Play

 Vygotsky L.S (1978) Mind in Society.

Vygotsky regonised that play became a mechanism for a child to « experience unrealizable tendencies » play becames the « illusory world » in which the tensions caused can be relieved and in order to be able to enter this illusory world the child requires a new psychological process – Imagination.

He sees Imagination as a defining characteristic of play. Vygotsky describes the evolution of children’s play as a move from games with an overt imaginary situation and covert rules to one where the rules become overt and the imaginary situation outlines become covert.  Imagination is the first indication of the child becoming emancipated from situational constraints –

Maximum pleasure in play is obtained by subjecting oneself to rules and renouncing impulsive actions.

Play gives a child new forms of desire, desires are related to a fictitious « I », the I who has a role in the game and its rules.

Very young children In Lewins studies as quoted by Vygotsky, are motivated by the objects themselves, perception is an integrated feature of a motor reaction, every perception is a stimulus for activity, the very young child is constrained by the situation in which they find themselves. Through play the child begins to act independatly of the object they see and this indicates a divergence between meaning and vision. Thought is separated from objects and actions are motivated from ideas rather than these objects. For very young children meaning is subordinate to the object. The first transition occurs semantically whereb the child accepts a word as the property of an object. The object « hides » behind the word. . This allows the child to achieve a functional definition of concepts or objects and the words become part of these.

IMAGINATION IS AN EMANCIPATION FROM SIUTATIONAL CONSTRAINTS.

For maximum pleasure through play, the child must renounce action and subordinate themselves to the rules of the game. Play is the « realm of spontaneity and freedom » and subordinating to the rules becomes a source of pleasure. Play changes the form of desire. Change from the impulsive action

Enter into a game, one enters as a fictious « I », with an alienated meaning in a real situation, rules become desires,

The meaning of the action is detached from the actual action, a from of the action replaces the real one

Behaviour is not bound by the immediate perceptual field.

Play is not the child’s other world.

Play contains all developmental tendencies and is itself a major source of development.

In contrast to the instructional-development realtionship, the play-development relationship places the player in a ZPD.


MUVEs create the illusory world for the children.