The notion of play encompasses a wide range of activities such as card games, digital games, hobbies, and sports. Although we consider such playful activities to be ordinary these days, the explicit meaning of play or difference between play and game is unclear.
This paper attempts to understand the historical changes in the meaning of play that can be found in academic discourse in order to explore a new direction of play study within sociological contexts. By reviewing the various theories of both play and game, we can come to a better understanding of how the notions of play differ between English and Japanese because Japanese lacks an explicit translation for the words "game" and "ludic." To achieve this outcome, we must first adjust the main difference between the two languages. Furthermore, this paper elucidates that sociology in Europe and the United States has focused on "game" to understand play. In contrast, Japanese sociology refers to neither game nor play, instead distinguishes between leisure and work. This paper seeks to bridge the gaps between the understanding of play and game in English and Japanese.
In addition, this paper investigates the significant shift in the meaning of play and game brought about by the recent information technology revolution. It shows that the development of digital games can be seen as a starting point to form a new definition of play and game from interdisciplinary perspectives. In this phenomenon, new play researchers have begun to define play and game. This paper also reviews some definitions of play and game used in digital technologies and introduces the new direction of play and game studies, such as "Ludology." Finally, by locating digital games as the central subject of play research, new definitions of play and game de-emphasize the division between play and work seen in previous sociological research.

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