--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Play isn't you being clever, or finding a…" description: "\"Play isn't you being clever, or finding a trick, or finding a way of covering over your own misery, or persuading someone to do what you want. It's the..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/833/ian-bogost-9716_clever_play-isn-t-you-being-clever-or-finding-a_699022.jpg" --- # Play isn't you being clever, or finding a trick, or… ![“Play isn't you being clever, or finding a trick, or finding a way of covering over your own misery, or persuading someone to do what you want. It's the process of working with the materials that you find and discovering what's possible with them.” quote by Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/833/ian-bogost-9716_clever_play-isn-t-you-being-clever-or-finding-a_699022.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/833/ian-bogost-9716_clever_play-isn-t-you-being-clever-or-finding-a_699022.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/833/ian-bogost-9716_clever_play-isn-t-you-being-clever-or-finding-a_699022.jpg) > “Play isn't you being clever, or finding a trick, or finding a way of covering over your own misery, or persuading someone to do what you want. It's the process of working with the materials that you find and discovering what's possible with them.” [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Play is engaging with given materials, exploring possibilities rather than using tricks to hide shortcomings or manipulate outcomes. **In simple terms:** Play means exploring and creating with what you have. Key Takeaway Focus on discovery, not manipulation. Themes creativity exploration authenticity Mood curious reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - game development - education - artistic practice - problem solving Key Concepts Game design material interaction process thinking Questions to Reflect On - How can you turn limitations into creative opportunities? - What does genuine play feel like to you? A Different Perspective Play can be limited by rigid constraints or lack of resources. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Clever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clever/) [Misery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/misery/) [Play](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/play/) [Playful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/playful/) [Process](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/process/) [What you want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/what-you-want/) ## Related quotes > [The opposite of play isn’t work. It’s depression. To play is to act out and be willful, exultant and committed as if one is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-sutton-smith/the-opposite-of-play-isn-t-work-it-s-depression-to-play-is-to-act-out/) Brian Sutton-Smith > [Free-to-play isn't a business model. Free-to-play is a marketing strategy. It's a way to get people over the hump of trying out your game.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-lasky/free-to-play-isn-t-a-business-model-free-to-play-is-a-marketing/) [Mitch Lasky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-lasky/) > [I will say I would much rather play someone who isn't the most spellbinding beautiful person because I am not that person and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-hope/i-will-say-i-would-much-rather-play-someone-who-isn-t-the-most/) [Charlotte Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-hope/) > [You can't get someone to like something they aren't feeling. After you press play, there isn't anything you can do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/you-can-t-get-someone-to-like-something-they-aren-t-feeling-after-you/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [Procedurals are interesting to watch, but they're not as interesting to play because there isn't an opportunity to delve into any backstories. You're instead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-greene/procedurals-are-interesting-to-watch-but-they-re-not-as-interesting/) [Sarah Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-greene/) > [For one thing, when you're playing as well as I was at the time, you think you can play with anything. That isn't true,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/payne-stewart/for-one-thing-when-you-re-playing-as-well-as-i-was-at-the-time-you/) [Payne Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/payne-stewart/) > [What I play now isn't surf music. It's too powerful. I used to go through paper bags; now I go through brick walls. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-dale/what-i-play-now-isn-t-surf-music-it-s-too-powerful-i-used-to-go/) [Dick Dale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-dale/) > [Any phrase that suggests play is this domain that's the opposite of work, or the thing that you do when you're done working, should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/any-phrase-that-suggests-play-is-this-domain-that-s-the-opposite-of/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [I think this dichotomy or opposition between work and play, between leisure and serious stuff, is definitely a bad way of thinking about the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/i-think-this-dichotomy-or-opposition-between-work-and-play-between/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [The playful perspective is not meant to turn your life into a game or a jungle gym. It's rather that the activity is looking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/the-playful-perspective-is-not-meant-to-turn-your-life-into-a-game-or/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Normally we think of play as the opposite of work. Work is the thing you have to do, and then there's play, the thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/normally-we-think-of-play-as-the-opposite-of-work-work-is-the-thing/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Play is this process of operating the