The Eight Play Personalities, and Why They Matter
When I searched for images of “play,” I found tons of photos of children, and not one image of adults meaningfully engaged in a flow state.
But play, of course, is not just for children. Play helps us prefrontal cortex-heavy human beings continue to grow throughout our adult lives.
Defining Play
We can define play as something we engage in for it’s own sake, that’s enjoyable, that we would like to continue doing, if we could, and that, sometimes, alters our normal perceptions of self and time.
Play nourishes us as we go along — and helps us innovate new processes, foster human connections, generate new neural networks, and imagine new ways of being in the world.
Serious play, in other words, is serious business. Play can help us reset, relax, and re-calibrate — to tap into new potential futures.
Stuart Brown, M.D., the director of the National Institute for Play, has taken the “play histories” of over 6000 people. In so doing, he’s noticed eight general archetypes, or personalities, of play.
I’m sharing these eight play personalities in hopes that they clarify new ways for us to lean into our natural strengths as players, and also, perhaps, play with new ways of playing in and around our lives and works.
We can go back into our memories of how we were as children, and potentially interview our parents: how did we play when we were kids? And how might we integrate that type of play into our adult lives?
The Eight Play Personalities
The Explorers
Our journeys might be physical, emotional, and or mental. Explorers have an enthusiasm for discovery: for new points of view, new relationships, and or new experiences.
The Competitors
We play to win, and we love it. We need to know the rules, and we have a lot of fun keeping score and rising to the top of other competitors on the field. These games can be social or solitary in nature.
The Directors
We like to orchestrate and execute complex situations and events. Throwing parties, organizing meetings, we love the power and the thrill of putting people and things into places that makes something great.
The Collectors
We love to assemble and gather things or experiences. We find what is interesting about coins, cards, or hot spring destinations. We develop excellent taste, and have a showroom to show for it.
The Artists / Creators
We find joy in making things, in creating something where there wasn’t something before. These creations may be functional or funky, architectural or ephemeral. Wood-working, music-making, and gardening included.
The Jokers
Some people call us space-cowboys, some call us gangsters of love. We have been revered in history as tricksters, noble fools, and powerful truth-tellers. We might be accused of being nonsensical, but we know how powerful nonsense can be.
The Athletes / Dancers
We are at our best when we’re moving and engaging our physical body. We might like playing physical games, but for us, the joy isn’t really in the winning — it’s the feeling of dynamic embodiment. We move to think.
The Story Tellers
We cherish the imagination, and partake more deeply in narrative arcs than most. We can find elements of plot and character where others do not, and have the power to transform the mundane with flights of fancy.
✍️ For greater self-awareness:
Which are you? Do you recognize yourself in two or three?
How might you integrate more of your play personalities into your work?
📚 For further reading:
Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, by Stuart Brown, M.D. (Penguin, 2009)
