The Play Ethic and The Toy Industry

PLAYING OUR PART TO CHANGE LIVES An overview of the role of toys and play in today’s society Pat Kane author of “The Play Ethic”

Play is moving to the centre of our value-systems in the West, after nearly two centuries sitting on the sidelines of the industrial age.

In the 00’s, play is a positive mainstream lifestyle identity London, 7 April, 9am-12pm

In the 00’s, play is also a mainstream political goal - at national level… ‘ Yes we can’ From the ‘I need’ to the ‘I want’ to the ‘I can’ generation “ In society, the spectators are taking the stage, and becoming players themselves” - D. Miliband

And a mainstream political goal - at global level… 1989 UN Convention on the rights of the child, General Assembly Resolution 44/25, Article 31 1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts. The 2007 Unicef report on Britain’s poor environment for children has been a huge spur to reform… How will toy-makers participate in this?

New science of play - bringing many insights to the role of play, toys and technology in childrens’ (and adults’) lives ….

“ Scientists who study play, in animals and humans alike, are developing a consensus view that play is something more than a way for restless kids to work off steam; more than a way for chubby kids to burn off calories; more than a frivolous luxury. Play, in their view, is a central part of neurological growth and development - one important way that children build complex, skilled, responsive, socially adept and cognitively flexible brains.” Play is “adaptive potentiation” (Sutton-Smith) - we do the experiments, and take the risks, of play, to increase our “response abilities”, to improve our survival rate alongside other complex social animals.

Society, culture, technology, national and international politicians and hard science are now all taking play seriously…. Shouldn’t this be a golden age for toy-makers? In 2007, we know why it isn’t… … Let’s explore how it could be…

PLAY, TOYS AND THE NET Driven by the Millenials/Gen Y and their younger brothers and sisters, we are becoming a society that is accustomed to 'playing together' through communication networks. Can toy manufacturers match, or tap into, this playful energy we see children and young adults exerting in the virtual world ?

PLAY, TOYS AND THE NET: OPPORTUNITIES? A lot of parental worry about the net - toy makers can create ‘safe havens’ by extending the ‘good play’ inherent in their brands on line. A ‘Spore’ toy, designed by Spore player, made by EA… could kids develop their own toy-objects online - and could they be 3D-printed, either locally or mail-order?

PLAY, TOYS AND ‘QUALITY-OF-LIFE’ In an accelerating society, ’a chance to play together' - at home, on holiday or in a 'third space' (like Starbucks) - becomes a precious opportunity for children, adults and families to restore balance. How can toys and games become the opportunity for that? playing Cranium at Xmas

PLAY, TOYS AND ‘QUALITY-OF-LIFE’ Quality-of-life can also be anxieties about consumerism, about environmental wastefulness… the ‘inconvenient truths’ Some discomfort in this ‘post-materialist’ world-view for the toy industry Who is this man?

PLAY, TOYS AND ‘ QUALITY-OF-LIFE’ “ Play is to work as waking is to dreaming – that is, play is restorative… A history of play creates a pool of good feelings that families can draw on in hard times…” “ Play is also an aerobic workout for the human capacity to change. Perhaps a sustained immaturity is an advantage in a constant world of change. To stop playing is to stop developing” “ Our epidemics of addiction could be caused by the lack of restorative play in our lives – we 'lose ourselves' in thrills and pills because we don't have the opportunity to 'find ourselves' in play”.

PLAY, TOYS AND EDUCATION Kids completely absorbed by digital games and toys with ascending levels of difficulty… … but bored and unengaged with the traditional topics and methods of the curriculum. Is there a chance for toy-makers to bridge this huge gap?

PLAY, TOYS AND EDUCATION Toys have always been informal opportunities for learning - from baseball cards to Pokemon…

PLAY, TOYS AND EDUCATION PLAY - “the capacity to experiment with your surroundings as a form of problem solving” Other “core skills for the new participatory culture” in this report were: PERFORMANCE, SIMULATING NEW WORLDS, REMIXING, MULTITASKING, USING DIGITAL TOOLS WELL, SHARING KNOWLEDGE, JUDGEMENT, NAVIGATING ACROSS MEDIA, TOLERANCE OF PERSPECTIVES… … Surely some opportunity for innovative toys there?

PLAY, TOYS AND HUMAN NATURE TOYS DON’T HAVE TO BECOME INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION AND WELL-BEING… THEY CAN BE HORRIBLE TOO - IT’S NATURAL! “ In the tough play-cultures of the schoolyard, children learn all those necessary arts of trickery, deception, harassment, divination and foul play that their teachers won’t teach them but are most important in successful human relationships in marriage, business and war.” Brian Sutton-Smith, Toys as Culture, 1994

PLAY, TOYS AND HUMAN NATURE CRITICS SAY THAT HEAVILY ‘BRANDED/SCRIPTED’ TOYS LIMIT CHILDREN’S IMAGINATION. BUT HOW UNLIMITED IS CHILDREN’S IMAGINATION ANYWAY? David Lancy, an anthropologist at Utah State University: ‘‘Children’s make-believe and, by extension, other play forms, is constrained by the roles, scripts and props of the culture they live in.” MAYAN CHILDREN teach their younger siblings how to pretend in the most pedestrian of ways, ‘‘focusing their attention on washing, caring for babies and cooking’’

PLAY YOUR PART TO CHANGE LIVES THAT MEANS AN EVEN GREATER RESPONSIBILITY TO CREATE RICH NARRATIVES AND STORIES FROM TOY MAKERS AND PROGRAM MAKERS… A GREAT HUMANISTIC AND ARTISTIC CHALLENGE!

HOW DO YOU MEET THAT CHALLENGE? SOME ADVICE FROM ‘MAJOR FUN’ (BERNIE DE KOVEN, DEEPFUN.COM)

Make your workplaces fun.

Connect your departments.

Don't just design for kids, design with kids.

Don't waste our time with a Star Wars version of Monopoly that plays just like Monopoly. Give us the kind of Monopoly Luke and Darth played when they were kids.