Meaning-making is the task of locating oneself on a spectrum between two poles:
Beloved, and F^cked.

As opposed to play, in which there is no task required. Play can be about making meaning, but at its core, it's about not having a "task" at hand (because somebody else has done the work for you.)

Beloved and F^cked mean a lot of things to all people. But there is not a person for whom these things mean nothing. And for the vastest majority of people in posession of their faculties, being loved, or being screwed, is the meaning of life.

Checkmate, i.e. certain demise, is "being screwed." Theft, ruin, screwed. Being taken advantage of. Screwing, well...

Being loved, I don't think, is something I need to define. It's taught, if you're lucky enough to have a teacher, and if you are with me on the same planet, it's everything.

Beloved by God. Beloved by Power. Beloved by Man. Man wants to be loved.
Beloved by Truth. Beloved by Beauty. Beloved by drunken goodness.

Baby-ness. Innocence. These are trivialized too much. The other side of babiness, is staring into the abyss. Because anyone who has cared for a baby human knows that, if he is not loved, that baby doesn't stand a chance in hell.