Play is Serious Business

I have been reflecting about values lately—my personal values, the values that quietly animate me and my interactions. I was surprised to discover one value very dear to me that I have never framed and understood as a value: playfulness.

I reach for it in tense or overly “tight” and formal situations. Not to deflect, but to disrupt. To invite levity, humanity, and new frequencies into the conversation. To remind me and receptive others that beneath the scripts and roles, we are all creative and improvising. Sometimes it works and transforms the room. Not always, of course! More often than not though, it opens something unexpected. A tiny spark of imagination. A shared chuckle. A transgression of an unwritten rule. A different kind of resonance.

So, I want to explore play, playfulness, humor, and laughter as socially essential and surprisingly valuable, well, values! Let’s consider what they reveal and what happens when we allow play to influence again how we relate, lead, and evolve culturally.

Considering Play

When was the last time you were so engaged in play that you lost track of time? That immersive moment—joyful, visceral, shared—is one of the clearest expressions of imagination, connection, creativity and learning. It quite literally makes us human, but that does not mean that it is unique to our species.

In fact, play is a vital behavior observed in many animal species, especially among mammals and birds. It contributes to physical development, social bonding, cognitive growth, and even survival skills. Play is not a luxury. From an evolutionary perspective, it’s a necessity. Young animals play to develop motor skills and social instincts. In humans, though, play is supercharged through our ability to imagine alternative realities. It becomes a cognitive sandbox where we learn how to relate, create, and adapt.

And at the heart of play is laughter. Neuroscience tells us it’s not just a reaction—it’s a social signal. Laughter releases oxytocin and endorphins, synchronizes brain states, and communicates safety and belonging. It’s how we say: “You’re safe here. We belong together.”

This is why even simulated laughter—as practiced in “laughter clubs”—can spark real biochemical and emotional shifts. These clubs are no joke! They were first developed in India in the 1990s and use voluntary laughter to reduce stress and build communal resilience. No jokes needed—just a willingness to share lightness and breath. The result is joyful connection and a boost in the subjective sense of well-being that transcends language, age, and status.

Culture, Creativity, and the Many Faces of Play

While all humans play, how we play is shaped by culture. From Inuit children staging mock hunts to Balinese kids mimicking rituals through dance, play is how we absorb our cultural worlds—and reshape them with imagination. We see it everywhere:

• Families play across generations through storytelling, teasing, and games—building emotional memory and continuity.
• Communities play through festivals, rituals, and satire—containing subversion, healing, and identity within expressive forms.
• Adults continue to play, though often under the radar, and in an "adulterated" way: trivia nights, pub quizzes, online games, role-play, absurd office rituals. These aren’t distractions. They’re structured spaces for co-creation and self-expression.

In every case, play serves as a space for reinforcement, rehearsal, or boundary testing and and the expansion of what is possible in reality.

Games as Social Architecture

This also makes games, in all their forms, much more than entertainment. They are miniature societies—symbolic, temporary worlds where we test rules, navigate relationships, rehearse identity, and experiment with variables of reality. Whether physical, analog, or digital, games offer structured environments that mirror, critique, and reimagine the systems we live in.

Some games focus on collaboration, others on conflict; some thrive on constraint, others on boundless imagination. But all create frameworks for exploring what it means to belong, to decide, to win, to lose—and to adapt. Consider the games you are fond of playing ... for example:

• Pandemic, where success hinges on shared strategy, communication, and role-based coordination. The game makes cooperation—not domination—the core mechanic.
• Dungeons & Dragons, where entire universes are co-created through imagination, dialogue, and collective storytelling. Players experiment with moral ambiguity, identity fluidity, and power dynamics in a rich narrative frame.
• Uno—a simple card game—becomes a site of cultural improvisation. Mid-game rule changes, invented “stacking” protocols, and spontaneous group consensus illustrate how rules are not only followed, but reshaped by community consent.

These games are not “trivial” pursuits; they are structured spaces for social rule-making, creative constraint, emotional experimentation, power negotiation, and psychological resilience. They provide a safe sandbox for failure, a site to prototype new norms, and a shared context where systems can be examined, critiqued, or entirely reinvented.

