The Magic Circle and Lursory Attitude

Gaming is an important part of everyday life. “Play is older than culture, for culture, however inadequately defined, always presupposes human society, and animals have not waited for man to teach them their playing.” Huizinga (page. 19). He believes that play is integral to culture. Play is essential to civilised society; people are able to act out certain pleasurable activities within the boundaries and context of digital games. Huizinga calls this concept the magic circle. This describes the act of participating within the boundaries of a game. The magic circle has fixed boundaries of time, space and rules. The idea of a circle is important, Salen and Zimmerman describe it “As a closed circle, the space it circumscribes is enclosed and separate from the real world”.
In order to play a game it should mean entering the magic circle. It is a ‘safe area’. You can potentially do many things that would not be possible outside this area. For example in playing Grand Theft Auto, stealing cars and killing to achieve goals is acceptable where as outside the magic circle of gaming this would be illegal and undesirable to do. Depending on the objection of playing a game, different games can be selected. For example I myself would select a game like ‘Tetris’ as either a time killer or relaxation method. There are no rigid boundaries with ‘Tetris’ that force me to adhere to many rules, so therefore it allows me to relax.

According to Salem and Zimmerman the lusory attitude is “the state of mind required to enter into the play of a game”. The group of players accept the limitations of the rules because of the pleasure a game can have. For example in playing a game such as Fifa 2006 you adapt a lursory attitude, you enter the magic circle but rules limit the game. For example play is in two halves and players must stay on the pitch, otherwise the game is ‘out of bounds’. Players agree to accept these rules to gain a certain objective.

Every game exists within a frame, the magic circle is the space within which a game takes place. Within the circle the games rules create a set of meanings for the players and these guide the play. For example when playing ‘Diner Dash’ to leave in the middle of a level would ruin the game, but to play the game and gain enjoyment I need to follow the rules by adopting a lursory attitude. For example the rule of seating the customers then collecting their order. Without these rules the game makes no logical sense and therefore cannot be played.

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Bibliograhy
Salen. K and Zimmerman, E (2004). Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Cambridge, MA: MIT.