Whether it’s "Mario Kart" on the games console or "Catan" at the table: We’re spending more time at play. The market for games has been booming for several years, and it’s attracting mainly adults.
Why do people like playing so much? A question just as relevant now as it was in the Stone Age. Since play is first and foremost a fun activity, it doesn’t appear to serve any evolutionary benefits, superficially at least. But there’s more to playing than just passing the time. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors needed to acquire certain skills and explore their environment - and this all happened in a playful manner. Just like small children dig in the sand or put objects in their mouths, early man progressed though crucial developmental phases by way of explorative play.
The first board games appeared along with the emergence of the world’s first civilizations 5,000 years ago. By coming up with invented systems and rules, people didn’t just create nation states or currencies, but also games. This is how chess came to be created as a war game; and ‘Monopoly’ as an exercise in capitalism.
Meanwhile, the potential of games is being harnessed in corporate and educational settings. Emotions unleashed in those at play are thought to promote productivity. The gamification industry is a growth market. In schools above all, there are hopes that play can serve to break up hidebound educational approaches -- and achieve better results in the process.
But gamification is also controversial. As the number of gamers grows, so does the number of those addicted to gaming. Now that the WHO has recognized Gaming Disorder as a behavioral condition, researchers are discussing better ways to approach play. As expert Jens Junge explains, while games are on the one hand a primal life phenomenon, they’re not without risks. The key question is: where does the boundary lie between healthy and not-so-healthy play?
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