Paidea and Ludus

Newman suggests that there are two different types of game; these are Paidea and Ludus:

Paidea

This form of play is unrestricted by rules so that you are free to do whatever you please, usually this type of play includes sandbox games such as Minecraft, Spore and The Sims. Minecraft is a paidea game because when you start you are free to do whatever you want in whatever way you want, Spore is a paidea game because you have an infinite amount of ways in which you can create your creature and evolve it and The Sims is paidea game due to you being able to control a person and make them do anything.

Ludus

This form of play has set rules which you must follow to complete an objective, this type of play contains games like Call of Duty, Battlefield and League of Legends. Call of Duty is a ludus game because you are always set objectives to complete such as eliminating the enemy team or setting off a bomb, Battlefield is a ludus game because you either have to capture certain command points or destroy command points and League of Legends is a ludus game because you have to destroy the other teams nexus in order to win.

Newman then goes further to say that there are four types of play; these being Agon, Alea, Ilinx and Mimicry: Agon meaning competition, Alea meaning chance, Ilinx meaning movement, and Mimicry meaning simulation.

This table shows you how I would class certain games:

	Paidea	Ludus
Agon	Borderlands	Beijing Olympics 2008
Alea	Binding of Isaac	Poker
Ilinx	Skate	AMPED
Mimicry	Minecraft	Forza 4

Critical Game Studies

As part of my course in university we were asked to fill in a few questions to start off a blog, here are my answers.

What is the title of the book (fiction) that you are currently reading (or the last fiction book that you read)?

I don’t usually read books that much but the last book that I read was either episode 6 or 7 in the book series A Series of Unfortunate events by Lemony Snicket.

What is the title/topic of the book (non-fiction) you are currently reading (or the last non-fiction book you read)?

I don’t remember the name of the last non-fiction book I read, but I have recently ordered The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schnell, which I am looking forward to reading.

What is the last live performance (music, drama or dance) you attended?

The last live performance that I attended was a concert for F.O.X as part of my media course in sixth form.

What is the title of the last film you saw at the cinema / online or watched on DVD?

The last film that I saw in cinema was Insidious 2, the last film that I watched on DVD however was Chicken Run.

How often do you read a newspaper? (which one? Online or physical?)

I don’t usually read newspapers that much but if I was to read one then it would be my local newspaper which is the Harwich and Manningtree standard.

Which art gallery / museum / exhibition did you last visit?

The latest exhibition that I visited was Eurogamer expo 2013.

How many hours a week do you spend playing video games?

I roughly spend about 35-40 hours a week playing video games but that will soon change to about 20 hours due to my university course.

How many hours a week do you spend playing games other than video games?

I spend about 2-3 hours a week playing games, the main one that I play is the yu-gi-oh  trading card game.