world, of manipulating things. It's related to experimentation, and it's related to pleasure, but not defined by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/play-is-this-process-of-operating-the-world-of-manipulating-things-it/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [I think the most important thing to realize about play is that it's this thing that's in stuff, it's not in you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/i-think-the-most-important-thing-to-realize-about-play-is-that-it-s/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [The whole idea of play is in finding, acknowledging, and then working with the natural constraints and limitations that you find in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/the-whole-idea-of-play-is-in-finding-acknowledging-and-then-working/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [“Is that enough info for you?" His old lady? I thought that was just talk you saw in the movies. Maverick brings his lips…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justine-elvira/is-that-enough-info-for-you-his-old-lady-i-thought-that-was-just-talk/) [Justine Elvira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justine-elvira/) ## More by Ian Bogost > [I think the most important way to understand play is that it's this property that's in things. Like there's play in a mechanism. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/i-think-the-most-important-way-to-understand-play-is-that-it-s-this/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Once you get yourself on that path where you're willing to find something delightful in laundry and in dishwashers, it means that you train…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/once-you-get-yourself-on-that-path-where-you-re-willing-to-find/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Our ideas of happiness, gratification, contentment, satisfaction, all demand that those feelings come from within us. If you flip that on its head and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/our-ideas-of-happiness-gratification-contentment-satisfaction-all/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [When we use this word fun, it sort of bangs up the ordinary and the extraordinary altogether.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/when-we-use-this-word-fun-it-sort-of-bangs-up-the-ordinary-and-the/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [We think we want enjoyment, and that enjoyment is incompatible with work, and somehow we have to import the pleasure into these miserable experiences.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/we-think-we-want-enjoyment-and-that-enjoyment-is-incompatible-with/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [You can experience play at work, not because you're messing around or wasting time or something, but because you're looking really deeply and seriously…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/you-can-experience-play-at-work-not-because-you-re-messing-around-or/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Actually a lot of the supposedly serious and meaningful and worthwhile content on the podcast or on the television is no more or less…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/actually-a-lot-of-the-supposedly-serious-and-meaningful-and/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [I think a lot of the misery that people experience comes from that sensation of boundlessness, of infinite possibility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/i-think-a-lot-of-the-misery-that-people-experience-comes-from-that/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [There's just an enormous vast universe of possible intrigue out there and why not pay attention to it? Because then you're not burdened with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/there-s-just-an-enormous-vast-universe-of-possible-intrigue-out-there/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Generally speaking, when people use the word fun, it's like a placeholder. You know, "How was your evening?" "Oh it was fun."](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/generally-speaking-when-people-use-the-word-fun-it-s-like-a/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Wouldn't we all rather have the possibility of finding pleasure and delight in literally anything we might encounter? Instead of assuming that actually there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/wouldn-t-we-all-rather-have-the-possibility-of-finding-pleasure-and/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Fun has to do with habitual activities but then also terrifically novel or unusual ones. It works as a sort of strange milkshake of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/fun-has-to-do-with-habitual-activities-but-then-also-terrifically/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [“Irony keeps reality at a distance. It has become our primary method for combatting the external world’s incompatibility with our own desires. Today’s irony…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/irony-keeps-reality-at-a-distance-it-has-become-our-primary-method/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [To me, being able to find gratification in more venues, rather than greater gratification in a few, seems like a much more sane way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/to-me-being-able-to-find-gratification-in-more-venues-rather-than/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [The whole idea of play is in finding, acknowledging, and then working with the natural constraints and limitations that you find in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/the-whole-idea-of-play-is-in-finding-acknowledging-and-then-working/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) [Explore all 70 Ian Bogost quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) ## More Clever quotes > [In some circles where very heavy people think they have very heavy brains, words like "charming" and "clever" and "pretty" are