There have been a number of recent articles on games and playing, in a range of BBC Radio 4 programmes including You & Yours, Mark Watson’s Inner Child, Saturday Live and “Do Pass Go”.  Today, there was another half hour documentary called “The Human at Play”, which set out to answer the question of why it’s becoming more acceptable for adults to play.  Starting at the London Toy Fair, Farrah Jarral then visited the Bristol game cafe Chance and Counters and spoke to play advocates, activists and academics as well as representatives of the UK games distributor Esdevium (now part of the Greater Asmodée).  They get a little bogged down on the definition of “play”, but there are a number of interesting points come out of the discussion.  Among these the fact that boardgaming is currently growing at a rate of 20-40% year on year – a mind-blowing statistic, but one that most Euro-gamers will have seen anecdotal evidence of.  They also conclude that not only is it OK for adults to play, it is also very valuable and may even be “essential to the future survival of our species”.

– Image from bbc.co.uk

“The Human at Play” is currently available on the BBC iPlayer.