The Magic Circle

The Magic Circle is an interesting topic, as I believe it provides and allows for an interesting discussion on the evolution of gaming as a whole, and in particular how pervasive video games are in contemporary society. Much has changed since 1938, when Huizinga made his observations and remarks, and I believe they have lost much of their weight and relevance when applied to video games and modern gaming culture. With Cosplay, LARP-ing, real-time communication within video games, and most notably augmented reality games, the divide between an enclosed world of gaming and the real world has vanished. Augmented reality games are a prime example of this, as they are games or applications which utilize the information about the surrounding real world and makes this information interactive and/or digitally manipulable. This can be a result of the location/GPS functions of our modern smart phones, or it could utilize the cameras, but either way it makes it so that your surroundings are now part of the game/app and blurs the divide between game and 'real life' even further. This was an intriguing topic that I think could spark a good discussion in class, and perhaps something we could revisit if time permits.