Aesthetic Theory Of Play And Its Application In Educational Practice

The word "Game" is usually understood as a non-serious activity without content and meaning, so is it in Chinese, Latin and Japanese. It is even regarded as a cynical attitude towards life. But it is not true. With the development of Play Aesthetics research, the unreal and fancy essence has undergone subtle changes. Game has evolved from playful performance to casual autonomous construction of aesthetic contexts, through which the free and adaptive characteristics has been revealed. In Greek, the noble and sacred implication of game has been explicit. The ancient and modern multi-interpretation of "game" from the perspective Aesthetics has been changed dramatically. Although the "Theory of play" could be traced back to the beginning of Aesthetics research, it is still inadequate in analysis of game and Aesthetics.Virtual practice is characteristic of game. Players could wander their thoughts in the fantasy world. They could not only do sightseeing but also could play in the world with their thoughts traveling across thousands of years and their vision covering hundreds of miles away."To let the thoughts go with the world", also brings a player a wonderful aesthetic experience in his life. However, such experience is unable to reach in the real world. So the experience could bring a player great joy and satisfaction. It is the purpseless aesthetic pleasure that the original quality of the game. To play is the nature of human beings. So, the real charm of game is that its freedom can create something else. Its significance lies in playing it and generating and t evolving all the time."Uncertainty" is one of the hidden human natures. Previous studies tend to overlook the uncertainty of the game. The uncertainty of a game respects the otherness and diversity of the natural life, and gives the player most abundant aesthetic experience, also makes life for adaptability and freedom. The uncertainty drives people to reflect the real world—which is not only a simple, linear and stable deterministic system, but a complex, nonlinear, and uncertain system. All of these have a profound effect on aesthetic research. Another study which has not yet been taken seriously is the research of the experience of indulgence and the resulting "field" effect. Because of the experience of indulgence, game players are attracted, engaged and obsessed, and the "field" effect is then created. In the game, the player, the viewer and the game itself constitute the wholeness and generative "game field". Within the "field", the three parts influence each other, building up the overall effect of the "field".As a result, the game is not only an activity, but also a way of existence. People realize the "salvation" of themselves in games. Aesthetic pleasure and the experience of indulgence do not mean that the game is only cynical "non-seriousness." On the contrary, the opportunity and the "uncertainty" embody the seriousness of the existence of games, and require the players to be decisive, courageous and determined to face all the complexities of survival.Game is the way of human existence, also the existence form of human activities. Education is the epitome of human existence, so the education field can help people to think about how to better apply the game aesthetics to practice. But the study of game aesthetics and education does not have a long history. For thousands of years, with the deep-rooted idea of "Achievements are wasted on recreation" in both the east and the west, game has been in opposite existence to learning. But looking at the educational scene, we could only see the embarrassment of teaching under the loss of game spirit. Therefore, after the combination of thinking on the game aesthetics, visits of different education scenes in Chongqing and Taiwan, and personal interviews on educators, students, parents, media professionals, this paper reconsiders and reorients the relationship between game and study, and obtains enlightenments on the application of the game aesthetics in educational practice. First, education practice should be constructed freely beyond the destination; Second, the experience of indulgence in game can be used to drive autonomous learning and deep learning; Third, the use of "field effect" and performing of the game maintains the sustainability of learning and addiction to learning; Fourth,"uncertainty" can be used to counter "uncertainty", and benefit from "uncertainty". Learning is not limited to forms, and playing is learning.