A Playful Path

A Playful Path PDF Author: Bernard De Koven
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1304351823
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
A Playful Path, the new book by games guru and fun theorist Bernard De Koven, serves as a collection of ideas and tools to help us bring our playfulness back into the open. When we find ourselves forgetting the life of the game or the game of life, the joy of form or the content, the play of brain or mind, body or spirit, this book can help us return to that which our soul is heir.

A Playful Path

A Playful Path PDF Author: Bernard De Koven
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1304351823
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Get Book Here

Book Description
A Playful Path, the new book by games guru and fun theorist Bernard De Koven, serves as a collection of ideas and tools to help us bring our playfulness back into the open. When we find ourselves forgetting the life of the game or the game of life, the joy of form or the content, the play of brain or mind, body or spirit, this book can help us return to that which our soul is heir.

The Well-Played Game

The Well-Played Game PDF Author: Bernard De Koven
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262019175
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
The return of the classic book on games and play that illuminates the relationship between the well-played game and the well-lived life. In The Well-Played Game, games guru Bernard De Koven explores the interaction of play and games, offering players—as well as game designers, educators, and scholars—a guide to how games work. De Koven’s classic treatise on how human beings play together, first published in 1978, investigates many issues newly resonant in the era of video and computer games, including social gameplay and player modification. The digital game industry, now moving beyond its emphasis on graphic techniques to focus on player interaction, has much to learn from The Well-Played Game. De Koven explains that when players congratulate each other on a “well-played” game, they are expressing a unique and profound synthesis that combines the concepts of play (with its associations of playfulness and fun) and game (with its associations of rule-following). This, he tells us, yields a larger concept: the experience and expression of excellence. De Koven—affectionately and appreciatively hailed by Eric Zimmerman as “our shaman of play”—explores the experience of a well-played game, how we share it, and how we can experience it again; issues of cheating, fairness, keeping score, changing old games (why not change the rules in pursuit of new ways to play?), and making up new games; playing for keeps; and winning. His book belongs on the bookshelves of players who want to find a game in which they can play well, who are looking for others with whom they can play well, and who have discovered the relationship between the well-played game and the well-lived life.

The Infinite Playground

The Infinite Playground PDF Author: Bernard De Koven
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262543869
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
In his final work, a visionary game designer reveals how a surprising range of play-based experiences can unlock our imagination and help us capture the power of fun and delight. Bernard De Koven (1941–2018) was a pioneering designer of games and theorist of fun. He studied games long before the field of game studies existed. For De Koven, games could not be reduced to artifacts and rules; they were about a sense of transcendent fun. This book, his last, is about the imagination: the imagination as a playground, a possibility space, and a gateway to wonder. The Infinite Playground extends a play-centered invitation to experience the power and delight unlocked by imagination. It offers a curriculum for playful learning. De Koven guides the readers through a series of observations and techniques, interspersed with games. He begins with the fundamentals of play, and proceeds through the private imagination, the shared imagination, and imagining the world—observing, “the things we imagine can become the world.” Along the way, he reminisces about playing ping-pong with basketball great Bill Russell; begins the instructions for a game called Reception Line with “Mill around”; and introduces blathering games—Blather, Group Blather, Singing Blather, and The Blather Chorale—that allow the player's consciousness to meander freely. Delivered during the last months of his life, The Infinite Playground has been painstakingly cowritten with Holly Gramazio, who worked together with coeditors Celia Pearce and Eric Zimmerman to complete the project as Bernie De Koven's illness made it impossible for him to continue writing. Other prominent game scholars and designers influenced by De Koven, including Katie Salen Tekinbaş, Jesper Juul, Frank Lantz, and members of Bernie's own family, contribute short interstitial essays.

Junkyard Sports

Junkyard Sports PDF Author: Bernie DeKoven
Publisher: Human Kinetics
ISBN: 9780736052078
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
This resource offers more than 75 innovative, creative, and challenging demonstration games in six traditional team sports (soccer, football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and volleyball), while employing nontraditional approaches.

A Playful Production Process

A Playful Production Process PDF Author: Richard Lemarchand
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262045516
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
How to achieve a happier and healthier game design process by connecting the creative aspects of game design with techniques for effective project management. This book teaches game designers, aspiring game developers, and game design students how to take a digital game project from start to finish—from conceptualizing and designing to building, playtesting, and iterating—while avoiding the uncontrolled overwork known among developers as “crunch.” Written by a legendary game designer, A Playful Production Process outlines a process that connects the creative aspects of game design with proven techniques for effective project management. The book outlines four project phases—ideation, preproduction, full production, and post-production—that give designers and developers the milestones they need to advance from the first glimmerings of an idea to a finished game.

Lost in the Wild

Lost in the Wild PDF Author: Ryan Jacobson
Publisher: Adventure Publications
ISBN: 1591932963
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
It's supposed to be a fun camping trip with your family. But when your sister and you get caught in a terrible thunderstorm, your relaxing vacation becomes an endless struggle to stay alive! Do you have what it takes to save your sister and yourself from unknown dangers? Or will your choices lead to a tragic ending? Put yourself in this adventure and find out. Test your survival skills with outcomes affected by your decisions!

