Huizinga, Johan (1872 – 1945)

A Dutch historian specialised in the medieval period. Homo Ludens (1938) is a ground-breaking work on which the different contributors to War and Games based their work. In this work, Johan Huizinga deals with the influence of game on European culture. He saw game as a cultural phenomenon, presenting it as a direct contribution to the development of culture. Civilization was born and developed like a game; human culture emerged from the game and has the characteristic of a game.