[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-576733-105":59,"doc-detail-576733-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","introducing-the-playful-tension-model-putting-play-theory-into-practice","Introducing the Playful-Tension Model - Putting Play Theory into Practice","","The article introduces the playful-tension model as a metatheoretical concept intended to bridge a gap between general play theory and real-world play design. It argues that play design requires balancing “handleability” and “unhandleability” and that existing play studies often provide only predesign justifications or postdesign critiques rather than guiding design decisions. By grounding the model in foundational texts and intermediate-level knowledge, the work aims to support more deliberate practice across toy, game, and playground creation.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":15,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/introducing-the-playful-tension-model-putting-play-theory-into-practice/576733/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/introducing-the-playful-tension-model-putting-play-theory-into-practice/576733.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Himbo","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":8},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What problem does the playful-tension model address?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It addresses the weak connection between general play theory and actual play design practice, where theory rarely informs day-to-day design decisions.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What is the key focus for play designers in the model?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The model emphasizes the interplay between “handleability” and “unhandleability” as a central concern when designing playthings.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How does the article position intermediate-level knowledge?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It argues that design practitioners need theory that sits between general theory and design practice, exceeding single cases while staying relevant to design work.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},576733,1792663221,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":14,"category_name":15,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":8,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},687197100911,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/a000239b6f1da00475?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1785132997149421697","Introducing the Playful-Tension Model  \nPutting Play Theory into Practice  \n•  \nJess Uhre Rahbek  \nThe author introduces the playful-tension model, a new theoretical concept, to harmonize the gap in play design between general play theory and its actual use in designing playthings. By synthesizing a broad selection of general play theory into a single theoretical concept, the playful-tension model accentuates the delicate interplay of what he calls “handleability” and“unhandleability” as a primary concern for play designers. He asserts that the contribution of the playful-tension model lies in its ability to unify the complex and scattered landscape of play studies into a high-level middle ground metatheory that empowers play designers and inspires them to amore deliberate practice. Keywords: handleability; intermediate level knowledge; metatheory of play; play design; play theory; playful-tension model;  \ntoy design; unhandleabilitry  \nIntroduction  \nThe considerable challenges of successfully integrating general theory into design practice are relatively well documented (Stolterman 2008; Goodman et al. 2011). The concern that theory lacks the ability to inform design practice currently haunts discussions in the field of game studies (Miltiadis 2023; Perez 2023) . Regarding the discipline of play design specifically, Skovbjerg and her associates (Skovbjerg et al. 2022) have recently published a meta-analysis of papers about play design revealing that general play theory largely consists of predesign justifications for the decision to work on certain projects or postdesign critiques of why projects were successful or not. The meta-analysis finds, however, that the instances in which theory has played an active part in the actual play design practice by helping inform design decisions are very rare, suggest-  \n325  \nAmerican Journal of Play, volume 17, number 3 © 2025 The Strong Contact [Jess Uhre Rahbek at jur@dskd.dk](Jess Uhre Rahbek at jur@dskd.dk)  \ning the relevance of discussing general play theory in terms of accessibility and applicability to play design practice.  \nBased on my reading of a selection of foundational play theory texts, I propose to address this issue by introducing the playful-tension model as ametatheoretical concept intended to establish a more immediate connection between general play theory and the practice of play design. Here I take the term “play design” to mean the professional practice of making playthings (Fink 2016; Sicart 2022) whether it be toys, games, or playgrounds, that intends to make a particular type of play experience available to the player (Gudiksen and Skovbjerg 2020) .  \nThus the aim of this article is twofold. First, I plan to offer a theoretical contribution to the understanding and articulation of play design as a discipline, one that carries implications for the practice of play design by providing a particular perspective on the theoretical mechanisms underlying the play experiences the designing addresses. Second, I hope to activate the theoretical contributions of play studies to help inform the practice of play design to a greater extent than is currently the case.  \nThis means that the playful-tension model does not aim to provide a more detailed understanding of the particular topic of each of the theoretical texts about play that informs it. Rather, the playful-tension model seeks to formulatea single concept of play that is accountable across the selected texts while being both applicable and relevant beyond their individual focuses, which would allow play design practitioners to appropriate the concept for any type of plaything.  \nBecause the disconnect between general theory and design practice extends beyond play design, several design researchers have advocated the development of intermediate-level knowledge to address such gaps (Höök and Löwgren 2012; Stolterman and Wiberg 2010; Dalsgaard and Dindler 2014) . Consequently, the premise underlying the argument for ","cbCaieGAQEQ6vhWa","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaieGAQEQ6vhWa","pdf",237136,22,"English","# Introduction\n## Integrating general theory into design practice\n## The meta-analysis and the rare role of theory in practice\n## The playful-tension model and intermediate-level knowledge","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the playful-tension model address?\",\"answer\":\"It addresses the weak connection between general play theory and actual play design practice, where theory rarely informs day-to-day design decisions.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the key focus for play designers in the model?\",\"answer\":\"The model emphasizes the interplay between “handleability” and “unhandleability” as a central concern when designing playthings.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the article position intermediate-level knowledge?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that design practitioners need theory that sits between general theory and design practice, exceeding single cases while staying relevant to design work.\"}]","Introducing the Playful-Tension Model - Putting Play Theory into Practice | PDF",1792030321,34]