Humo Ludens

Huizinga (1950, pg. 4) believes that ‘play is based on the manipulation of certain images, on a certain ‘imagination’ of reality’. Simply, he believes that when we play a game, we enter a different state of mind, separate from real life. This is what he called the ‘magic circle’. The magic circle is the game’s special frame, which can be physical or psychological in which different rules apply. The magic circle has been described as a ‘barrier’ or a ‘membrane’ (Castronova, 2005, pg. 147) that separates the real world from the gaming world through fixed boundaries.

When playing a game, players adopt a ‘lusory attitude’. This is the magic circle from the player’s perspective. Players must accept the boundaries of a game in order to make game possible. By acknowledging the boundaries, players can enter into the state of play in the safety of the magic circle.

For example, in a game, players may be a thief, with the goal to steal as many cars as possible. The magic circle and the lusory attitude within the game makes it safe for players to adopt this role in the game, but after playing, to realise that this is not what is acceptable in reality.

The game I played to illustrate this point was ‘Manhunt’. This is an extremely violent game in which you play a character who has been saved from death row in order to work for ‘the director’. During the game you perform many gruesome killings using a number of weapons.

I entered the magic circle, by accepting the boundaries of the game. There was a new sense of time and space. The game is only limited to the screen and movements and actions of the character are limited.

The lusory attitude I adopted within the game was of a violent murderer, where I killed whoever I needed to; using weapons that I needed to by creeping up behind my victim. However, once I have finished playing the game and was not in the gaming state, I did not adopt this attitude any more and went back to real life.

This example shows the extent to which the magic circle and lusory attitude takes place in games and that it is essential to adopt these boundaries.

Word Count: 377


Bibliography.

Castronova, E. (2005) Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games, USA: The University of Chicago Press Ltd.

Huizinga, J. (1950) Humo Ludens: a study of the play element in culture, Boston: Beacon Press.