Agôn, Alea, Mimicry and Ilinx

Roger Caillois (1913 - 1978) was a French writer and philosopher whose work combined philosophy, sociology and literary criticism, focusing on the diverse subjects of game and play. His influential book Man, Play and Games, 1961 (French, Les jeux et les hommes, 1958) focused on the sociology of play and games. Caillois builds on and critiques the theories of Johan Huizinga, a Dutch historian and cultural theorist, adding a more comprehensive review of play forms. Johan Huizinga formulates his theories on play in his book titled, Homo Ludens - 1938, of which Caillois challenges Huizinga's exclusion of bets and games of chance noting that "An outcome known in advance, with no possibility of error or surprise, clearly leading to an inescapable result, is incompatible with the nature of play". Caillois proposes a categorization of games consisting of 'four main rubrics' which are to depend on the dominance of either competition, chance, simulation or vertigo. Caillois calls these Agôn, Alea, Mimicry and Ilinx.

Agôn - Competition eg. football, chess

Alea - Chance eg. roulette, lottery

Mimicry - Simulation eg. pirate, hamlet, imaginative role play and make-believe in character

Ilinx - Vertigo eg. playful activities such as rapid movement or whirling which would cause a sense of dizziness and disorder

We were given the task to produce a table with Caillois's four categories and to add modern and classic games into the categories, explaining why we have done so. 

Agôn (Competition)	Alea (Chance)	Mimicry (Simulation)	Ilinx (Vertigo)
Chess – A classic competitive game of which both sides have equal chance at winning.	Lottery – Caillois criticised Huizinga for not including betting and gambling in his theories.	Sims – Possibly the most obvious choice as the word Sim is derived from simulation.	Spinning around on the spot – If it’s good enough for Caillois, it’s good enough for me.
Call of Duty – One of the most prestigious competitive games of current time. The games are set up so that both sides have equal chance at winning with the main clause of difference in ‘skill’ which you could argue shares similarities with the premise of mimicry.	Monopoly – Alea is the Latin name for the game of dice. Monopoly relies solely on the use of dice which makes it a game of chance. You aren’t roleplaying any kind of character despite having a metal counterpart so is therefore not also a game of mimicry.	World of Warcraft – A highly addictive game and the go to example of how people can use games as escapism. There are aspects within the game where you can focus primarily on either role play, player vs player or player vs computer which would give WoW the credentials to combine Agon, Alea and Mimicry however I feel personally that Mimicry is the strongest for myself.	Slender Man – Possibly the scariest game of all time assuming you know that it’s meant to be a scary game. Slender relies on the build-up of tension for the player as they explore levels. When Slender appears the player is so worked up by trying to avoid the lanky beast that the result of seeing him reduces them to a traumatised state.
Football – Another classic game. The game is designed with set rules so that both sides are at an equal advantage which is what makes the game so competitive.	Dungeons and Dragons – This is one of the biggest role-playing games of all time so it’s extremely acceptable to argue that it is mostly Mimicry, HOWEVER, as the game relies on the use of die I have placed it under this category. I am aware however that the game also relies on a dungeon master which some may argue again that it would place it under the Mimicry category, and to these people I say – When have you ever played D&D with less than 3 people? Caillois’s theory of placing games under categories is dependant of the most dominant category which is obviously the one of which it relies mostly upon.	The Kim Kardashian Game – The aim of the game is to become a top celebrity through completing a seemingly endless series of rather trivial pursuits. This game falls under the mimicry category simply because it is a roleplaying game no matter how seriously you take it, you’ve made an avatar that you are according to Kim Kardashian pretending to be.	Roundabout – If you’ve never been pushed around on one until you’ve felt sick then some may say you had a slightly less nauseated childhood.

I am aware that many games fall technically into more than one category however I have placed them under the categories that I feel they fall mostly into according to Caillois's theories and have stated the opposing categories.