PAIDER and LUDUS

In today's critical game study lesson we looked into Paider and Ludus and the differences between them. Paider is a free activity where there is no goal or profit to be gained; so effectively you "play" for pleasure. Where as Ludus has clear constraints like rules and will have a clear outcome, for example winning. Within these you also have four different types of game which are: Agon- competition, Alea- chance/randomness, Ilinix- movement, and finally Mimicry- simulation/make-believe/role-play.

We were then looking at games that would be a Paider or Ludus game or both as well as having aspects of the types of games. From looking at different games I found that most games have both Paider and Ludus aspects and could fit into more than one of the types. So for example the Assassin's Creed series fits into both as it has the sand pit styled free roam where you can just go around the city's climbing the buildings and doing whatever you like as well as the story line and time challenges. They also have a part of ilinix in them as its all about movement doing the art of parkour.

A example of game that's heavily based on Ludus would be the Call of Duty series as they are all based about boundaries and having rules and not doing exactly what you want. These games have a lot of agon within them has it is all about competition on the multi-player to see who is the best. Then just as a few more examples of other games that fit into these types of games; there are:

Agon - Need for speed, Quake
                                   -Tetris is a bit of Agon as well as Alea
Alea - XCOM, FTL

Ilinix - Mirrors Edge
                                 -Tony Hawk's games are a bit of both Ilinix and Mimicry for playing as famous skaters
Mimicry - Sims, RPG Games