LudoScience

The aim of this chapter is to determine whether the Serious Game is a human invention. To answer this question, we propose to check whether both Serious Game and Serious Play can be found in the animal kingdom. If such a census proves negative, then we can conclude that the Serious Game could indeed correspond to a human invention. If this were not the case, then Serious Play would be better regarded as inter-species activities. This would then lead us to study whether it is possible to identify common aspects and specificities between species. If, at the same time, it is possible to identify animals that also used objects to play for utilitarian purposes, then we could see the Serious Game not as an invention, but rather as the object of human innovation. To carry out this study, we will conduct a hypothetico-deductive analysis combining readings from ethology, biology and the humanities.