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18th July 2024
09:10am BST
Brought to you by Virgin Media
Reckon play is just for children? Think again.
As it turns out, we're never too old to play. This was the exact premise of the Virgin Media Playhouse, which recently set up shop in the Science Gallery in Trinity College Dublin. At this installation, visitors were invited to step into a world that is part playground and part science experiment.
As they made their way through the exhibition, which featured a retro arcade, a ball pit and a football simulator, they discovered their play personality.
The concept of a play personality was created by Dr Stuart Brown who identified eight distinct play personalities that capture the diverse ways people find joy and fulfilment in play.
The eight play personality types are: The Collector, The Competitor, The Creator, The Director, The Explorer, The Joker, The Kinisthete and The Storyteller.
But what to these types mean? You can read a little background on each below.
The Collector
The Collector is thrilled by holding or collecting interesting objects. They might enjoy the act of collection as a solitary activity, or with a group.
The Competitor
The Competitor doesn't play for fun, they play to win. They can enter the play state through a single-player video game or a team sport. They can even access the play state by rooting for their favourite team.
The Creator
The Creator finds joy in making things. They like to make things beautiful, functional or they might enjoy taking an object apart and putting it together again to make it work.
The Director
The Director is a born organiser, and they love planning and executing scenes and events. They are in their element when party-planning.
The Explorer
We all start life with a desire to explore, but The Explorers among us never lose that instinct. They are always on the hunt for new places to go and things to do, but they also love learning new things and seeking out different points of view.
The Joker
The Joker's play always revolves around some kind of foolishness. In their school days, they may have been a class clown, and now they continue to use their sense of humour in social settings.
The Kinesthete
The Kinesthete loves to move, some of them even need to move in order to think. They love to push their bodies and feel the result.
The Storyteller
The Storyteller lives in the realm of imagination. They feel engaged in stories, and they experience the emotions of a story's characters.
Fancy discovering what type of play personality you have? Take this interactive quiz to find out!
