Johan Huizinga

I suppose there are a few people out there who have read Homo Ludens. It one of those books that gets cited alot, but never really has an in depth discussion of his actual argument, apart from the usual cliches about play being a time and space of its own. He is a lot more famous for his work as a 'Cultural Historian', than his is for his work on games. However, I think his perspective on games and their relation to culture is important to the development of Game Studies. Escpecially in terms of countering some of the extremeness of Aarseths 'game is a game' position (see his discussion with Stuart Moulthrop in First Person).

Anyway I'm up late tonight giving Huizinga a close reading... ...lots of fun!