New game definitions, Ludus, paidea and others...

In our last weeks lecture with Eddie Duggan we looked at how we could define video games in different terms. We were also given a section ofa book called Videogames by James Newman. In this particular blog post I will be looking at chapter 2: “What is a videogame? Rules, puzzles and simulations” In this chapter he describes the main categories of games as: paidea, ludus, agon, alea, ilinx and mimicry.

I found that these terms will become very useful as I become a game designer in the coming years to help use specialist terms and precise description in my analysis of other works as well as my own. So what do these words mean I hear you ask? Here are the most basic terms for each of them that he mentions in this chapter:

Paidea - Gaming just for pleasure

Ludus – Is a game constrained by rules and has an outcome (winning or losing)

Agon – Competitive game play

Alea – Randomness/change involved in-game

Ilinx – Movement

Mimicry – Simulation, role-play etc.

I will go more into depth with paidea and ludus now to show you an example. Paidea is a term given to a game when the main objective of the game is not clear, if there is any at all. The whole idea of the game is that the player is free from rules and can do whatever they please. The game will not have a solid framework in which the player would have to follow and. This flexibility of the game having no goals or rules leaves the whole game limited to the limitations of the imagination of the player. I personally find that these games are one of my favourite genres, as being a game designer, creativity is a must and being given the ability to go mad with some software is just my idea of a game. I mentioned earlier in one of my blog posts about Greg Costikyans views on games. In this article Costikyan mentions that Will Wright, the SimCity designer, talks about his product not being a game, but an “industrial toy.” This feeling is also shared by James Newman as he mentions SimCity as an example of a paidea game. Another example game which is described by this word is a game called The Powder Game. It was a game that was released many years ago on the Dan-Ball website and has since been deleted. It is a game that has no rules at all; it has no goals and no objectives. The player is given a menu with a choice of many materials such as gun powder, magma, stone and many others. There is a blank canvas in which they can construct anything they so desire. This game also has a physics mechanic inside as some objects obey the laws of gravity and some do not. There is only one limitation to this game and that is that there can only be a certain amount of pixels placed in the game, but I would imagine this is so the game runs as smooth as possible.  This game however does dip its toes into other definitions that James Newman talks about. Mimicry is when there is a factor of simulation involved, and seeing as this game mimics that of the materials of ‘real life’ this can also be considered. The fact that many games can be adapted with very simple changes to fit many different definitions is a sign of a good game, an adaptive game.

Ludus is a term given to a game which has rules and goals weaved into the framework of the game. This player has to follow these rules in order to eventually be rewarded with an outcome; this could be either winning or losing. One of the first examples of a rule constrained game would be the original game of Tron. A character controls a light bicycle that draws a path that remains until the end of the round, the first person to crash into either yours or the enemy’s path or even the wall loses.  It is a very simple concept for a game but it contains rules that must be stuck too or else the player will not receive the desired outcome (to win). Even though the rules are minimal, this game is a ludus game due to the constraints placed upon the player as the game begins. No touching walls, no touching any paths including your own, you can only use arrow keys for movement and first to die losing a round. This game is however even more adaptive than the last mentioned. The fact the game relies on player movement puts this game under the ilinx category as well as the agon category due to the fact that it’s a two player game and whenever a game has a second player, there is a competitive edge. This is because as humans, we have a tendency to change anything into a competition and to be the best out of the best. This is often the case, and the smallest things can often become competitions. But anyway I’m going off track here…

These exceptional topical description words will now be incorporated into my analysis of future topics and games. The fact that one game can consist of many different types of definitions leads me to want to use these useful descriptive words to construct a more structured and selective piece of writing and analysis.

Tom Sharman

If any of you guys (especially Ed) would like to try this Powder Game then here is a link:

The Powder Game