Nowhere is this more visible—or more culturally consequential—than in the world of video games. What began as isolated forms of arcade play has evolved into a multi-billion-dollar industry with global reach, massive influence, and profound cultural implications. Consider, for example:

• Minecraft, where players build vast, collaborative worlds from simple blocks—creating not just structures, but shared narratives, digital economies, and even political systems.
• Fortnite, a fast-paced battle royale game that’s also a cultural metaverse—hosting live concerts, brand collaborations, and global communities of expression. It’s not just a game; it’s a platform for identity and social gathering.
• The Sims, where players simulate life itself—navigating family, work, love, and ambition—making visible the implicit norms and choices baked into everyday society.
• The Legend of Zelda and Elden Ring, which invite exploration, courage, and meaning-making within vast, mythic terrains—often echoing our own search for purpose, connection, and mastery.
• Animal Crossing, which gained massive popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering a gentle, rhythm-based world where routine, beauty, and friendship offered a much-needed balm for uncertainty and isolation.

These games are more than popular; they are a form of cultural scaffolding, shaping how people relate, how they think about ethics, collaboration, identity, and community—across a global audience. For many, video games are the first immersive experience of world-building, where cultural norms aren’t just observed—they’re created.

It is no surprise then, that the global gaming industry is now larger than film and music combined. With that reach comes influence. From character representation and storyline inclusion to the social dynamics of multiplayer environments, games play a growing role in cultural formation and transmission.

• Games teach us what’s possible in a system—and by extension, what’s expected.
• They offer agency within structure—something that mirrors (and often critiques) real-life institutions.
• They expose us to different perspectives, allowing players to inhabit roles they may never experience in real life—like a refugee fleeing war, or a rebel fighting oppression.
• They foster subcultures, with their own aesthetics, rituals, and languages—some of which cross over into mainstream fashion, music, and discourse.
• They are increasingly sites of cross-cultural collaboration—players from around the world forming guilds, alliances, and communities that transcend borders.

At their best, games can also challenge dominant norms—providing space for marginalized identities to be expressed, validated, and explored. Indie games in particular have pushed boundaries, offering emotionally complex narratives, queer storytelling, anti-colonial themes, and critiques of capitalism and surveillance.

Playfulness and Games at Work: a Misunderstood and Underutilized Asset

In many corporate environments, play is misunderstood—as unprofessional, unserious, or off-topic, perhaps only tolerated as temporary features in team-building or off-site events. But that’s a category error. Play is not the opposite of work—it’s where creativity, connection, and culture begin.

Playful behavior in professional settings might look like:

• Giving each other nicknames that signal caring and trust
• Using satire to break open tough conversations and acknowledge shared experiences
• Storyboarding a new service with LEGO bricks
• Building rituals with emojis, games, or storytelling
• Practicing improv to learn trust, spontaneity, listening, responsiveness and resilience
• Using theater to surface hidden norms and redesign them together

Each of these moments taps into something distinctly human: our ability to imagine, symbolize, and build trust and community through the co-creation of shared emotional realities. They create “emotional synchrony”—an experience of connection that enhances resilience, empathy, and collaboration.

Prototyping Culture Through Play

The implications of play and games for teams and organizations are profound. Games show us that culture isn’t fixed—it’s iterative, negotiated, and emergent. In a work context, games can be used to:

• Surface assumptions about hierarchy, roles, or decision-making
• Prototype new interaction norms in low-risk environments
• Build trust through shared emotional experiences
• Practice adaptive teaming, especially across cultural or functional boundaries

Whether it’s a simulation exercise, a design game, a storytelling round, or a digital collaboration platform modeled after multiplayer games, the logic of play offers a powerful toolkit for organizational learning and transformation.

To play a game is to enter a world where imagination and structure dance together. It’s where possibility is allowed to emerge and becomes an option for reality. It is also where we can safely practice the skills needed in and for an emergent reality. And, if culture is the set of norms we live by, then games are where we try them on, stretch them, remix them, and sometimes—in the best cases—reinvent them altogether.

Leadership and the Permission to Play

Play doesn’t happen in fear. It happens in trust. And that makes playfulness a diagnostic for psychological safety. If a team rarely jokes, experiments, or plays, it may be a sign that fear, formality, or exclusion are at play.

