Evolution of Playground Games - page 5
Keywords: Playground, Games, Playground Games, Folklore, Childhood, Play, School, Child's Play
By elliot5200 on 18/02/2007
Level: Bachelor Honours Degree (BA, BEng, BSc etc)
Page Number: 5 of 8 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
game Gomme describes. Thus, unlike It and British Bulldog, games like Kiss Chase have actually grown darker and more violent.
Another popular playground game Melvyn recalls is Rock Paper Scissors. This game starts by the opponents clenching their fists and putting their hands behind their backs. They would then count to three and both turn their fists into either a rock (represented by a closed fist), paper (represented by a flat palm) or scissors (represented by extending the index and middle fingers). Paper beats rock, rock beats scissors and scissors beats paper. Melvyn said that the game was more popular among girls as it didn’t involve any running or physical contact.
The version that Daniel is used to playing, however, is far more physical. A player who beats an opponent may use whichever weapon they used to win directly on them. For example, if they won using paper, then with this flat palm, they are allowed to slap their opponent’s hand. A person is pronounced winner when their opponent gives in due to the pain. The name the Opies (1984: 28) give this game is Stinging and explain that even after many consecutive losses, players would continue to play so that they could harm their opponent back when they eventually win. Unlike Melvyn’s account, this game is more popular among boys.
The evolution of this game to the aggressive way it is played today by some children is somewhat ironic as in Japan, playing Rock, Paper, Scissors is used as a method of settling disputes, thus creating order. This was used since classical times according to the poet, Nonnus who describes how Eros and Hymen decided who should go first in a game by playing a version of Rock Paper Scissors (Dionysiaca xxxiii: 77-80). It is therefore evident that the original meaning behind the game has now been forgotten as modern players enjoy the game simply because of the pain they are allowed to inflict on their opponents.
Modern players of this game seem to be gratified by the sense of domination that they receive when they defeat their opponent. Meanwhile, the opponent resists the temptation to give up so that they can finally seek revenge for the pain they were put through. They also continue to play because of the pressure exerted on them from friends, who are usually chanting, ‘Give up’, which only makes the player want to prove them
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