That can depend, to quite a degree, upon whom you ask. “A serious game is a name given to computer software that tries to achieve just that. While some people think that serious games and games for learning are synonymous, digital games can be used for ‘serious’ purposes other than learning. Serious games can be […]
Tag: play
An analysis of CEO shirking (at the golf course)
CEOs of high-profile (e.g. S&P 1500) corporations are sometimes tempted to shirk their duties. One quite well-tried method of shirking is to leave the office for the day and play golf instead. Thus, as an observer, if you take the position that shirking might in general hamper business performance, an extrapolated question can be asked […]
Playtime for Thick-toed Geckos in Space
An unplanned uncollaring led to an unexpected play session in space. This study tells what happened: “Object play in thick-toed geckos during a space experiment,” Valerij Barabanov, Victoria Gulimova, Rustam Berdiev, and Sergey Saveliev, Journal of Ethology, vol. 33, no. 2, May 2015, pp 109–115. The authors, at the Research Institute of Human Morphology, Moscow, […]
Crane Dances as Play Behavior
Question: Which of the three individuals in this photo is officially listed as an author of the study “Crane Dances as Play Behavior,” [Ibis, vol. 155, 2013, pp. 424-425]? ANSWER: Vladimir Dinets, the one in the middle. BONUS: His new understanding of crocodiles and alligators.
Samuel Beckett meets the Teletubbies
Was the creation of the Teletubbies (1997) inspired by the work of Nobel Prize winning avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet, Samuel Beckett? Specifically, his plays Quad I + II ? (1981) Univ.-Prof. Dr. Eckart Voigts-Virchow of the University of Siegen, Germany, draws attention to possible similarities (and possible differences) in his paper for […]
Play, Usurpation and Boredom (at work)
If you, reader, work for a living, would you say that “… work and play are largely indistinguishable in the postindustrial organization”? Some may say yes, some may say no, and yet others may remain undecided. Thus the ‘Should work be play?’ / ’Should play be work?’ questions remain very much open for study – […]