The following symbolic elements are some of the most popular archetypes of play, frequently recurring in various forms of entertainment such as video games, tabletop games, films, literature, and others.
A doll is a special object. It is inanimate from a functional point of view, yet it is nevertheless endowed with the appearances of an animate being. In a way, therefore, a doll plays the role of a mediator between the realm of life (spirits) and the realm of death.
A doll is a piece of dead matter which is given its own spirit. The spirit lets the doll come alive as its own quasi-living thing. The act of fabricating a doll and giving it a name (identity), therefore, tears the boundary between the overworld and the underworld, giving birth to a "middle region" in which both the live and dead come together and establish a meaningful symbiosis. This place is an intersection between soul and matter.
Dolls can be found in a variety of forms in today's free market. A consumer good, for instance, is a doll which is imbued with the brand's spirit. Some people choose to buy goods of a specific brand because they assign metaphysical meanings to it, other than the pragmatic implication of the product's mere material composition.
Shopping, therefore, could be imagined as a process of furnishing one's own inventory of dolls - an intricate collection of enchanted icons, ready to connect the consumer's identity to the edge of reality where the distinction between the real and unreal blurs itself.
(Keywords: #PsychicInterface #Identity #Icon #Idol #Simulacrum #Toy #Plaything)
A treasure box is full of hidden wonders. The moment you open it up, it may present you with either a pleasant surprise (reward) or punishment. It is a box of mystery, and you never know what kind of thing will reveal itself until you decide to open it.
The core mechanic of a treasure box is random reward, driven by the principle of uncertainty. The act of disclosing it brings you either a good luck or bad luck, and such an outcome is determined by pure chance and not by your personal will. It is a game of randomness.
This hypothetical box shows up in different forms across a variety of cases. In the context of mining, it could be a chunk of dirt and stone beyond which precious minerals might be hidden. In the context of fishing, it could be an opaque pond in which you might be able to catch a fish. And in the context of gambling, you could imagine it as a slot machine.
In every one of the aforementioned scenarios, though, the essence of what constitutes a treasure box stays the same. It is basically an "enclosure of a secret" - a nutshell, when cracked open, throws you upon an unexpected line of destiny. And the way to open it usually involves just a simple kind of action, such as digging the ground with a pickaxe, casting a fishing rod, or pulling the lever of a slot machine.
(Keywords: #RandomReward #PleasantSurprise #Uncertainty #Probability #StochasticProcesses #ParallelUniverse)
A portal is a gateway to another world - a special device of magic which lets the user "cross the threshold" to the other side of reality. It is an awkward puncture in the midst of our mundane everyday life. In literature as well as popular media, it serves as a means of scene transition.
An adventure usually begins by entering a portal, which is typically concealed in a long neglected corner of a place. It could be a door, a looking glass, a closet, an elevator, a storm, or any other "hole" in physical dimension which is capable of temporarily splitting the continuum of our living space into two binary regions - "here" (i.e. the world with which we are familiar) and "there" (i.e. the world which is unknown and full of mysteries).
By crossing a portal, one faces a major shift in one's life due to the sudden disappearance of friendly elements from one's environment. The other side of the portal presents the visitor with a whole new spectrum of paradigms, most of which defy the expectations of one's prior knowledge and education.
A portal opens up a door to a whole new space of possibilities and exploration. In a way, therefore, it provides us with inexplicable catharsis - a sense of spiritual liberation from the confines of ordinary life. In the prolonged absence of such a portal, we usually fabricate one by planning a travel, engaging in an unusual outdoor activity, or studying an unfamiliar subject.
(Keywords: #AnotherWorld #LandOfMysteries #Liberation #RoomForExploration #Adventure)
A furnace is a melting pot of chaotic rigmaroles. It is a crucible governed by primordial fire, which disassembles the well-established structure of its ingredients and concocts their inner organs into a bizarrely morphed form. It is a place of rebirth - a transformation from one state to another.
What would a furnace signify from a functional standpoint? There could be many interpretations, but one thing which is worthy of remark is that it allows multiple elements to come together and fuse into a whole separate entity. Thus, we can imagine that a furnace is a cradle of interactions and their unforeseen consequences.
One of the key takeaways of such synthesis is the very notion of unexpectedness. Familiar elements, when combined, sometimes merge into a surprising result which may either bless or destroy the creator. This queer sort of jumpscare, emerging off of the middle of one's otherwise ordinary experience, introduces a sudden "turn" in our familiar storyline, thereby reshaping the perfectly logic-driven clockwork universe into one which is interleaved with caverns of lurking chaos.
(Keywords: #Crafting #Alchemy #Mixer #Combination #Relations #Interactions)
Light is an essential ingredient of visibility. We need it in order to observe our surroundings, gather information, and draw a picture of where we are and what kinds of things wait before us. Its presence ensures the overcoming of darkness - an indispensable precondition of knowledge.
It is our instinct to struggle to learn more and more about the environment in which we live. And the root of such an innate tendency can be traced back to the evolutionary fact that the more we know, the more likely we will manage to survive in this hostile world which is full of hidden dangers.
This also explains why darkness is a common element of horror in literature, as well as other forms of media such as films, games, etc. Fear originates from the unknown, and the lack of one's capacity to explain things that are happening nearby. By covering our eyes with the veil of ignorance, darkness renders us vulnerable against the phantasmagoria of potential threats.
The very moment we turn on a source of light, this chamber of uncertainty dissolves itself into oblivion and lets us surmount the unfounded fear which has been haunting us. Light, therefore, is a symbol of courage, grounded upon the promise that everything is and will stay lit in our field of vision.
(Keywords: #Unveiling #OvercomingOfDarkness #Enlightenment #Knowledge #Discovery)