Play - Super Summary

This section of the book talks about Play and its importance in work, business, and personal life, through the use of games, humor, and joyfulness. Games teach whole-minded lessons. Humor is an indicator for managerial effectiveness and emotional intelligence. Joyfulness proves to make people more productive and fulfilled.

The formulation of Laughter Clubs, development of computer and video games, and the use of humor are discussed in this section. The purpose of the laughter clubs is to make people more playful. Playfulness activates the right side of the brain.

Video games can be "the ultimate learning machine." (J.P. Gee - U of Wisconsin) Gee states: "...when kids play video games they can experience a much more powerful form of learning than when they're in the classroom. Learning isn't about memorizing isolated facts. It's about connecting and manipulating them." Playing video games increases visual perception, the ability to detect changes in the environment, and the capacity to process information simultaneously. Evidence also shows better pattern recognition and problem-solving abilities.

The research in these areas is so compelling that university medical programs and the military have developed games for their training programs. Other universities have begun to offer degrees in entertainment technology and have included video games in their media studies programs.

The effective use and recognition of humor is one of the highest and most evolved human cognitive functions and indicates high emotional intelligence. The skillful use of humor can reduce hostilities, deflect criticism, relieve tension, improve moral, and help with communication. Research shows that laughter can decrease stress hormones and boost the immune system. People who laugh are more creative and productive, and work well with others.

Pink offers activities to promote Play such as the "Cartoon Caption Game" and "Dissect a Joke". He also informs us of a sense of humor scale that has been created, and provides the url for the site to take the test. He is adamant about our need to examine and understand video games to be able to understand the powerful new grammar, narrative pattern, and thinking styles that games are teaching. He provides many websites and magazine titles which will aid in our investigations.