The Semantics of Fun: Differentiating Enjoyable Eeperiences

Abstract

To summarise, this chapter has argued that although words like fun and pleasure are closely related and may each function as a superordinate category for the other, there are experiential and cultural differences between them. Fun has been considered in terms of distraction and pleasure in terms of absorption. This is not to suggest that pleasure is a more worthy pursuit than fun, it is rather an attempt to delineate different but equally important aspects of enjoyment. It is possible to appreciate Shakespeare and still acknowledge that The Simpsons is the greatest achievement of western civilisation. Both offer rich and fulfilling experiences but they are very different kinds of pleasures. As Peter Wright and John McCarthy argue elsewhere in this book, it is not possible to design an experience, only to design for an experience; but in order to do this it is necessary to have an understanding of that experience as it relates to and differs from others.