Dragon Play involves adopting a dragon persona, typically expressed through gear such as horned hoods, tails, wing-inspired garments and scale-like textures, and a register that often draws on ideas of majesty, treasure, hoarding or fire. As a Fantasy Animal Play tradition, it operates by imagination rather than reference to a real species.

Dragon personas emerged alongside broader fantasy-inflected animal roles as Petplay expanded beyond the classic domestic species.

Dragon Play does not follow the vocabulary of companion or working animals. Its structure is imaginative and varies from participant to participant.