LUDIC NARRANS: STORIES OF/BY/FOR THE FIELDS OF PLAY
- 3 hours ago
- 1 min read
Drew Davidson, Emily Matheny
Drawing on an exploratory qualitative study launched in 2024, Drew Davidson’s Playing Around gathers stories from across the many fields of play, including games, mixed reality, theatre, sports, music, child psychology, education, health, and technology. Built through questionnaires, 175 in-depth interviews, and ongoing community participation, the book offers a thematic oral history that explores the patterns, overlaps, and distinctions that emerge across diverse play-centered disciplines and organizations.
Rather than focusing on a single field, Playing Around examines play as a broad and interconnected human practice. The voices collected throughout the study shape the book as collaborators, contributing their expertise, experiences, and perspectives to an evolving conversation about what play means across educational, professional, industry, foundation, and government contexts.
Playing Around presents the material in a more playful structure, interweaving themes and sections so that ideas can resonate across one another in unexpected ways. It stands alongside its companion volume, Playing it Straight, which contains the same core content arranged in a more traditional scholarly format for ease of reference. Together, the two versions offer complementary ways of engaging with the rich, interwoven tapestry of stories shared.
PUBLICATION DETAILS
LANGUAGE | BINDING | EDITION | ISBN | YEAR | PAGES |
English | Paperback | Playing Around | 9781105523137 | 2026 | 790 |
English | Paperback | Playing It Straight | 9781105545610 | 2026 | 790 |
OTHER NAMES
Ludic Narrans (Playing Around): Stories of/by/for the Fields of Play
Ludic Narrans (Playing It Straight): Stories of/by/for the Fields of Play
TAGS
Authors: #DrewDavidson #EmilyMatheny
Publishers: #PlayStoryPress (Play Story Press)
Languages: #English
Format: #Paperback
Accessibility: N/A
Year: #Year2026
Genres: #GameStudies #Interviews
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