The evolution of game play. Subordination of spontaneity to arbitrary conventions

Among the many issues that are raised in the context of the development of preschool children, among others, there is the one devoted to the issue of play and games. However, the need to play does not cease with the end of the developmental stage that is childhood. Playing as a natural need of the species homo sapiens, along with cognitive activity (the need to learn) and social activity, are considered elementary forms of human activity also in adulthood and old age. In considering the evolution of playfulness in games, the fact of the identity of the concepts of “fun” and “play” and the possible differences in the meanings of these two concepts were emphasized. The vividness of play may be subject to discipline. The existence of a large body of literature on play (children’s, adult) sometimes relegates the analysis of the process of evolution of play activity into play (cycle: play-game). Certain categories of fun and games are very clearly arranged in a temporal sequence related to their appearance and the transition of one into another (fun into games). This issue is not one of the well-studied, but some outline of this thought can already be described.