Play and space – towards a formal definition of play

The aim of this article is to present a formal definition of the aspect of play generally known as ‘make-believe’. ‘Make-believe’ is defined in relation to theory of place and Dasein’s being-in-the-world as presented by Martin Heidegger in Being and time. From this point of view ‘make-believe’ can be defined as a uniform and situational spatial dyad where being is doubled, characterized by the presence of the physically absent. I will apply this definition after a survey of central and influential aspects of the history of the theory of play to demonstrate its relevance for a formal definition of play.