<commit_before>---
title: Do we have a right to play?
date: 2016-09-24 11:22:00 -04:00
---

Since we're starting a company with play as a central value, I've been thinking about it. What is it, and do we have a right to it?

Let's start with what it means to play. I don't have one single definition. Instead I propose there are two kinds of play:

* competitive play: what you do when you're trying to win a game

* exploratory play: what you do with your action figures on a rainy Sunday when you're 12.

Here's the difference:

* competitive play is goal-driven, bound by rules, and not much hindered by fear (in fact fear can drive competitive play). The purpose is to experience the thrill of achievement beyond what's possible in day-to-day life.

* exploratory play isn't goal-driven, isn't bound by rules, and is hindered by fear. The purpose is to delight in curiosity and imagination. That's hard to do when you're fearful. 

Competitive play is available to most of us, exploratory play less so. The reason is fear.

Everyone fears, but some more than others. The young tend to fear less than the old, the rich less than the poor, and in the US where I live, whites less than non-whites.

Consequently (or so it seems to me), it's easier for some of us to engage in exploratory play than others.

Fear is also what makes exploratory play seem alternately precious and frivolous.

Precious because fear, in degrees minor and profound, is ubiquitous, and exploratory play accordingly rare no matter who you are.

Frivolous because for swaths of humanity, fear is a necessity, and exploratory play therefore seems like a nice perk afforded to the lucky among us who have escaped the need for constant watchfulness.

As a white man (whenever I see these two words together I imagine I'm sitting at a slot machine, watching them rotate into alignment), I'm one of those people. I've spent big parts of my adult life trying to cultivate a spirit of exploratory play, mainly because from where I sit, it looks like freedom. But I feel guilt too, because I'm getting to do something more or less off limits to a lot of others.

I've noticed spaces in which adults gather to cultivate exploratory play tend to be very white. For example:

* improv clubs - I did improv for three years, and oh my god was it white.

* Burning Man - I've never been but it has a [notorious reputation for whiteness](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/sep/04/burning-man-founder-larry-harvey-race-diversity-silicon-valley)

My theory is that the more fear you've lived with, the harder or more frivolous (or both) these sorts of pursuits seem.  So you don't undertake them. You leave them to the privileged.

But. If it's true, as I believe, that we learn best at play, it means inequality of opportunity for exploratory play could be yet another means through which privilege breeds privilege. I, white guy, can explore my interests more freely, more passionately, than someone more encumbered by fear, and that leads me to opportunities out of reach for others.

A close-at-hand example: my participation in this business, Move38, the business whose site you're reading right now.

I was traveling for work in Boston, staying at the house of a friend who was teaching at MIT (this story originates in a traditional kind of privilege - my friends have access to resources), and he told me there was an inventor in the MIT Media Lab who I had to meet.
<commit_msg>Updated Is Play A Right<commit_after>---
title: Do we have a right to play?
date: 2016-09-24 11:22:00 -04:00
---

Since we're starting a company with play as a central value, I've been thinking about it. What is it, and do we have a right to it?

Let's start with what it means to play. I don't have one single definition. Instead I propose there are two kinds of play:

* competitive play: what you do when you're trying to win a game

* exploratory play: what you do with your action figures on a rainy Sunday when you're 12.

Here's the difference:

* competitive play is goal-driven, bound by rules, and not much hindered by fear (in fact fear can drive competitive play). The purpose is to experience the thrill of achievement beyond what's possible in day-to-day life.

* exploratory play isn't goal-driven, isn't bound by rules, and is hindered by fear. The purpose is to delight in curiosity and imagination. That's hard to do when you're fearful. 

Competitive play is available to most of us, exploratory play less so. The reason is fear.

Everyone fears, but some more than others. The young tend to fear less than the old, the rich less than the poor, and in the US where I live, whites less than non-whites.

Consequently (or so it seems to me), it's easier for some of us to engage in exploratory play than others.

Fear is also what makes exploratory play seem alternately precious and frivolous.

Precious because fear, in degrees minor and profound, is ubiquitous, and exploratory play accordingly rare no matter who you are.

Frivolous because for swaths of humanity, fear is a necessity, and exploratory play therefore seems like a nice perk afforded to the lucky among us who have escaped the need for constant watchfulness.

As a white man (whenever I see these two words together I imagine I'm sitting at a slot machine, watching them rotate into alignment), I'm one of those people. I've spent big parts of my adult life trying to cultivate a spirit of exploratory play, mainly because from where I sit, it looks like freedom. But I feel guilt too, because I'm getting to do something more or less off limits to a lot of others.

I've noticed spaces in which adults gather to cultivate exploratory play tend to be very white. For example:

* improv clubs - I did improv for three years, and oh my god was it white.

* Burning Man - I've never been but it has a [notorious reputation for whiteness](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/sep/04/burning-man-founder-larry-harvey-race-diversity-silicon-valley)

My theory is that the more fear you've lived with, the harder or more frivolous (or both) these sorts of pursuits seem.  So you don't undertake them. You leave them to the privileged.

But. If it's true, as I believe, that we learn best at play, it means inequality of opportunity for exploratory play could be yet another means through which privilege breeds privilege. I, white guy, can explore my interests more freely, more passionately, than someone more encumbered by fear, and that leads me to opportunities out of others' reach.

A close-at-hand example: my participation in this business, Move38, the business whose site you're reading right now.

I was traveling for work in Boston, staying at the house of a friend who was teaching at MIT (this story originates in a traditional kind of privilege - my friends have access to resources), and he told me there was an inventor in the MIT Media Lab who I had to meet.

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