve education, our communities, and our quality of life.
Of course, play isn’t all serious. It’s ultimately about the pursuit of fun—figuring out the pleasure centers of our brains and hacking them for fun, profit, societal benefit, or all of the above. And it’s not just for kids anymore.
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