Gaming Journal #3

What is the theory behind Johann Huizinga 'Homo Ludens' and 'the magic circle'?

Huizinga created the book Homo Luden, which is a play on the words Homo sapiens and translates as ‘Man The Player’. Salen and Zimmerman state that, “According to Huizinga, play and games, which have been maligned in recent history as trivial and frivolous, are in fact at the very center of what makes us human” (pg32:2004).
Games include play and play includes games as the two concepts overlap. There are four main characteristics of play and these elements are all important. Play is voluntary, outside ordinary life, promotes social groups and has fixed boundaries as you choose when to take part, who plays, outside normal life and you do so in leisure time, I have options when I wish to play Brian Lara International Cricket 2006 (BLC 2006) on the PlayStation 2.

Johann Huizinga’s understanding of play is ‘the magic circle’. When deciding to play a game I enter the magic circle and get involved into the games content. It can be physical like a real game of cricket on a pitch or playing a game of BLC 2006 on screen, it can be psychological for example mentally preparing yourself for the challenge and getting into the game rules.

The magic circle is an enchanted zone special rules apply e.g. Chess inside and outside magic circle. Inside the magic circle is a safe environment as you can ‘fight’ and ‘kill’ people here without consequences. For example with The Legends of Zelda on the Nintendo 64, you are able to go around killing people and not get hurt or into any real trouble.

From the player’s perspective deciding to play a game means you are choosing to enter the magic circle and this requires a certain attitude or state of mind. This is the Lusory attitude. You need to accept that games are a waste of energy, inefficient and as Huizinga said there are no material benefits. Accepting this means game play possible. The players adopt a ‘lusory attitude’ and automatically abide by the rules of the game, becoming absorbed and drawn in. Like when playing BLC 2006, everything around you is none is unimportant as winning the all important cricket match in the last over. Once in the ‘magic circle’, you must have a lusory attitude to play the game.

References:

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