Okay.
So I’ll admit it, right here, right now:
I played with toys WAY longer than was socially accepted.
I continued playing with my action figures until maybe until I was about 14.
Okay, keep laughing. Are you done yet? Alright. Okay.
Really, the kinds of “play” that I was doing by the end was fairly sophisticated roleplaying stuff, the kind of thing that I was also doing with my roleplaying pals when we played Dungeons and Dragons.
I was imagining strange worlds, odd monster races, and weird stories.
You know what, I’m okay with that. Why?
I’ll tell you a secret:
Because great design and creation is all about PLAY. I’m not saying that I’m great at it, mind you, but I am saying that Play is the foundation of what I create, how I think, and maybe even a little of how I live.
Now, Play has to be tempered with thought, planning, and a whole lot of hard work to be meaningful, but the end result is fairly worthless without this foundation.
And if I’ve stayed being a kid a bit too long, oh well, that’s okay. I need to keep thinking like I did when I was 14. It’s important to me.
Is Play part of your life anymore?
- Daniel
Related posts:
Road games, inside jokes and pranks keep life interesting. Being married to the same gal for a 25 laps around the sun has us spouting just the punchlines and we crack up. Laughter is forever!
Smile lines and crowsfeet complete my portrait. Botox and artificial, puffy eternal youth is fleeting.
We rode by a graveyard with some friends and they shouted from their motorcycle: “Hey, how many dead people do you suppose are in there?”
I replied, “Dunno?”
They replied, “All of them!”
(Life is short so laugh often and enjoy the majestic creation of this planet we call earth.)
At this moment I have a Terminator endoskeleton action figure pulling the arms off a Crash Test Dummy figure on top of my computer case while Swamp Thing cheers them on…
So don’t give me any nonsense about being too old to play.
I have a Nerf gun and I’m not afraid to use it!
Yeah, I’d say play figures a large role in my life, whether gaming, basketball, with my legion of kids, or at work. Most things can be fun if you have the right attitude.
Play is still a huge part of my life. Given, I’m only 21, so childhood isn’t THAT long ago, but I also never really grew up… I was a mature kid and now I’m something close to an adult, but with lots of toys. I still own my dolls and Legos and Playmobils and stuffed animals, and I still mess with my paper dolls (my collection continues to be one of my favorite things I own).
In my opinion, there’s no reason to stop playing with toys, or skipping around pretending to ride a horse (as I did a few nights ago), or generally “acting like a kid.” All my play as a kid helped me develop my still over-active imagination, and continuing to play and imagine – now as a writer – makes me very happy today. I wouldn’t give up my imagination and my sense of wonder and joy and play for the world.
I have a fair collection of action figures and small toys on the dash of the RV [not to mention boxes and boxes in storage] and they get played with frequently on the road. Tiny puffy kawaii “superhero squad” Punisher and Ghost Rider have had some epic adventures on The Incorrigible.