Where did playing as a behavior come from? It's kind of

>>2560487
Probably a result of phenological-morphological trait and circumstantial conditions that allowed the behavior to emerge and then probably, but not necessarily selection from increased evolutionary fitness from physical fitness and sociality, or other means. It is probably are repeated behavioral evolution that has emerged in several phylogenies, probably more so when functional redundancy is considered.

Evolution isn't progressing towards perfection and lots of silly things emerge and stick around, etho-ecological-morphological mismatches

It's probably the most important activity, especially for children. And you could easily argue that many things adults do are nothing but games, they're just very sophisticated and the rules aren't so explicit.

I don't know how much "play" you see in non-social animals, but in social ones it's an essential socializing tool. Kids needs a structure and shared goal in order to property modify their behavior and coordinate with others. Without a shared goal social groups break down rather quickly.

>>2560487
non-lethal practice

gets you into shape for when you really have to defend yourself/your family

fun things are fun

Sociality begets playfulness and both are signs of higher intelligence in creatures.

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>>2560487
people are hedonist by nature
playing is a creating a safe space bounded by rules (given by parents) where value are retrieved by the winner and if the winner is not defined by the rules, it is just innocent fun like women love so much

>>2560487
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xC9zUdOj-mM