Playing and Gaming - Studied in an Informal Learning Setting

The paper develops an approach of playing and gaming activities through the perspective of both activities as mood activities (Karoff 2013). The point of departure is that a game - whether it is ludic or paideiac - is a tool with which we, through our practices, achieve different moods. This based on an empirical study of children's everyday lives, where the differences emerge through actual practices (Schmidt 2011, Heidegger 1996), i.e. through the creation of meaning in the specific situations. The overall argument is that it is not that important whether it is a playing or a gaming activity - it is however crucial to be aware of how moods occur and what their optimal conditions are. Following Lave and Wenger (1991), participation in particular is essential. Learning this, the community of practice becomes crucial for learning the meanings of different moods as they emerge through because it is through the shared practices it becomes possible. This perspective has two dimensions: practices and moods. Practice is the concept of all the doing in the activities. Moods are the particular concept of sense and feeling of being, which is what we are drawn to when we are playing or gaming.