Game Theory

John Huizinga's book, Homo Ludens, shows how the "arena, the card-table, the magic circle, the temple, the stage, the screen, he tennis court, the court of justice, etc.are all form and function play-grounds, i.e. forbidden spots, isolated, hedged round, hallowed, within which special rules obtain Are all temporary worlds within ordinary worlds, dedicated to the performance of an act apart." (p.10). From this we see that he says that by playing a game, a special time and space is created which allow us to abide by those rules. Examples of these magic circles would be a football pitch, the office and the golf course. The reason why it is the magic circle is because, while you are in that space and time, everything else except for the rules of that game or that space that you are in is not important at that time.

A videogame is a more complex example of the magic circle as there are different aspects as to what the boundaries of the circle would be. Such as the space the game is played in (the living room) or the screen the game is played on. These boundaries can often change the rules of the magic circle, its is not always just the game. John's Homo Ludens also talks about the space and time of the game continuing after the game is played. If the game is multi-player, the player can often feel as being apart of something, which can lead to socializing with the other players and have community-building activities.

Roger Caillois’ Man, Play and Games have these for basic types of play, which are Agon, Alea, Mimicry and Llinx. These four can be put in the two categories of Ludus and Paidea. Paidea is defined as ". Wild, free-foam improvisational play..." (p.36). Ludus is defined as being "complementary to and a refinement of paidea" (p.29). Agon is described as being "competitive" with an outcome of a "winner" (p.14) Alea (Latin word for dice) is described as an "outcome over which he has no control" (p.17). Mimicry is a game, which uses imagination, "one is thus confronted with a diverse series of manifestations, the common element of which is that the subject makes believe or makes other believe that he is someone other than himself." (p.19). Llinx, being the final game is having the sense of sensation while playing a game. "Every child very well knows that by whirling rapidly he reaches a centrifugal state of flight from which he regains bodily stability and clarity of perception only with difficulty." (p.23).

Ludus is generally viewed as more grown, as Paidea is a lot more free and focus' more towards the inprovional play, that tends to be more for children although it also depends on the four types of play.

These game plays apply to digital games as they determine the type of game the player is going to have. Online multi-player shooter games are often Agon as they are extremely competitive and winners are provided. Adventure games such as Heavy Rain are Mimicry based, as the end result of the game is dependent on the users imagination within the magic circle.
From this, we see that games are all similar in terms of having a magic circle, a place in which a person can literally escape from reality and play a game as long as they follow the rules of the game and stay within the boundaries of the magic circle.