Adult Collecting vs. Play

[WesternOutlaw]

When I was a kid, I remember PLAYING for hours with my best friend as we created scenes and action in my Lego Town. I have vivid memories of childhood play, building cars to crash, spaceships to swoosh through the air, and a bright yellow castle to defend. This was real PLAY, so enjoyable and fun.

Now that I am an adult, I have lost the ability to PLAY. It's been replaced by collecting, building to set-up, and displaying Lego. Sure, I still have my imagination which helps me with writing and envisioning my thoughts, but it's so different than the PLAY of a child.

For those of you studying child psychology, why is it that a child can PLAY for hours, yet something inside an adult limits this factor. If you believe that you have not lost the true ability to play, then you feel differently than I. I would be willing to guess that most adults do not PLAY in the same manner as a child. Is it IMAGINATION? I'm not sure, but whatever it is, I can tell the difference.

What are your thoughts in regard to Child's Play as it relates to Lego?

Do you PLAY or do you COLLECT Lego?

Can you still imagine as you did when you were a child or has this changed in some adult evolution/variation?

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.

[Siegfried]

I think I still play... in fact I think I play with LEGO more now than before! Back then I used to focus on building as big an aircraft as possible, and when built I just left it together for a week or so before making something else. Today I often build things like space craft, swoosh them around and I keep wanting to write stories involving them.

For the most part I don't consider myself a collector. I very rarely spend a lot of money on just one set or part.

Without getting into details, I had a bit of an odd childhood (I think many people do), and that could be why. Or I could just be wrong!

[WhiteFang]

Interesting topic.

I can certainly remembered very clearly of my childhood memories by setting up battle scenes and stuff like that, and playing non stop over the weekends, but now I supposed as you grow older, "time" doesn't seemed to be by your side anymore which can just let you relax the entire weekend and spent with your toys...

I want to spend my time with the toys, acting like a child. Recent years, I still swoosh my stuff around and setting up mini battle scenes along with imaginative fiction stories with my Castle, City, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and stuff like that. However, I don't have the energy to do a majestic setup like before, pouring all of my LEGO sets and played in my living room back in my younger days. I am not saying I am very old, but I feel like, I am kind of collecting for the sake of future display in my own flat. I did leave some sets for pure playing, and eventually I still keep them in my boxes. One thing which tired me the most, is the packing and unpacking parts, which can easily take a hour or two to keep everything back into proper storage. This could be the likely reason for me not to play as much as before.

Then again, I still take my ninja minifigs with some of the small sets and fight against the crownies or the orcs. Swoosh them around, positioning at my bedside, and after a hour, I am tired... Then everything went back in.. This is how I feel right now, I just don't have the space to play and play like before, and everything has to be kept into boxes.

When your thinking back in your childhood, you just stored whenever you like, crash those sets into the walls whenever you feel like, that is what I called pure playing. You can just leave them just like that for weeks, collecting dust, leaving it in the sunlight for months, yeah, that's what happened to me. Then again, that was pure fun. Nowadays, I believe most adult collectors don't do that to their collections like before, so yes, there is a deviation which I agreed upon with Brickster.

[Siegfried]

When your thinking back in your childhood, you just stored whenever you like, crash those sets into the walls whenever you feel like, that is what I called pure playing. You can just leave them just like that for weeks, collecting dust, leaving it in the sunlight for months, yeah, that's what happened to me. Then again, that was pure fun. Nowadays, I believe most adult collectors don't do that to their collections like before, so yes, there is a deviation which I agreed upon with Brickster.

Yeah, it's true for me too. I get concerned at part damage so you won't find me crashing LEGO into walls. A few years back I was trying to motorise the 7344 dump truck, but it kept going too fast, hitting a wall and generally breaking. I gave up after a few attempts for this reason. If I was a kid I would have just kept doing it!

[Svelte]

Even as kids, what it means to 'play' evolves as we grow, so I'm not sure why a clear delineation must be made between the meanings ascribed to play as children do it, and the activity of adults. To me, it feels more like a Kinsey scale of play ( ), where you can't truly and exclusvely place yourself as an adult or a child, but where everyone falls in between.

