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| Play is an activity designed to entertain and relax, to create pleasure and amusement. It has an important role to play in human mental health. Aristotle called it cathartic, because it releases tension. But it also often has the opposite role: it creates tension and excitement (often linked to fear), as well as powerful emotions (linked to its hazards, the desire to win, the weight of the stakes...) which are the source of a certain pleasure. What's more, most games play a significant role in the socialization of human beings, by teaching respect for rules, cooperation and competition... Of course, not all games have the same status. There are games of skill, sports games, gambling games, educational games, games of chance, video games, role-playing games, simulation games, adventure games, management games and so on. A game of any kind fulfills its role of providing pleasure or training for mental or physical activity, as long as the outcome is not known in advance. |
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