WHY DO PEOPLE PLAY?

Why do people play? As a child, it seems only natural to while away one’s time playing, yet one does not know why. Maybe, because, to a child, play seems like worth and is worthwhile. Or, after the initial instincts of survival, such as consumption of food and going to sleep, the pleasure centers of the brain are some of the first to become developed, resulting in a child’s wanting to engage in pleasure, or in other words, to play.


Why then, do adults still play? It is a common observation that, the older one gets, the less one engages in play, yet it seems that play itself never truly goes away. There are even such phrases as “toys for the big boys”, implying more complex ways to engage in play. Hot Wheels evolve into Ferraris, and video game guns to actual, live firearms. This then implies that play is not merely for the child and is something that, once learned, is perhaps never let go, but only adapted into other forms.