Homo ludens—gamer taxonomy

October 16th, 2007

If we gamers consider ourselves Homo ludens—humans who play—we can’t ignore that we have subspecies. Many call themselves “gamers,” but most mean something more specific. What distinguishes Homo ludens from people who don’t call themselves gamers, what unites us, is the perceived geek-factor of the games we play.

Within our geeky species, though, we’ve got varieties so distinct from one another that they can hardly be considered the same animal.

• Homo ludens sangoculi
  Those whose eyes begin to bleed after avoiding blinking for five hours during an important raid. In other words, video gamers.
• Homo ludens terataleae
  Those who play with monstrous dice. In other words, tabletop roleplaying gamers.
• Homo ludens con-concilii
  Those whose definition of “diplomacy” is almost the exact opposite of Webster’s. In other words, board gamers.
• Homo ludens shovelens
  Those who shuffle. In other words, card gamers. This subspecies is broad enough to encompass such infraspecies as homo ludens shovelens economica (trading card gamers).

No taxonomy is perfect. As with life taxonomy, the borders are blurry and subject to change. Unlike life taxonomy, in which separate subspecies rarely mate outside of unusual circumstances, Homo ludens is basically engaged in one enormous, non-stop orgy of crossbreeding. In common with Douglas Adams’s Hagunenonns of Vicissitus Three*, Homo ludens is a super-evolutionary being that morphs from one life form to another several times over lunch.

Despite that, though, most gamers do seem to wind up identifying more as one particular subspecies than any other, at least for a given time. For instance, although many MMO players also play roleplaying games, the vast majority of WoW players seem to be Homo ludens sangoculi, and many have never touched a icosohedron in their lives. A quick survey of gaming blogs supports this hypothesis. There are many video game blogs, many roleplaying game blogs, and so on. But there are very few blogs that embrace both kinds of games.

I enjoy different varieties of games with equal fervor. Surely, I’m not the only Homo ludens ecclecticus, right? Who else is out there? And what other subspecies belong in the taxonomy?

*If you don’t know about the Hagunennons, do get your hands on a copy of the original The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy BBC radio production. It has quite a few gems that didn’t survive to the many later versions of the property that will absolutely tickle a fan of the setting.

Entry Filed under: Board Games, Card Games, Popular Perception, Collectible Card Games, Massively Multiplayer, Video Games, RPG