Delivered by Pat Kane at the TIE conference, Brussels, 9 April 2008. Additonal notes, material and references to the slides are in the 'download' file.

1. PLAYING OUR PART TO
CHANGE LIVES
An overview of the role of toys and
play in today’s society
Pat Kane author of “The Play Ethic”

2. Play is moving to the centre of our
value-systems in the West, after
nearly two centuries sitting on the
sidelines of the industrial age.

3. In the 00’s, play is a positive
mainstream lifestyle identity
London, 7 April, 9am-12pm

4. In the 00’s, play is also a mainstream political goal - at
national level…
‘Yes we can’
From the ‘I
need’ to the ‘I
want’ to the ‘I
can’ generation
“In society, the spectators are taking the stage,
and becoming players themselves” - D. Miliband

5. And a mainstream political goal - at global level…
1989 UN Convention on the rights of the child, General
Assembly Resolution 44/25, Article 31 1. States Parties
recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to
engage in play and recreational activities appropriate
to the age of the child and to participate freely in
cultural life and the arts.
The 2007 Unicef
report on Britain’s
poor environment
for children has
been a huge spur to
reform…
How will toy-makers
participate in this?

6. New science
of play -
bringing
many
insights to
the role of
play, toys
and
technology
in childrens’
(and adults’)
lives ….

7. “Scientists who study play, in animals and
humans alike, are developing a consensus
view that play is something more than a
way for restless kids to work off steam;
more than a way for chubby kids to burn
off calories; more than a frivolous luxury.
Play, in their view, is a central part of
neurological growth and development -
one important way that children build
complex, skilled, responsive, socially
adept and cognitively flexible brains.”
Play is “adaptive potentiation” (Sutton-Smith) - we do the
experiments, and take the risks, of play, to increase our
“response abilities”, to improve our survival rate alongside other
complex social animals.

8. Society, culture, technology,
national and international
politicians and hard science
are now all taking play
seriously…. Shouldn’t this be
a golden age for toy-makers?
In 2007, we know
why it isn’t…
…Let’s explore how it could
be…

9. PLAY, TOYS AND THE NET
Driven by the Millenials/Gen Y and their younger brothers and
sisters, we are becoming a society that is accustomed to 'playing
together' through communication networks.
Can toy manufacturers match, or tap into, this playful energy
we see children and young adults exerting in the virtual world?

10. PLAY, TOYS AND THE NET: OPPORTUNITIES?
A lot of parental worry about
the net - toy makers can create
‘safe havens’ by extending the
‘good play’ inherent in their
brands on line.
A ‘Spore’ toy, designed by
Spore player, made by EA…
could kids develop their own
toy-objects online - and could
they be 3D-printed, either
locally or mail-order?

11. PLAY, TOYS AND ‘QUALITY-OF-LIFE’
In an accelerating
society, ’a chance to
play together' - at
home, on holiday or
in a 'third space' (like
Starbucks) - becomes
a precious
opportunity for
children, adults and
families to restore
balance. How can
toys and games playing Cranium at
become the Xmas
opportunity for that?

12. PLAY, TOYS AND ‘QUALITY-OF-LIFE’
Quality-of-life can
also be anxieties
about
consumerism,
about
environmental
wastefulness…
the ‘inconvenient
truths’
Some discomfort
in this ‘post-
materialist’
world-view for
the toy industry Who is this
man?

13. PLAY, TOYS AND
‘QUALITY-OF-LIFE’ “Our epidemics of
addiction could be
“Play is to work as caused by the lack
waking is to of restorative play
dreaming – that is, in our lives – we
play is restorative… 'lose ourselves' in
A history of play thrills and pills
creates a pool of because we don't
good feelings that have the
families can draw on opportunity to 'find
in hard times…” ourselves' in play”.
“Play is also an aerobic workout for the human capacity to
change. Perhaps a sustained immaturity is an advantage in a
constant world of change. To stop playing is to stop developing”

14. PLAY, TOYS AND EDUCATION
Kids completely absorbed
by digital games and toys
with ascending levels of
difficulty…
… but bored and
unengaged with the
traditional topics and
methods of the curriculum.
Is there a chance for toy-
makers to bridge this huge
gap?

15. PLAY, TOYS AND EDUCATION
Toys have always been informal opportunities for
learning - from baseball cards to Pokemon…

16. PLAY, TOYS AND EDUCATION
PLAY - “the capacity to
experiment with your
surroundings as a form of
problem solving”
Other “core skills for the new
participatory culture” in this
report were:
PERFORMANCE, SIMULATING NEW
WORLDS, REMIXING,
MULTITASKING, USING DIGITAL
TOOLS WELL, SHARING …Surely some opportunity
KNOWLEDGE, JUDGEMENT, for innovative toys there?
NAVIGATING ACROSS MEDIA,
TOLERANCE OF PERSPECTIVES…

17. PLAY, TOYS AND HUMAN NATURE
TOYS DON’T HAVE TO BECOME INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION AND
WELL-BEING… THEY CAN BE HORRIBLE TOO - IT’S NATURAL!
“In the tough play-cultures of the schoolyard, children learn all
those necessary arts of trickery, deception, harassment,
divination and foul play that their teachers won’t teach them but
are most important in successful human relationships in
marriage, business and war.” Brian Sutton-Smith, Toys as
Culture, 1994

18. PLAY, TOYS AND HUMAN NATURE
CRITICS SAY THAT HEAVILY
‘BRANDED/SCRIPTED’ TOYS
LIMIT CHILDREN’S
IMAGINATION. BUT HOW
UNLIMITED IS CHILDREN’S
IMAGINATION ANYWAY?
MAYAN CHILDREN teach
their younger siblings how
to pretend in the most David Lancy, an anthropologist at Utah
pedestrian of ways, State University: ‘‘Children’s make-
‘‘focusing their attention believe and, by extension, other play
on washing, caring for forms, is constrained by the roles,
babies and cooking’’ scripts and props of the culture they live
in.”

19. PLAY YOUR PART TO CHANGE LIVES
THAT MEANS AN EVEN GREATER RESPONSIBILITY TO CREATE RICH
NARRATIVES AND STORIES FROM TOY MAKERS AND PROGRAM
MAKERS… A GREAT HUMANISTIC AND ARTISTIC CHALLENGE!
HOW DO YOU MEET THAT CHALLENGE? SOME ADVICE
FROM ‘MAJOR FUN’ (BERNIE DE KOVEN,
DEEPFUN.COM)
1. Make your workplaces fun.
2. Connect your departments.
3. Don't just design for kids, design with kids.
4. Don't waste our time with a Star Wars version of
Monopoly that plays just like Monopoly. Give us the
kind of Monopoly Luke and Darth played when they
were kids.
5. And make it fun and profitable, in equal parts.

20. PLAY YOUR PART TO CHANGE LIVES
FUN…
PROFITABLE…
AND ETHICAL!
Patkane@theplayethic.com
www.theplayethic.com