Paidea: Playing a
game for pleasure.
This
type of play is not governed by rules, meaning you do what you want to have
fun. Minecraft is a paidea game because there are no rules and no real
objectives, only that which you set yourself. Other sandbox games and games
such as The Sims are games are also paidea games. This is because you can do
whatever you, the player, wishes to do in them.
Ludus: A way to win
through clear rules.
Unlike
paidea, ludus has set rules that the player must do to complete an objective,
Games like FIFA, Battlefield 3 and Chess. FIFA has the same rules as a normal game
of football and they cannot be changed, and they must win exactly like real
football. Battlefield 3 makes teams work together to capture points, attack and
defend bases or blow up objectives. Chess doesn’t necessarily have rules but
the pieces do. They player can move the pieces where the pieces allow them to.
Newman then goes further to say that there are four
types of play;
Paidea Ludus
Agon: Competition Borderlands Battlefield 3
Agon: Competition Borderlands Battlefield 3
Alea: Chance Tetris FTL
Ilinx: Movement Skate Mirrors edge
Mimicry: Simulation The Sims Forza
(sorry about the rubbish table)
Hi Perry,
ReplyDeletePaidea and ludus are probably best thought of as being at opposite ends of a continuum, with different forms of play or games positioned closer to one end or the other according to whether they are free-play or are more rule-bound.
Caillois also thinks of play as falling into four categories, which he designates agon (competition), alea (chance), ilinx
(vertigo) and mimicry (simulation). Most games (ludus) or forms of free play (paidea) will also fall into one or more of these categories.
After thinking about how Caillois' categories might be applied to games that you know, you might also consider if this form of categorisation provides a useful or interesting way to think about play.
If you want to loook at what Caillois has to say about categorising games, you'll find a copy of Man, Play and Games in the library.