Playbor
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A hybrid form of play and labour, specifically in the games industry. uncountable
"The fun, pleasurable aspect of playbor troubles scholars because it seems to suggest that playborers are not exploited; exploitation is supposed to be immiserating, not fun. Furthermore, the characterization of playbor as exploitative might easily be read as something of an insult to the exploitation of real (material) labor, which is in fact immiserating."
Example
More examples"The fun, pleasurable aspect of playbor troubles scholars because it seems to suggest that playborers are not exploited; exploitation is supposed to be immiserating, not fun. Furthermore, the characterization of playbor as exploitative might easily be read as something of an insult to the exploitation of real (material) labor, which is in fact immiserating."
Etymology
Blend of play + labor, coined by Julian Kücklich Julian Kücklich in 2005.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.