At some time over the past year I finally got an opportunity to read through and study Johan Huizinga’s Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element of Culture. While I disagree with Homo Ludens on some accounts, Huizinga made many compelling arguments regarding the nature of play, and pondering his work also got me to thinking and reading more about the concept of play in general.
I’n my study of games and play behavior, I have yet to find any cohesive term to use for the study of play. This field, which has traditionally been confined to academic pursuits and the work of independent associations such as the The Association of the Study of Play (TASP), is more relevant than ever in a time where video and board game industries account for billions in annual revenues and enterprise is leveraging gamification, interactive/immersive media and psychological principles to attract and retain regular users and reinforce profitable consumer behavior.
With this in mind I set to the task of laying down a stable foundation for the future of the field of Ludology (i.e. the study of play) in a work I have tentatively titled Ludology: The Study of Play.
Unfortunately, I soon discovered that some game theorists and designers were already calling themselves “ludologists” and were already using the name Ludology to refer to the separate but related field of Game Studies. From my studies on the subject and experience in the field, I have become convinced that the attribution of the name Ludology to the field of Game Studies is not only erroneous — especially from an etymological perspective — but could potentially to pose a great long-term danger to future work in the field by being unnecessarily confusing to students of play or of games. Thus I wrote my first section of my work, titled “Reclaiming the Name”.
I feel so strongly about the importance of this piece of my text to the future of the study of play that I have decided that it should be publically exposed as soon as possible. Thus I have posted it here. Should my full work never see completion, at least I can be certain that I have posed a strong case for practical and accurate nomenclature, and convince those still involved in the field that we need a concrete foundation if we are to truly develop a comprehensive study of play, play behaviors and play activities.
