The Homo Ludens Laboratory

It's called "The Homo Ludens Laboratory. I find myself having to quote, at length (in a slightly Americanized version as recommended by my official correspondent:

Ever been told to stop having fun and start studying? What about being told off for having fun instead of working? Does having fun really mean the opposite of being industrious and diligent? Do people really believe fun cannot have a place alongside study and work? Fun can be found everywhere--your everyday life, work and surrounding environment. The new pink arrow shown above is a "fun pointer" and asks the loosely translated question: "Are we having fun yet?

• "As you stretch while waking << Are we having fun yet?


• Waiting for the bus to work << Are we having fun yet?


• The teacher walks into class << Are we having fun yet?


• Punching in your time card at work << Are we having fun yet?


• In front of your PC at work << Are we having fun yet?


• Rushing to make an appointment << Are we having fun yet?


• Deciding with difficulty what to eat << Are we having fun yet?


• The moment before you buy that beer after a hard day's work << Are we having fun yet?


• In your dreams << Are we having fun yet?

What kind of business organization does that sound like to you?

A company called, perhaps, "NAMCO?" As in the makers of, for example, Pac Man?

Homo Ludens? The dense and yet formative philsophy of Johann Huizinga in which humanity is distinguished from other species not because of our ability to think, but because of our ability to play?

Might you conclude, therefore, that you are not really having as much fun yet as you will be having later? Might you therefore even further speculate that an organization such as this, daring to embrace such a profunditty, would have even more profound fun in store? And not just in the video game store, but throughout the company, itself? Wherein work would actually be genuinely fun?

Let us everso totally hope you are right.