Play with Lego or Build with Lego

[SirScottLego]

Okay, so here is the question. I have long insisted to my wife and family that as an adult I don't "play" with Legos I "build" with Legos...

Am I just in denial? What if I make sound effects when I "build", does that cross the "build" or "play" line?

[Admiral Starwind]

Yup now you be playing as would i i play with my legos all the time but i build my sets and then dream of making the starwind should i ever find the rest of my lego or else im gonna have to star buying them online

[JINZONINGEN73]

You're doing both simultaneously.

If you build a mosaic or statue out of Lego... yeah, that could just be building in the strictest sense.

But when there's moving parts and you're still fondling the sculpture long after completion... you're playing.

And anyone who says there's a "cut-off" age whereby one is too old to play with what's classicly understood as children's toys... need not influence you with their words anywhere beyond that point.

X-D

[Brick Miner]

all of my LEGO sets recommend for ages 5-12... it's really giving me a complex *wacko*

but seriously, this topic should be moved to the General Discussion Forum... as it's not pirate specific.

- BrickMiner

[El Bucanero]

Brick Miner is right, the ages on the Boxes are weird... I am always happy to see only 1 age on it, instead of two

I mean: 1 age: 12(+). 2 ages: 6-12. that is weird, how can you be to old to "play" with lego?!

Well...Do I play or do I build with lego....what a question...I do build...

[ApophisV]

Just a few days ago I used "by accident" the term "playing with LEGO" instead using "building". Dana was kinda surprized about this words that I used since I always said I would just "build" and not play.

But nowadays... Actually I think "playing" doesn't only mean some sort of roleplay with figures and such but just having fun with something.

I think "playing" is a great choice since it shows that we still have fun with out bricks ;-)

[Bonaparte]

all of my LEGO sets recommend for ages 5-12... it's really giving me a complex *wacko*

but seriously, this topic should be moved to the General Discussion Forum... as it's not pirate specific.

- BrickMiner

Since Sir Scott is building (or... playing with) pirate ships, this might still be a pirate specific topic :-).

I don't make sounds when I'm building something but my fantasy keeps on creating stories around what I making (even when it's a custom minifig). Just can't stop it....

[Mister Phes]

but seriously, this topic should be moved to the General Discussion Forum... as it's not pirate specific.

Brick Miner is right Sir Scott. Unless you can give this thread a Piratical stance we're gonna have to move it!

[snefroe]

building models is part of playing, so i guess i'm playing with Lego, just as an artist is playing an instrument, but because Lego is considered to be a toy, it seems you're not supposed to... play with Lego. yeah... our fight to be accepted as normal individuals with our own place in society is long from over :-P :-X

[EXO-CHAMP]

The question is also how people define "play".

Many people link the word "play" with two 6 year olds hammering a couple of dinosaurs together.

My Exo-Dice game would be defined as "playing a game". Is it "play"?

When you build with Lego, isn't it also a way of artistic expression?

If people see the above as playing, so be it. I love to play. ;-)

[Grrr]

To me they are one and the same. You can't play with lego without building, or at least adjusting the models. They are not toy soliders were you can only them in one configration.

The funny thing is that most of my time with lego (even as a child) was spent sorting and catagorizing. Not building nor playing. Though the amount of time I spent away from lego thinking and designing and whatnot is remarkable too.

Too me, I am building until I get figures involved. Once they are involved I have added interaction to a model. Playing "god" with sets gets boring quite quickly (hence why my model team models just sit around most of the time). It just doesn't seem right for cannons to do their own thing, without a sailor to operate them.

The question also, is can a six year old truely play? And what is play anyway. On one hand it can be almost entirely in the imagination, with almost no physical level (the way that you think in minifig's-view), or enterly on a physical level, like performing a war reenactment, whereby no options or choices are provided to the brain at all.

In my eyes, life is all about play - else were is the enjoyment to be found. I don't merely 'work' during the day, eugh, liasing with customers on an entirely business level would be unbearably dull. As would sorting an infintate pile of lego into parts. What makes these kind of activities enjoyable is the fulfilment of planning within them. The way that you can look at your sorted lego and see how it will allow you to efficiently build within your means (beats seaching the giant part box for a piece you've used up).

As for the age recommendations on lego sets. The one that puzzles me most are the 7 - 70 years on late 80's model team sets. I mean, I've sure I'll still enjoy lego well into my retirement (heck, that is my idea of retirement savings). The world should in all reality focus less on the measurement of time, and more on what our body and brain tells us. [yes, I am only saying that cause I'm real tired and annoyed as I have to wake an hour earlier due to daylight savings].

[TaltosVT]

I definately still play. I don't limit it bricks either. I also have an n-scale train set that I play with, among other hobbies. Oddly enough, the same question often comes up in train forums. A lot of the model railroaders don't think of themselves as playing, but then they go and create elaborate stories about what their trains are doing at any particular moment. To me, that is playing.

What I always think is strange is that when my daughter was very young, I'd sit on the floor and shake a rattle or toss a ball with her, and no one thought that was strange. I was just playing with my daughter. Now that she's almost 11, I'll sit on the floor and build with her, but people think that's odd. Playing with a toy built for an infant was okay, but playing with a toy built for an older child somehow crossed the line for some people.

On the other hand, when I show people photos of the LEGO train layouts that I participate in, they are more than impressed, and they go into all sorts of discussions about how we are creating art, etc. I just smile and nod, because I know that all I'm really doing is playing, and that they could do it too if they'd just let go of the notion that adults can't play.

