# Roger Caillois **Domain:** Play theory **Doc Type:** Developed Person Node **Maturity:** Developed **Collection:** [[collections/Gamification|Gamification Collection]] ## Definition **Roger Caillois** (1913–1978) was a French sociologist and theorist of play. In *Les jeux et les hommes* (1958; English *Man, Play and Games*), he extended Huizinga by distinguishing **agôn** (competition), **alea** (chance), **mimicry** (simulation), and **ilinx** (vertigo), and by placing free improvisation (*paidia*) on a continuum with rule-bound discipline (*ludus*). ## Significance The taxonomy prevents gamification from being reduced to points. Lotteries organize alea; tournaments organize agôn; ARGs and LARPs mobilize mimicry; high-arousal systems use ilinx. Mixed systems can combine all four. ## Sources - Roger Caillois, [Man, Play and Games](https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p070334) ## Routes [[wiki/Johan Huizinga|Johan Huizinga]] · [[wiki/Mimetic Activity|Mimetic Activity]] · [[wiki/State Lottery|State Lottery]] · [[wiki/TINAG|TINAG]]