The role of a leader, then, is not to be the most entertaining person in the room. It’s to be an emotional architect—someone who designs the conditions for creativity, spontaneity, and connection to emerge. Playful leaders:

• Signal permission—not just for laughter, but for imperfection, experimentation, and vulnerability.
• Flatten hierarchy through inclusive humor that builds rather than exposes.
• Ritualize safety through playful practices—like “fail fests,” improv warmups, or hypothetical absurdities that reduce fear.
• Foster emotional synchrony by encouraging storytelling, mirroring, and collective expression.
• Leverage the creative power of play and games to support, practice and rehearse needed or desired cultural change.

This is especially potent in intercultural or distributed teams, where language barriers, formality norms, or role expectations can inhibit trust. In these spaces, play becomes a bridge. A shared joke or creative ritual can offer emotional entry into belonging—before full verbal fluency or cultural fluency is achieved.

This requires intentionality and care. After all, humor, games, and play are not neutral; they are culturally coded. They can invite—or alienate. The goal is not to be funny at someone’s expense, but to co-create lightness, where everyone feels seen, safe, and invited to contribute.

When Play Builds Bridges—and When it Doesn’t

Let’s take a few real examples:

• In a virtual design sprint between two engineering teams from culturally different organizations, early meetings were formal and tense. Then one member shared a funny project mishap. Laughter erupted. Another followed with a self-deprecating story. From that point on, storytelling became a ritual, creating emotional rhythm and improving collaboration. Humor, here, became a neutral cultural territory, where trust could take root.
• In a cross-functional team, a Friday ritual emerged: one person would post a quirky emoji or GIF to summarize the week. At first, some were hesitant due to cultural norms around modesty. But as the intent became clear—bonding, not mocking—others joined in, contributing their own culturally specific twists. It became a gentle, joyful way to connect, give feedback, and express emotion.

But not all play lands well.

• At a multinational sales kickoff, a leader opened with a joke mocking a competitor. Some laughed. Others felt it was disrespectful, even aggressive. For those who value harmony and face-saving, the joke backfired—creating unease rather than connection.
• In another case, a recurring in-group joke—“Don’t pull a ‘Sven’ again!”—was misunderstood by a colleague from a partner organization. Without context, it felt like public shaming. The teammate withdrew, feeling excluded. Humor, without consent or clarity, had drawn lines rather than erased them.

These examples show that play is powerful—but not innocent. It must be inclusive, mutual, and safe. Otherwise, it risks reinforcing insider–outsider dynamics, rather than dissolving them.

Unleashing Imaginative Powers

At their core, play and games are about possibility. They help us imagine new ways of being together. They loosen the grip of what is and open space for what could be. In complex, uncertain, and diverse environments, this imaginative muscle is critical. Because before we can build better systems, we must first be able to imagine them—and that work often begins in play. Importantly, using them intentionally for a constructive purpose.

So what might that look like for you?

• Start meetings with creative prompts or playful rituals
• Use collaborative games to build teamwork and surface dynamics
• Celebrate moments of emotional “click”—when laughter or creativity signals alignment
• Make room for spontaneity and lightness, especially in high-stakes work
• Be mindful of how humor includes or excludes—and always lead with curiosity
• Introduce games and gaming that help practice and unlock imagination

And, in all this, it is important to frame and contextualize these practices not as frivolous, but the intentional impulses to develop or repair culture. In the end, play is not the opposite of seriousness. It’s how we practice being human—together. It’s how we build trust, explore differences, express creativity, and imagine what’s possible together. It’s how we rehearse new futures.

In a world that demands agility, empathy, and co-creation, our capacity to play might just be one of our oldest—and most powerful—tools.

 
This article was originally published on LinkedIn in July 2025.

About the Author

Joerg Schmitz is a business anthropologist passionate about exploring human behavior through the lens of anthropology and organizational culture. He is the founder and Managing Director of The Inclusive Leadership Institute (@TheInclusiveLeadershipInstitute). After 35 years living in the US and working with organizations and institutions globally, he currently resides in Bremen, Germany. Connect with him at [email protected] to continue the conversation.