Caillois and Unmanned

After reading through the difficult articles this week, the game, "Unmanned", gave me an opportunity to understand exactly what Roger Caillois was discussing. The categories of play are evident in this game. Agon, the category of competitive games, is represented in the portion of the game in which the avatar is playing video games with his son. The player tries to focus on the "Call of Duty" type video game while maintaing a conversation with the avatar's son. Alea is found in most of "Unmanned". "Unmanned" can mostly relate to being a game of chance. When playing for the first time, the player does not understand exactly how to play and has to learn along the avatar's journey. Depending on how the player reacts, the game offers different scenarios in which one can learn more about the avatar and his life. Even the mini-game at the beginning of "Unmanned" can have a different ending. For example, when I played the game, I was able to avoid the terrorists who were chasing the avatar and he was rescued and carried off in a plane. Mimicry is represented when the player chooses the avatar's responses during a conversation. The player is put into a position in which he or she must make assumptions about what the avatar would say. Illinx, a category that involves vertigo, can be found in "Unmanned". The balancing act of keeping a conversation going and focusing on the mini-game on the other side of the screen can be regarded as a sort of disorder or "vertigo". When playing this game again, I was able to identify these characteristics and how Roger Caillois and "Unmanned" are connected.