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''Man, Play and Games'' () is the influential 1961 book by the French sociologist
Roger Caillois Roger Caillois (; 3 March 1913 – 21 December 1978) was a French intellectual whose idiosyncratic work brought together literary criticism, sociology, ludology and philosophy by focusing on diverse subjects such as games and play as well as the ...
, (French ''Les jeux et les hommes'', 1958) on the sociology of
play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pl ...
and
game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...
s or, in Caillois' terms, sociology derived from play. Caillois interprets many social structures as elaborate forms of games and much behaviour as a form of play.


Summary

Caillois builds critically on the theories of
Johan Huizinga Johan Huizinga (; 7 December 1872 – 1 February 1945) was a Dutch historian and one of the founders of modern cultural history. Life Born in Groningen as the son of Dirk Huizinga, a professor of physiology, and Jacoba Tonkens, who died t ...
, adding a more comprehensive review of play forms. Caillois disputes Huizinga's emphasis on competition in play. He also notes the considerable difficulty in defining play, concluding that play is best described by six core characteristics: * It is free, or not obligatory. * It is separate (from the routine of life), occupying its own time and space. * It is uncertain, so that the results of play cannot be pre-determined and so that the player's initiative is involved. * It is unproductive in that it creates no wealth and ends as it begins. * It is governed by rules that suspend ordinary laws and behaviours and that must be followed by players. * It involves make-believe that confirms for players the existence of imagined realities that may be set against 'real life'. This 'escapist' definition has been criticized, for example in Sutton-Smith's (1997) review of play the idea that individuals in a leisure-based Western culture are 'free' to play is questioned in light of an apparent obligation to spend leisure time 'wisely'. Similarly, we might consider that play forms are subject to considerable social pressures and we might note the economic significance of leisure and media as forms of play. The result is that despite Caillois' attempt at a thorough review, definitions of play remain open to negotiation. Caillois argues that we can understand the complexity of games by referring to four play forms and two types of play (''
ludus Ludus may refer to: * ''Ludus'' (ancient Rome) (plural ''ludi''), several meanings around "play, game, sport, training" **''Ludi'', public games held for the benefit and entertainment of the Roman people * Luduș, a town in Transylvania, Romania ...
'' and ''paidia''): *
Agon Agon (Greek ) is a Greek term for a conflict, struggle or contest. This could be a contest in athletics, in chariot or horse racing, or in music or literature at a public festival in ancient Greece. Agon is the word-forming element in 'agony', ...
, or competition. E.g.
Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dis ...
is an almost purely agonistic game. * Alea, or chance. E.g. Playing a
slot machine A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively a ...
is an almost purely aleatory game. *
Mimicry In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. Often, mimicry f ...
, or mimesis, or role playing. * Ilinx (Greek for "whirlpool"), or
vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...
, in the sense of altering perception, dizziness, disorder, or loss-of-control. E.g. taking
hallucinogen Hallucinogens are a large, diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mood, and perception as well as other changes. Most hallucinogens can be categorize ...
s, riding
roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are ...
s, children spinning until they fall down. Games and play combine these elements in various ways. Examples: *
Poker Poker is a family of Card_game#Comparing_games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some plac ...
features both ''alea'', the random shuffling of cards, and ''agon'', the strategic decisions of discarding cards and betting. *
Collectible card games A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards, introduced with '' Magic: The Gathering'' in 1993. Genera ...
combine ''alea'' (the random shuffling of decks and the distribution of cards in booster packs), ''agon'' (competition with rules and strategies) and ''mimesis'' (cards refer to imaginary beings the player controls in a fictional world). *
Dancing Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...
is an ''ilinx'' activity, which can be combined with ''mimesis'' to portray characters, or with ''agon'' in competitive dance. * Spectator sports combine the ''agon'' of the players with ''mimesis'' on the part of the spectators, who self-insert and identify with certain players on the field. Caillois also places forms of play on a continuum from ''
ludus Ludus may refer to: * ''Ludus'' (ancient Rome) (plural ''ludi''), several meanings around "play, game, sport, training" **''Ludi'', public games held for the benefit and entertainment of the Roman people * Luduș, a town in Transylvania, Romania ...
'', structured activities with explicit rules (games), to ''paidia'', unstructured and spontaneous activities (playfulness), although in human affairs the tendency is always to turn paidia into ludus, and that established rules are also subject to the pressures of paidia. It is this process of rule-forming and re-forming that may be used to account for the apparent instability of cultures. Caillois also emphasizes that ''paidia'' and ''alea'' cannot coexist, as games of chance are inherently games of restraint and waiting for an external event. Likewise, ''ludus'' and ''ilinx'' are incompatible, as there are no structured rules in the state of disorientation. Any rules applied are solely to put a brake on the ''ilinx'' so as not to turn it into panic. Like Huizinga, Caillois sees a tendency for a corruption of the values of play in modern society as well as for play to be institutionalised in the structures of society. For example agon is seen as a cultural form in sports, in an institutional form as economic competition and as a corruption in violence and trickery; Alea is seen as a cultural form in lotteries and casinos, as an institutional form in the stock market and as a corruption in superstition and astrology; mimicry is seen as cultural form in carnivals and theatre, as institutional form in uniforms and ceremonies and as corruption in forms of alienation; and ilinx is seen as cultural form in climbing and skiing, as institutional form in professionals requiring control of vertigo and as corruption in drugs and alcoholism.


Notes


External links


''Man, Play and Games''
on
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Man, Play And Games 1958 non-fiction books French non-fiction books Play (activity) Books about game theory Books about games Game studies