Caillois' terminology

Ludus and Paidia

 

Ludus and Paidia are the two larger categories that Caillois talks about; Ludus are games with rules to govern what the player can do; a good example of this is the multiplayer first-person shooter 'Halo', players must best each other to score points; there are clear guidelines as to what the player can and can't do. However, Paidia refers to games without rules; a much more spontaneous way of playing, much like how most children's games work; they make up their own games and make up the rules as they go along. A good example of this would be 'Guild Wars 2', an open world mmorpg where players can level up by doing almost anything; finding a high up spot in the world with a nice view often gives the player xp, as does completing quests and killing monsters.

 



Alea

Alea refers to games that fall to chance, much like in poker where the cards are handed out from a shuffled deck, or like in Dungeons and Dragons, where the player's ability to do any action is governed by whether they roll a number on a die high enough to pass the 'check'.

 



Ilinx

Ilinx is a kind of play that temporarily creates a disruption of perception, a good example of this can be seen in racing simulators, such as Gran Turismo; the player will be focusing so much on where his opponents are, how to take each corner and when to change gears, that he forgets that he's playing a game, when and if he crashes, he will be filled with panic just before he does, because he was so immersed.

 

 

Agon

Agon is essentially competition; this can be seen in a large majority of games; most sports contain it (Football, tennis, snowboarding, curling, etc.), as do a large amount of digital and board games, such as: Monopoly, Mastermind, Call of Duty and Halo.

 

 

Mimesis

Mimesis is essentially mimicry; playing a game that mimics a situation. A brilliant example of this is when children play 'house', they mimic everyday life around the house and pretend that they are a family.