As a kid, I was interested in Lego both for the narrative stories I could tell with it but also as a substance of possibility - I spent equal time flying my spaceship around exploring alien planets as I did using house-building parts kits to design elaborate gable rooves and French windows.

These days I find Lego more rewarding as a building material to express ideas and as a medium of creativity rather than as a platform for stories - however from the number of Lego comics and short films people are creating, the narrative aspect of Lego is alive and well within many AFOLs. Dare I say it, even organising and hosting a mystery game includes many of these narrative aspects of play which many assume are lost in the move from childhood to adult life

I wouldn't classify myself as a collector or artistic builder as for me any Lego creation must contain (a) structural sturdiness and (b) playable features to be successful. There are many AFOLs doing brilliant work but if it falls over if I breathe on it or there isn't some cute operative detail (whether it be a secret passage or working crane) then it doesn't feel like Lego to me. The unique thing about Lego, compared to some other artform like drawing, is that you physically can interact with it to produce specific real-world effects - if that isn't a form of play, or even of narrative, then what is?

[hollisbrick]

I play more than collect

Btw I swear I've made a topic like this one before

[Skipper 24]

I remember I used to play a lot. But as I've got older (and I'm not very old at all really)I've just started setting up my sets in scenes and then that's really it. I'm not sure why I don't 'play' with them as much any more I just don't.

[Lordofdragonss]

You know what? I am 19 now and I still play with lego! With my friends(they don't buy Lego, but they like to play with my Lego), with my cousins and I play Brikwars too! For me building is just 1/3 of fun- the rest are playing and destroing your moc in big battle xD

I wouldn't classify myself as a collector or artistic builder as for me any Lego creation must contain (a) structural sturdiness and (b) playable features to be successful. There are many AFOLs doing brilliant work but if it falls over if I breathe on it or there isn't some cute operative detail (whether it be a secret passage or working crane) then it doesn't feel like Lego to me.

You are just like me! I think its amazing how creative people are with MOC made with minifig hands and rubber bands, but I don't like it personaly...

Edited August 31, 2009 by Lordofdragonss

[Stauder]

I used to, but now I just build something and set up a scene on my shelf. Closest thing I do to playing is a photoshoot for EB News, which involves doing random stuff that looks funny. Doing just that right now as a matter of fact.

Stauder.

[Dr Kilroy]

I'm still playing. Especially Modular Houses and Classic Castle MOCs.

[brickzone]

I was the oldest in my family and I remember even as an older kid not being as into "playing" as my younger siblings. So often I would build a playscene for them from our Lego collection while they would play in it - and I'd participate just a bit myself with my own minifigs as they constructed an entire fictional Universe and stories for their minifigs (indeed so much so that my brother is still working on a book whose story began in that play).

I remember when I was a lot younger playing lots with Fabuland with my sister who's the next oldest.

But I haven't entirely lost the skills of play - it doesn't take a lot of effort to kick off some Duplo play with my two-year-old nephew, he just needs someone to have a Duplo fig talk and do stuff, or an animal, or trains (Troublesome Truck, Percy or Thomas).

[Siegfried]

I wouldn't classify myself as a collector or artistic builder as for me any Lego creation must contain (a) structural sturdiness and (b) playable features to be successful. There are many AFOLs doing brilliant work but if it falls over if I breathe on it or there isn't some cute operative detail (whether it be a secret passage or working crane) then it doesn't feel like Lego to me.

I feel the same way! My MOCs are often re-built for strength reasons as it annoys me if they can't handle play. In fact a few LEGO sets I've broken due to that; Aero Booster is a good example. Cool looking set, but waaay to fragile. I was a shame though as it was so fun to swoosh!

[Peppermint_M]

I build strength and awesome into my MOCs so I can play. I write stories and give the figures character. Then I explain it to my friend and we play like we are six again .

I recently showed him my massive (grown) collection of Agents sets and MOCs, we had a fantastic time setting it up and enacting a fantastic final battle between the Agents and Dr Inferno and lots of scared civilians. It was great fun.

I don't think I have ever stopped playing.