all put-downs; all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-warhol/in-some-circles-where-very-heavy-people-think-they-have-very-heavy/) [Andy Warhol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-warhol/) > [You're beautiful, cute, pretty, gorgeous, and fuck.. I ran out of words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raghib-clitso/you-re-beautiful-cute-pretty-gorgeous-and-fuck-i-ran-out-of-words/) [Raghib Clitso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raghib-clitso/) > [What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, straghtforward men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/what-we-shall-need-is-not-geniuses-or-cynics-or-misanthropes-or/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [“There was once an old but clever donkey, who never liked the sting of any bee, Nor for all the Slung mud, did he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/priyavrat-thareja/there-was-once-an-old-but-clever-donkey-who-never-liked-the-sting-of/) [Priyavrat Thareja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/priyavrat-thareja/) > [ There was another reason \[she\] took her books whenever they went away. They were her home when she was somewhere strange. They were familiar… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornelia-funke/there-was-another-reason-she-took-her-books-whenever-they-went-away/) [Cornelia Funke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornelia-funke/) > [“The cactus thrives in the desert while the fern thrives in the wetland. The fool will try to plant them in the same flowerbox.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-nazarian/the-cactus-thrives-in-the-desert-while-the-fern-thrives-in-the/) [Vera Nazarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-nazarian/) > [Good people are found not changed. Recently I read a headline that said, 'We don't teach people to be nice. We simply hire nice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-rohn/good-people-are-found-not-changed-recently-i-read-a-headline-that/) [Jim Rohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-rohn/) > [If she is stupid enough to let you go, you're clever enough not to look back.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-she-is-stupid-enough-to-let-you-go-you-re-clever-enough-not-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Need to go to the pharmacy, because I'm so sick!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tasha-matthews/need-to-go-to-the-pharmacy-because-i-m-so-sick/) Tasha Matthews > [My valour is certainly going! - it is sneaking off! - I feel it oozing out as it were at the palms of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-brinsley-sheridan/my-valour-is-certainly-going-it-is-sneaking-off-i-feel-it-oozing-out/) [Richard Brinsley Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-brinsley-sheridan/) > ['I Love You' fails to sum up all the memories, smiles, laughs, trials, and tribulations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raghib-clitso/i-love-you-fails-to-sum-up-all-the-memories-smiles-laughs-trials-and/) [Raghib Clitso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raghib-clitso/) > [People may say that what I do is very clever, but it's not really at all. It's not Swift.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rory-bremner/people-may-say-that-what-i-do-is-very-clever-but-it-s-not-really-at/) [Rory Bremner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rory-bremner/) > [I do remember what I said. The promise. To protect her. If I'd done that ... even if I didn't make it, you wouldn't've…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joss-whedon/i-do-remember-what-i-said-the-promise-to-protect-her-if-i-d-done-that/) [Joss Whedon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joss-whedon/) > [“Regrets are like mistresses," he informed her. "I ..." Her hand dropped from the handle. "What?" "Good men don't have them." She blinked at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-johnson/regrets-are-like-mistresses-he-informed-her-i-her-hand-dropped-from/) [Alissa Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-johnson/) > [I love clever lyrics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-hayes/i-love-clever-lyrics/) [Walker Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-hayes/) [Browse all 2,116 Clever quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clever/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Play isn't you being clever, or finding a trick, or finding a way of covering over your own misery, or persuading someone to do what you want. It's the process of working with the materials that you find and discovering what's possible with them.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ian Bogost" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/play-isn-t-you-being-clever-or-finding-a-trick-or-finding-a-way-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Clever" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/play-isn-t-you-being-clever-or-finding-a-trick-or-finding-a-way-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/833/ian-bogost-9716_clever_play-isn-t-you-being-clever-or-finding-a_699022.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/833/ian-bogost-9716_clever_play-isn-t-you-being-clever-or-finding-a_699022.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/833/ian-bogost-9716_clever_play-isn-t-you-being-clever-or-finding-a_699022.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Play isn't you being clever, or finding a trick, or finding a way of covering over your own misery, or…” — Ian Bogost", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ian Bogost", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Play isn't you being clever, or...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/play-isn-t-you-being-clever-or-finding-a-trick-or-finding-a-way-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/play-isn-t-you-being-clever-or-finding-a-trick-or-finding-a-way-of/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```