Watson, Max. A Medley of Manings: Insights from an Instance of Gameplay in League of Legends, Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology; Bucharest Vol. 6, Iss. 1, (Summer 2015): 225-243. (Thomas)

From Digital Culture & Society

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Why do people play the games they play? This article discusses what makes play meaningful for the player. The article is split into two parts. First, the author introduces and examines approaches and theories other scholars have used to examine play, and what makes play meaningful, if at all. The author then introduces his idea that games are a medley of meaning, that each player brings their own subjective meaning to gameplay. The second half of the article, The author demonstrates the medley of meaning theory through an ethnographic example of gameplay in League of Legends.

The article mentions classical theorist Johan Huizinga to establish a history of scholars saying that playing games in fact, meaningful. Then it continues on to explain Huizinga's understanding of meaning in play. Although Huizinga did not have a chance to examine digital games, the author believes that his principles of meaningful play still hold true in a digital format, and reflects back to Huizinga's work throughout the article.