Paidea -effectively means playing for pleasure
Ludus - refers to being constrained by rules where there is a clear winner
Newman goes on to consider the different aspects of this in games, using four terms to define specific games under the Paidea and Ludus concepts.
Agon - competition games
Alea - games that involve chance/randomness
Ilinx - games that involve movement
Mimicry - games that are simulation, make-believe or role play
Here is a table that shows some games that fall under each of the category's and a description as to why they do so...
- Call Of Duty - A highly competitive game, but easily falls under the Paidea category as you are not constrained by any rules. There is no order of which you must kill enemies or how to do so. You do it at your own will.
- FIFA - Extremely competitive and falling under the Ludus category simply because the rules of football cannot be changed. No matter the level of competitiveness, you must still confine to the fact that to win you must score more goals than your opponent.
- Call Of Duty - A highly competitive game, but easily falls under the Paidea category as you are not constrained by any rules. There is no order of which you must kill enemies or how to do so. You do it at your own will.
- FIFA - Extremely competitive and falling under the Ludus category simply because the rules of football cannot be changed. No matter the level of competitiveness, you must still confine to the fact that to win you must score more goals than your opponent.
- Minecraft - This open world builder allows players to play at their own pace and go and explore as much or as little as they please at one time. Minecraft's chance/random aspects come into play when searching the world. The player could head towards a huge mountain in hope of mining coal, but not actually find any.
- Chess - Chess is obviously confined to strict rules in which you must move your pieces around the board in order to defeat your opponent. However there is no chance of knowing what your opponent is to do next, so there is a randomness as to which you must wait to see what move you are going to do in return.
- The Sims - The Sims is a movement game because you have to control characters and tell them how to live their lives. You move them from place to place as they build their own house and construct families. They are no rules to this game the player is free to create what they desire.
- Splinter Cell - The Splinter Cell game series is widely known for its movement in games in relation to stealth. Players must move around the level whilst hiding from guards by climbing, crouching, crawling etc to stay out of sight. The player is confined to the rules that they must get from A to B in order to complete each level and sometimes are even confined to the fact that they must not get spotted by guards.
- Lord Of The Rings Online - This is an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) game. The player creates a character in which he customizes in terms of appearance and skill. The player then takes on the open world completing quests in order to improve his/her skills at free will. Sometimes main story quests must be completed before other quests, but generally the play is free to play at their own pleasure.
- Forza Motorsport - A car racing simulation game that puts the player in control of many famous cars as they race around famous race tracks. This game focuses on attention to detail with all the vehicles and location from around the world. The player is constrained to the rules of the race when playing the game. For example they must complete a certain amount of laps before winning the race, they have to beat opponents to that finish line in order to win.
- Chess - Chess is obviously confined to strict rules in which you must move your pieces around the board in order to defeat your opponent. However there is no chance of knowing what your opponent is to do next, so there is a randomness as to which you must wait to see what move you are going to do in return.
- The Sims - The Sims is a movement game because you have to control characters and tell them how to live their lives. You move them from place to place as they build their own house and construct families. They are no rules to this game the player is free to create what they desire.
- Splinter Cell - The Splinter Cell game series is widely known for its movement in games in relation to stealth. Players must move around the level whilst hiding from guards by climbing, crouching, crawling etc to stay out of sight. The player is confined to the rules that they must get from A to B in order to complete each level and sometimes are even confined to the fact that they must not get spotted by guards.
- Lord Of The Rings Online - This is an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) game. The player creates a character in which he customizes in terms of appearance and skill. The player then takes on the open world completing quests in order to improve his/her skills at free will. Sometimes main story quests must be completed before other quests, but generally the play is free to play at their own pleasure.
- Forza Motorsport - A car racing simulation game that puts the player in control of many famous cars as they race around famous race tracks. This game focuses on attention to detail with all the vehicles and location from around the world. The player is constrained to the rules of the race when playing the game. For example they must complete a certain amount of laps before winning the race, they have to beat opponents to that finish line in order to win.
Hi Adam,
ReplyDeleteIt's useful to see you comments illustrated with a table showing examples of how games that you know fall into Callois's categories.
In looking at your table though, a couple of thoughts spring to mind: Call of Duty offers different game modes (CTF, DM, etc). Here, players are engaged in a form of struggle and the aim is to win. This type of play (with a winner and loser -- quantifiable outcome) is ludic rather than paideac, although sandbox modes, or simply playing for pleasure of play rather than playing competetively against others would be paidea).
While there is some movement involved in The Sims, in Caillois's terms, ilinx is a form of vertigo or dizziness, such as the dizziness experience when rolling down a hill (paidea) or the dizzing experience of "flying" in skiing simulation games (ludus) such as SSX Tricky.