Playful Identity in game design and open ended play

Gamers are, like Yamauchi, described as nonconformist, creative, and self-confident persons, who seem unafraid to make mistakes (Beck and Wade
2004). Is it true that games present us with an opportunity to develop a particular identity, or are specific people attracted to games that create
these opportunities? In the last decade, research has been conducted into
the (playful) organizational style of gamers, and into the leadership qualities
that may be developed in a game (DeMarco, Lesser, and O’Driscoll 2007;
Reeves and Malone 2007). The search for an answer to the above question
is the aim of this chapter. To be more specific, we would like to better understand identity construction and representation. For this reason we would like to further elaborate on the notion of playful identity as discussed in the introductory chapter of this volume. In contrast to other identity constructs, a playful identity characterizes someone’s ludic activities without immediately discussing the valuing and moralizing practices arising from these activities