Game culture

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term play culture describes the entirety of the play equipment and the way in which it is used. It includes all civilizational or personal achievements relating to the game and gambling . As a quality statement, it also marks the level of play of a society, of certain human groups and individuals.

term

In combination with the word "culture" (from the Latin cultura , "development, processing, order, care"), which in addition to landscape maintenance since the 17th century also includes the "care of intellectual goods", the intellectual culture, includes 'play culture' the totality of what a society as a whole, a sector of society or individual playing of valuable in the play area itself whose shaping have produced and practical disposal. These include, for example, the wealth of toys, the techniques for dealing with them, but also reflecting on the game and exploring the possibilities it offers, reflecting on its roots and its meaningfulness and its significance for the life of the individual and his social life Surroundings.

development

The Game Science distinguishes different levels of game culture. The level of play of the toddler is still limited to simple game sequences, such as the functional game , and only increasingly develops more sophisticated forms of play through the symbol game and the rule game. Young people can already develop an upscale gaming culture, which is characterized, for example, by the abundance and demands of the toys, the maturity of the rules, variability, creativity and fairness in gaming. Similar developments can be observed in the game cultures of different peoples and societies. They do not necessarily converge with the other status as a pre-industrial natural society or a civilized high culture. In the so-called advanced cultures in particular, for example, knowledge of the magical background of the game, its symbolism and social significance is mostly forgotten, discovering and inventing games is forgotten, and toys have often degenerated into mere consumer goods . In view of these findings, the game scientists Siegbert A. Warwitz and Anita Rudolf, with a view to the abundance of commercialized toys in German children's rooms, the overfeeding of today's children with games and the decline in creative play, ask: “ But does the development of a Play culture, which is a determining and formative factor of childhood and youth, kept pace with it? "

In his bestseller “ Momo ”, which appeared for the first time in 1973, the children's book author Michael Ende tried to find an answer by experiencing the main character of his novel: The needless orphaned child Momo was used to the simplest objects in his environment, such as a bird's feather or a colored stone and his human To lead playmates imaginative dialogues and to create imaginative games. But when he was given the “perfect doll” Bibigirl, as big as she was, who could only practice the same eye flicks and say stereotypical sentences, she noticed what she was missing in terms of a demanding playmate that one could love - the Open dialogue and the chance to create games: “ After a while, Momo got a feeling that she had never felt before. And because it was brand new to her, it took her a while to realize that it was boredom. "

According to Michael Ende, today's play culture is increasingly shaped by the toy industry and the tendency towards technically complex, self-functioning toys. She suffers from a flooding of the market with play equipment that can be remotely controlled, operated and made to work, but cannot be influenced creatively enough, and a parallel loss of playability. These observations are seen as indications of an impoverishment of children's play and a decline in the creative play culture, which gives gamers plenty of toys and their use, but largely prevents independent activity. He comments on the effects of this development with regard to the gaming culture in Momo's new environment: “ Above all, all of these things were so perfect, down to the smallest detail, that you didn't have to imagine anything. So the children often sat there for hours and watched spellbound and yet bored of something purring, wobbling or whizzing in circles - but they couldn't think of anything to do with it. "

The creeping decline of today's game culture in the direction of commercialization , outside determination and an overpowering public focus on professionalized sports games as a passive spectator sport has long been recognized by game science , and so, especially in the field of game education, various efforts are made to return to the deeply lost Observe the meaning of the game and its cultural significance. Above all, it is about rediscovering the original, creative, self-determined play that rewards itself in doing and does not require a lot of effort, no payment and no external confirmation of its purpose.

meaning

The high-ranking game culture is not fixated on a superficial use. It is autotelic in nature, meaningful and enriching in and of itself. It often has magical roots, which can still be seen in the unadulterated play culture of children and indigenous people. High-level gaming culture nourishes itself from a deeper basis that is still understood or at least felt and lived out: the cultural anthropologist Johan Huizinga sees a very close connection between the phenomena of play and culture. He assigns a cultural function to the original game. In his opinion, the game should not only be understood as a cultural phenomenon in its own right. In addition, he sees from it all other cultural products such as language, literature, poetry, music, art, technology, philosophy, and the sciences. Even before him, the historian Friedrich Schiller described play in his treatise on aesthetic education as a primal phenomenon in which the essence of man is reflected in his identity and the process of cultural creation: “ Because, to say it all at once, man just plays where he is in the full meaning of the word human, and he is only fully human where he plays . "

Every person and every society produces its own and essentially characteristic gaming culture, and every time works with the technical means available to it. However, the game is also often used as an instrument, be it for magical, religious-ritual, educational, psychological or therapeutic purposes.

literature

  • Rüdiger Fikentscher (Ed.): Game cultures in Europe . Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 2018. ISBN 978-3-96311-020-7 .
  • Sonja Ganguin, Bernward Hoffmann (Ed.): Digital game culture. Kopaed Verlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-86736-343-3 .
  • Johan Huizinga : Homo ludens. From the origin of culture in the game . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1939/2004, ISBN 3-499-55435-6 .
  • Hans Scheuerl : The game. Investigations into its nature, its pedagogical possibilities and limits . Weinheim and Basel 11th edition 1990.
  • Siegbert A. Warwitz , Anita Rudolf: From the sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas . Schneider, 4th edition. Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1664-5 .
  • Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: Playing - rediscovered . Herder. Freiburg im Breisgau 1982, ISBN 3-451-07952-6 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Game culture  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Kluge , Alfred Götze : Etymological dictionary of the German language . 21st edition, ed. by Walther Mitzka , De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1975, p. 411.
  2. ↑ Hans Scheuerl: The game. Investigations into its nature, its pedagogical possibilities and limits . 11th edition. Weinheim and Basel 1990.
  3. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: From the sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas . Cutter. Baltmannsweiler 2016.
  4. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: What playing can achieve . In; This: the sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas . 4th edition. Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016. p. 25.
  5. ↑ Michael Ende: Momo. A fairy tale novel . Stuttgart (Thienemann) 1973, Munich (Piper) 2009. p. 89.
  6. ↑ Michael Ende, Momo , ibid pp. 74/75
  7. ↑ Frederik Jacobus Johannes Buytendijk : Nature and meaning of the game . Wolff. Berlin 1933.
  8. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: Playing - newly discovered . Herder. Freiburg im Breisgau 1982
  9. ↑ Hans Hoppe: Games find and invent . Lit-Verlag, Berlin 2006
  10. ^ Johan Huizinga : Homo ludens. From the origin of culture in the game . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1939/2004. Pp. 11-13
  11. ↑ Friedrich Schiller: About the aesthetic education of man . 15th letter. Reclam, Stuttgart 1795/2000
  12. ↑ Rüdiger Fikentscher (Ed.): Spielkulturen in Europa . Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 2018.
  13. ↑ Sonja Ganguin, Bernward Hoffmann (ed.): Digital game culture. Kopaed Verlag, Munich 2010.
  14. ↑ Hans Scheuerl: The game. Investigations into its nature, its pedagogical possibilities and limits . Weinheim and Basel 11th edition 1990.
  15. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: What playing can achieve . In: Dies .: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas . Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016. pp. 22–25.
  16. ↑ Hans Zulliger: Healing powers in children's play . Klotz Publishing House, Magdeburg 2007.