18 August 2016
Homo Ludens
The world at play – a serious business.
by Neil Tidmarsh
Have you had a crack at playing Pokemon Go yet? No, neither have I. You do know what Pokemon Go is all about, don’t you? No, neither do I. I haven’t the faintest. To tell you the truth, I have enough trouble handling real reality without having to deal with “augmented reality” as well.
Nevertheless, in the spirit of Johan Huizinga, it’s worth taking a look at the reactions of various cultures and countries to this international phenomena as it sweeps the world. Johan Huizinga was the Dutch historian and cultural theorist who coined the term homo ludens (‘playing man’, or ‘man the games-player’) in 1938; he emphasised the importance of play to human beings, and its essential role in forming cultures and societies. As human cultures and societies are clearly very diverse, so attitudes to play must be very diverse, too; and the various attitudes of different countries to any game with a global reach must reveal something about those differences.
What’s that you say? The Olympic Games? Rio de Janeiro, right now? Well, perhaps, but I can’t help feeling that the bans against Russian athletes have been rather a spoil-sport move for anyone like Johan Huizinga, a bit of a wet blanket thrown over our scientific endeavours. (But not entirely extinguishing them; worthy of further research, surely, are the rather mystifying verdicts in two recent boxing events – in the heavyweight final, the Russian boxer was given the gold medal after receiving what many considered to be a thorough beating by his opponent from Kazakhstan; and in the bantamweight quarter-final the Russian boxer was judged the winner against his opponent, the world amateur champion from Belfast, who appeared to have won all four rounds.)
The Russian reaction to Pokemon Go is much less cryptic and much more revealing. Many Russians have managed to download it, even though it hasn’t yet been released there. And the reaction of the Russian state, church and media?
God’s Will (an Orthodox movement) has asked the game’s creators to stay clear of all religious sites (fair enough). But a senior security official has been quoted as saying “There is a feeling that the Devil is coming through this mechanism and is trying to destroy us spiritually from within.” Other security officials suspect that it might be a CIA plot. A retired security service major-general was quoted on state media as suggesting that it could be a ploy by western intelligence outfits to trick Russians into taking photos of strategically important places. The state media has warned that playing the game in church or on international borders could risk three years in prison. And the country has hit back by launching a rival smartphone game app called Discover Moscow Photo, featuring a quest not for cartoon fantasy creatures but for Yuri Gagarin, Ivan the Terrible, Tchaikovsky and other famous Russians. Hmmm. Might just catch on. How can I download it?
Iran has gone even further. The game hasn’t been released in Iran, either, but again users have been able to download the app via virtual private networks. Nevertheless, it has been banned; the head of the country’s Supreme Council of Virtual Space has condemned its “location-based virtual reality technology” as “inappropriate”. Here, also, there are fears that it could be used for spying; Iran suspects any western information-technology of targetting its military secrets (and who can blame them, given the success of the Stuxnet virus launched against their nuclear facilities by, allegedly, the CIA and Mossad?). But, security aside, it’s hardly surprising that the game has been banned by a regime that disapproves of other frivolities such as pop music and dancing.
The game is not officially available in Malaysia, either, but, yet again, the eager populace has managed to download and start playing it, such is its high profile around the world. And again the authorities are not happy. The Islamic Legal Consultative Committee in Kuala Lumpur has condemned it as un-Islamic, and has warned Muslims not to play it. A senior religious official pronounced it to be “a search for power and deities with powers which could lead to gambling”.
And lastly, what are we to make of a recent incident in Singapore? A motorist impatiently sounded his horn at a pedestrian crossing the road, head down over his mobile phone, deep in the quest for, well, whatever it is that Pokemon Go players are hunting for. The two men ended up trading punches, were arrested for brawling in public and charged with affray. Well, it could have happened in any city in any country anywhere in the world, couldn’t it? So perhaps, after all, the human race is more united by what we have in common than we are divided by our differences.
Who would have thought that a fist-fight on the streets of Singapore could be so very reassuring?
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