Yesterday we took a look at some other ways to consider games. These were Paidea (play for pleasure), Ludus (a game constrained by rules with a clear outcome), Agon (competition), Alea (chance or randomness), Ilinx (movement) and Mimicry (simulation/make-believe/role-play)
Of the many games I have played over the years, most of them have been a mixture of these terms. A game such as 'The Sims' is a very good example of a paidea game as it is a complete sandbox for the players to do what they wish within it whereas 'Sonic the Hedgehog' was an extremely ludus game moving the player from one world to the next. Recently there has been a trend in the games industry to make games that blend the two together, examples being the recent 'Grand Theft Auto' installments or the 'Saints Row' series. Both of these allow the player freedom as to what they can do and how they can do it in the game space but also have sets of missions which follow a linear path.
All of these games use the other terms stated in one way or another as well. 'The Sims' is entirely a mimicry game, players simulating a whole different life. 'Sonic the Hedgehog' on the other hand would be mostly ilinx with elements of agon due to the fast pace and incentive to beat high-scores. 'GTA' and 'Saints Row' however are fantastic examples on this topic as they again have elements of all of the terms agon, alea, ilinx and mimicry due to the wide range of activities on offer for the player in these games.
For Roger Caillois, the French sociologist who coined these terms in an attempt to devise a means of systematically classifying games, "paidea" and "ludus" are extreme ends of a coninuum. His other categories (he calls them "quadrants") can be laid out with ludus and paidea as opposing poles. It's something of an understatement to call it an ambitious project, but it's still widely referred to 50 years later. (There's a copy of Caillois's _Man, Play and Games_ in the library if you want to consult the source)
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