Mimicking Gamers: Understanding Gamification Through Roger Caillois

The recent rise of gamification lead to a revival of the traditional game studies debate on the relationship between games and society, a key theme since Huizinga, Caillois and Suits. Yet quite surprisingly, the works of these three authors, and Roger Caillois in particular, have mainly been used to establish notable antecedents, not been reevaluated nor discussed in light of the current debate. The following pages will first explain the reasons behind these overlooking, taking advantage of the gamification debate to compare the actual theories on the relationship between games and society, subsequently recalling Roger Caillois' position, pointing out analogies and differences between the present and past stances. Secondly, this paper will discuss the reasons to introduce the thought of Caillois in the current debate, showing compatibility between his theories and contemporary reflections, highlighting both the limits and the potential of this comparison, and suggesting the possibility to use these theories to shed some lights on the concept of gamification, by observing the long-term analogies between games and societies, and the special role performed by mimicry.