playgency
30 Oct 2021 - 01 Oct 2026
- Playgency is a horrible word I came up with to denote something that doesn't seem to have a better one – the special kind of agency that is involved in Play . To be contrasted with the sort of dull default kind of agency of goals, methods, planning, etc.
- Related to Finite and Infinite Games. In finite games, the rules are given and the framework of competition (start time, end condition, etc) is determined outside of the game itself – it forms the container for a game. Whereas with the infinite game, everything is within it and the rules are necessarily malleable.
- In creative play, agency is required but it has to be a kind of self-referential, ironic kind. (in James Carse this manifests as "playing to keep the game going").