[mikey]

My enjoyment from Lego really comes from building my own creations, this is the challenge and the longest play time for me, my attention soon wanders when I engage in classic play, but the sense of satisfaction from a nicely ordered scene/model, is what I now seek from my past time. But this does not mean that I have totally lost the ability to engage in real child play space, it just lasts a lot shorter.

There are many AFOLs doing brilliant work but if it falls over if I breathe on it or there isn't some cute operative detail (whether it be a secret passage or working crane) then it doesn't feel like Lego to me.

These are my thoughts aswell, to me it does not matter whether the play functions would be used, I feel that I want to build these into my model. The medium of Lego requires a certain appreciation of its stylised nature to be used succesfully, and to me the creation should not be static, rather able to withstand handling, and incorporate moveable and play functions where possible.

Edited August 31, 2009 by mikey

[JCC1004]

I used to play more a few years ago but no I'm more of a collector. I still do play wiht some things. I had some of my poor city figs go through an Indy temple and well :skull:. I still do play but not as much.

Edited August 31, 2009 by JCC1004

[Joey Lock]

Well, I don't really "collect" Lego sets, In fact the last lego set I got was a bunch of Cannon Battles. I don't buy lego sets, I just buy lego bricks. Im more of a MOC man myself. Since I just squandered £360 on bricks for my HMS Unicorn MOC.

But with the HMS Unicorn, although its delicate, I shall still play with it. But I think the thing with Lego Sets playability compared to MOCs is Lego Sets are meant to be played with, their built very lightly and don't have much detail because its about the playing. But when people create MOC's they make them extremely detailed just to show them to the world.

Im proberbly just talking to myself now.

But I still play with my Lego. Im not just buying for the sake of a shelf space. I buy for the sake of my enjoyment. If that makes sense.

[no_skill]

I'm somewhere in between playing and collecting. Like others, in my childhood I would enact narrative stories with LEGO, sometimes elaborate ones. I would take a vehicle (a very simple one by today's standards) to bed with me and play myself to sleep. Building and arranging was was a means to that end.

Now that I am old (40's), I am more focused on the building and aranging as an end to themselves. And yes, collecting is part of that. Luckily, I have children now that encourage me to continue in the roles of narrative play, and enter into their wold of imagination. Once they are grown and gone, I could very well find myself in another Dark Ages....but ahh, I guess then will come grandkids. I wonder what playing will be like with them?

[Ralph_S]

Some interesting comments have already been made. LEGO for me is about building. Sets are little more than parts collections and I collect parts with the intention of building new models. I suppose I still play, but not in the way I used to as a child. I don't come up with elaborate stories, stage air-to-air combat or attribute personalities to any of my figures any more and don't drive my minifig cars down my city street, but I can easily spend hours fiddling around with the details on a model to get it just right and for public displays still try to come up with little scenes that tell a story that visitors may see (such as a fire-man rescuing a cat from a tree). Play, but in a different way.

Cheers,

Ralph

[prateek]

I can't really collect due to my really small collection, so I do play.

[Ricecracker]

I don't come up with elaborate stories, stage air-to-air combat or attribute personalities to any of my figures any more and don't drive my minifig cars down my city street..

But you do let people smash your helicopters into walls when they're on TV .

This is a very interesting topic, TheBrickster. I'm going to have to think about it some more.

[Davey]

Great, great topic! I have been struggling with this exact issue for awhile now. I seem to have moved away from 'play' and more towards what I would deem 'modeling' or 'display'. As a child, I used to dream up all sorts of fantastical stories and scenarios for my Minifigs to get into and then I would act them out. It was great fun and always meant I was 'swooshing' something or racing a vehicle around the city. As I have grown older, I feel like I have lost a lot of that imagination and it really bothers me.

I think some of it stems from the fact that I never (even as a child) wanted anyone to see me acting out these scenarios and talking to myself. With Stacy being my LEGO buddy now, I guess I feel weird 'playing' in front of her. I know I shouldn't because she's a die-hard AFOL too, but it still feels weird. I wish I could get over that. I remember awhile back, I was in the LEGO Lair alone and I was swooshing around an X-Wing and a Tie Fighter and running around the basement making 'space noises'. All of a sudden, Stacy came down the stairs and turned the corner and there she was. I was like a deer in headlights. I stammered out something like 'Uhhh...I was...uhh...just moving these...to a...umm...different table.' She laughed as she knew I had been playing and said she thought it was cute. I felt better, but I still feel weird acting out these scenarios in my head in front of anyone...even Stacy.

