Game-Playing

One common medium of Play is the Game. Two main characteristics of games are their artificiality and their exceptionality. Their artificiality consists in their being arbitrary constuctions, beginning with their rules, and their exceptionality consists in their detachment from general social activity, e. g. physical contact that would qualify as 'Battery' in general circumstances, is not merely acceptable in Football and Hockey, but essential to them. Now, because artificiality and exceptionality are two characteristics that are generally considered to be extrinisic to the prevailing American ethos, games serve an ancillary role in this society. But these common attitudes are expressions of deep ideological prejudice. In contrast, for Formaterialism, artificiality is creativity, exceptionality is supererogatory, and game-playing is Idionomic activity--Individuals voluntarily conducting themselves on the basis of rules that they themselves construct for themselves, performing actions that are beyond the call of duty. So, rather than being socially extrinsic and ancillary, game-players exemplify characteristics that are not only worthy in Formaterialism, but have frequently been regarded as ideal in some tradional Systems. Perhaps, then, the uses in recent decades of the notion of Game to characterize everyday activities such as decision-making and language-use are further indications of the emergence of Homo Ludens