-Elroy

[ImperialJohn]

For me building and playing is the same.

My motto: "You can never be to old to play"

[EXO-CHAMP]

"You can never be to old to play"

Words to live by...

[natelite]

it's not "play"...that word is so vulgar. it's called "artistic expression of affection towards a pre-adult brick construction set." or feel free to replace with this symbol... :-D

[SirScottLego]

Brilliant, your words are brilliant. Yes feel free administrators to move to the general discussion area if you would like.

How do you feel about sound effects while you build is that taboo? :)

[WesternOutlaw]

To me, building is playing, but who says an adult can't play? - ok: wives, spouses, significant others, but who are they to criticize? Especially if they collect dolls, and/or other items from childhood.

I too, have been embarrased from time to time when standing in the Lego aisle (at my age), looking at sets closely. But who sets the "norm". Old men are perfectly fine with setting up train displays and building doll houses in their garages, so what's wrong with playing with Lego?

The corporate world has embraced "building/playing with Lego" as a tool to enhance creativity, so what's wrong with AFOL doing this in their homes?

I don't know about the "swooshing noises" though. I'm a pretty quiet builder, and don't generally swoosh my adventure planes, Star Wars, or space sets, but to each his/her own.

It's all about fun. We work hard to buy the things we want, and what's wrong with Lego?

[Brick Miner]

I too, have been embarrased from time to time when standing in the Lego aisle (at my age), looking at sets closely.

ya, i can remember once, i was looking at sets at TRU, and a father and this two kids (one boy and one girl) were running circles around me. yes, they were looking at sets, but they were also horseing-around, and treating the aisle like a jungle-gym.

i can remember thinking... man, i enjoy the same type of entertainment as these two little rug rats ??? there must be something wrong with me.... no wait, what;s wrong with holding on to your youth as long as possible ???

nothing X-D

so why was i so embarassed ???

- BrickMiner

[Landlubber]

I do not build, nor do I play.

I create.

Lego is a clean loungeroom safe version of what I do for work and a lot of my spare time. I spend all day disassembleing and reassembling cars at work and then I have several projects of my own in the garage (as well as building a new garage). Lego is something to do when I'm inside in front of the TV or for when I dont feel like getting dirty.

[alex54]

I play buidling with LEGO and have no matter with that! The videogamers play with their videogames, the musiciens play with their instruments, a rugbyman playes with a ball... Is life not a game?

It is just a point of view, and I don't think that playing is just for kid, or the adult world would be so dark. It is just that adults dont' want to admit that they like to "play", whatever the "game".

[Lost Viking]

ya, i can remember once, i was looking at sets at TRU, and a father and this two kids (one boy and one girl) were running circles around me. yes, they were looking at sets, but they were also horseing-around, and treating the aisle like a jungle-gym.

Hehe, well sometimes when I see an AFOL in the LEGO aisle I usually bring up the topic of the Insiders Tour to whoever is with me saying things like "I saw this in production at the Insiders Tour." I have met some people from rtlToronto doing so.

[Commander Wolf]

I've always considered building with Lego and playing with Lego two distinctly different things:

When you're in the process of assembling a model, or anywhere in the building process for that matter, you're building with Lego. When you start swooshing a model or running a train then you start playing with Lego.

[Darth_Ewok]

To me, building is playing, but who says an adult can't play? - ok: wives, spouses, significant others, but who are they to criticize? Especially if they collect dolls, and/or other items from childhood.

I too, have been embarrased from time to time when standing in the Lego aisle (at my age), looking at sets closely. But who sets the "norm". Old men are perfectly fine with setting up train displays and building doll houses in their garages, so what's wrong with playing with Lego?

The corporate world has embraced "building/playing with Lego" as a tool to enhance creativity, so what's wrong with AFOL doing this in their homes?

I don't know about the "swooshing noises" though. I'm a pretty quiet builder, and don't generally swoosh my adventure planes, Star Wars, or space sets, but to each his/her own.

It's all about fun. We work hard to buy the things we want, and what's wrong with Lego?

I completely agree with you.

No matter what people say, it's your hobby and you enjoy it, nobody can take that from you.

And I do know that feeling (the lego aisle syndrome :-D )

[Mr. Lego-builder]

Very nicely said, Commander Wolf.

I consider LEGO, as not simply a play thing, but a part of my life. I build, and afterwards I play, but even after I finish building, the set, or whatever it may be, the building is not done, as I am also building my imagination as I am playing.

People who are not commited to LEGO as some of us are, consider the term "playing with LEGO," because they have a vague grasp on what is going on within the person who is doing the building.

Alot more is happening than just clicking pieces of plastic blocks together. A new path has opened to venture deeper into your imagination. Each brick you put together, you take one step higher until you reach your goal. an that is why it feels very rewarding when you finish a LEGO project. You get a sense of accomplishment.

[highlandcattle]

The difference is tha as a kid, I really didn't enjoy the building proces. One of m earliest memories is: my mother is building my black falcon fortress and I'm playing with the figurines and whining when it will be finished. Now, I really enjoy building and I also really think about it too, but playing is still the same: I set up all the figs and then dream about what they are doing.

Really close to me there are two shops Ultima (second hand shop) and Speelgoed 2000, and I think they both have a lot of AFOL customers, and they always talk about the good ol' days of 12v and such...

In a couple of minutes I'm leaving for a jobinterview in a toystore so wish me luck !

Edit: GOT THE JOB :D