I wish I could recapture a lot of that imagination and desire for play. I find myself setting up elaborate scenarios on our layout...but never doing anything with them. I have a story behind almost every little scene on our layout...but I never actually 'play' with the scenes. I need to get back to doing that.

Anyway, I'm rambling now. Great topic though. I'm interested to see what everyone else says on this subject.

-Dave

[Eldervampire]

I can't say I'm a collector, I have some lego, but not a whole bunch. I haven't been into MoCs yet, but I have some ideas that are rolling around in my brain.

I create a persona that represents myself and my wife and daughter. As a child I played and pretended, as an adult I don't have much time, but I create stories in my head of the adventures they have. I would love to play, and hope to soon.

Something for all of us to consider are the words of old Asian wisdom, "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing."

I can't remember who said it or when, but it makes sense.

[ziljin]

I am too cheap to collect. IMO collecting means you have to buy every set, including the ones you don't like. And I don't like having to buy things I don' like. I still have that childish nature of reptition. I just realized the money I spend on duplicate sets could have been spent on two of those 100USD sets with tons of great bricks/minifigs. I think in the long run I will try to purchase 1 copy of those bigger sets, and multiples of the smaller sets. Smaller sets = tons of minifigs. Having extras of the "grunt" minifigs can be useful for army building. mocs/dioramas/etc. But having multiples of the exclusive minifigs is not that important since I don't plan on getting into the "buy duplicates to sell later msib for profit".

Since I have a cousin who is 5 years old, I still get a lot of playing done. Even if I don't want to. And hes going to be playing with toys for quite a bit, so I got plenty of play time ahead of me.

[Norro]

Why stop playing?

When I was young you probably would not have described me as much of a 'play'er. I didn't mash two figs together in mortal combat, or crash cars into walls. I did, however, name every fig in my collection, compile extensive story lines (in which they all featured) and painstakingly build the key scenes from each. I can remember extended family and friends commenting that my room was like a stop motion theater, each time they came back the scene had changed, but the characters and story were still smoothly progressing. Final battles were sprawled all over my floor and gradually updated (sometimes sword stroke by sword stroke) over the course of days, but the real adventure was always in my mind.

It still is. I still do much the same thing, unfortunately I have less time (and more interests) but the Tales section of my website represents exactly what the young me would have expected an older, more capable, version of myself to produce...

Even when my friends came to 'play' lego with me, it was always for the story, they always wanted to be 'caught up' on the bits they had missed and would bring their guest characters to the world.

Maybe I've always been more of a story teller, but for me physical 'play' was always just a sub standard illustration of what was happening in my mind... it still is

On a separate note:

There are many AFOLs doing brilliant work but if it falls over if I breathe on it or there isn't some cute operative detail (whether it be a secret passage or working crane) then it doesn't feel like Lego to me.

Not everyone's models who appear this way, actually are... I've been accused of this in the past, but I actually stood on the Entrance to the Caves, Cliffton Castle, and Forgotten Beacon to stress test them. And the vast majority of my models feature homage style functionality, just of a greater complexity.

Interestingly, this summer I built my first ever 'blow over' models, and while I have to admit they are some of the most gorgeous scenes I've ever produced, I'm not sure if it is an experiment I will continue with.

God Bless,

Nathan

[Dark Wanderer]

I don't really 'play' in a slamming-spaceship-into-walls style, but I don't collect either; mostly what I do is buy a set, build it, have it hang around for a month, then send it into my tackle boxes of parts, where it'll be eventually processed into some creation or other. Which I actually design to be tough enough to take some impacts before disintigrating, so perhaps that bit of the little kid is still lurking in me. My final thoughts? I'm in the middle: not collecting for the sake of collecting, but not 'just playing'.

As a kid, though, I can remember grabbing some sets just because of what I saw as their play value: you could really make a scenario out of X set. Not so much anymore. Except for swooshing.