A Playful Path

A Playful Path PDF Author: Bernard De Koven
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781490333816
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
Playfulness isn't an achievement, it's a gift. And that gift comes to those who choose to receive it. Even though I rigorously claim that "playful path is the shortest road to happiness," it often happens that we don't choose to be playful. We could, but we don't. Maybe we're not happy enough. Maybe some perverse part of ourselves is having more fun being miserable. But even the best of us, even the most professionally playful of us, forget to be playful. And even though we have the choice and we know we have the choice, we simply can't get ourselves to play. We can't act playfully, or feel playful or be playful. This book serves as a reminder, as a guide, as a tool to help you find your own playful path, to help you help others find theirs. It's designed so that you can read it from cover to cover, or just open it anywhere, just to see what comes up, just for the fun of it. Bernard DeKoven has been exploring playfulness for more than 45 years. His book, The Well-Played Game, originally served to help guide people who had discover the power of play through the New Games Foundation. Today it serves designers of videogames who also want to share the power of play through their new games and new visons of playfulness. There's much more on his website - deepfun.com

A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better

A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better PDF Author: Benjamin Wood
Publisher: Europa Editions
ISBN: 1609456831
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
CWA Gold Dagger Award Finalist: “A slow-burn thriller about a road trip that takes a shocking turn, and the lasting impact of trauma.” —Shelf Awareness (starred review) Shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature “His mistakes are my inheritance. The rotten blood he gave me is the blood I will pass on.” For twenty years, Daniel Hardesty, who now goes by a different name, has lived with the emotional scars of a childhood trauma he is powerless to undo. One August morning, young Daniel and his estranged father, Francis—a character of irresistible charm and roiling self-pity—set out on a road trip that seems a promise to salvage their relationship. They have one shared interest: The Artifex—a children’s TV program where Fran works on set—and Daniel has been promised special access to the studio. But with every passing mile, the layers of Fran’s mendacity and desperation are exposed, pushing him to acts of violence that will define the rest of his son’s life. From the author of The Ecliptic, this is a “harrowing and unforgettable” novel about the bond between fathers and sons, and the invention and reconciliation of self—weaving a haunting story of lost innocence and love (Booklist, starred review). “A novel written from the gut, and with a correspondingly visceral power . . . superbly unsettling.” —Sarah Waters, author of The Paying Guests “A novel of expertly woven tension and frightening glimpses into the mind of the deranged other.” —The Guardian “Full of suspense and beautifully written . . . terrifically gripping.” —The Sunday Times

The Playful Classroom

The Playful Classroom PDF Author: Jed Dearybury
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119674395
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Shows teachers how and why they should bring play into the classroom to make learning meaningful, relevant, and fun. Research studies show that all students—young and old, rich and poor, urban and rural—benefit immensely from classrooms filled with art, creativity, and laughter. Fun, playfulness, creative thinking, and individual expression reinforce positive experiences, which in turn lead to more engaged students, better classroom environments, and successful learning outcomes. Designed for K-12 educators, The Playful Classroom describes how teachers can develop a playful mindset for giving students meaningful, relevant and fun learning experiences. This unique real-world guide provides you with everything you need to incorporate engaging, hands-on lessons and creative activities, regardless of the level and subject you teach. Building on contemporary and seminal works on learning theory and play pedagogy, the authors explain how to inspire your students by bringing play. into your classroom. This clear, user-friendly guide supplies practical strategies and effective solutions for adding the missing ingredients to your classroom culture. Access to the authors’ companion website provides videos, learning experiences, and downloadable teaching and learning resources. Packed with relatable humor, proven methods, and valuable insights, this book enables you to: Provide meaningful experiences that will benefit students both in school and later in life Combine the principles of PLAY with traditional curricula to encourage creative learning Promote trust, collaboration, and growth in students Develop a playful mindset for bringing the arts into every lesson Foster critical thinking in any school community The Playful Classroom: The Power of Play for All Ages is a must-have resource for K-12 educators, higher education professionals, and readers looking for education-based professional development and training resources.

Playful Intelligence

Playful Intelligence PDF Author: Anthony T. DeBenedet
Publisher: Santa Monica Press
ISBN: 1595807934
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
As adults, we have more responsibilities than we could have ever imagined growing up. Learning the work of marriage. Navigating the bumpy terrain of parenting. Maintaining social relationships. Facing grave hardship. Finding contentment in our career. As the years pass by, we sense how the good things in life are so often eclipsed by stress. We find ourselves doing everything we can just to endure adulthood, all the while wondering whether we are actually enjoying it. This is exactly why Dr. Anthony T. DeBenedet decided to write Playful Intelligence: The Power of Living Lightly in a Serious World, to show readers how playfulness helps us counterbalance the seriousness of adulthood. “Five years ago, my life was becoming more intense and stressful,” DeBenedet says. “My relationships, clinical work as a physician, and basic interactions with the world were blurring into a frazzled mosaic. Going through the motions became my norm, and every day brought busyness and exhaustion. I thought about whether I was depressed. I didn’t think I was. Anxious? Sure, but aren’t we all anxious on some level? I also thought about the lifestyle factors that could be making me feel this way. Was I getting enough sleep? Was I exercising regularly? Was I eating healthy? Was I playing and remembering to be playful?” Today, we live in a taxing world. The endless pressure to keep up with our responsibilities and the daily headlines swarming around us can be overwhelming. DeBenedet’s work comes at a time when stress, uncertainty, and intensity levels are high. Playful Intelligence shows adults that there is a way to live lighter—and smarter—as we navigate the seriousness of adulthood. It’s not about taking life less seriously; it’s about taking ourselves less seriously. The book’s core chapters are devoted to exploring the effects and benefits of five playful qualities: imagination, sociability, humor, spontaneity, and wonder. By examining playfulness as a sum of its parts, readers will gain a working awareness of its power and be able to apply playful principles to their own lives, bringing the magic of childhood back into their day-to-day existence. The book also offers practical suggestions on how to make life more playful in nature.