Blurring the Magic Circle

When we play some games, we often experience a sense of being unable to distinguish between reality and the game world.

Game designers are also contemplating how to challenge the concept of the magic circle and blur the boundary between the game world and the real world. The Big Urban Game, designed by Nick Fortugno, Frank Lantz, and Katie Salen, challenges the boundaries of games. This game does not rely on the usual monitors or desktop screens but instead uses the entire city as the stage.

The “game piece” controlled by the players is 6 metres tall. As players move the giant piece, they must use all their strength and constantly stay aware of the real-world situation, including pedestrians, vehicles, traffic lights, and so on. At this point, the game process seems to merge with the real world, or rather, players need to constantly switch between the game world and the real world. The scope of the magic circle is greatly expanded, and the boundary between the game and reality becomes much less clear.

In addition to the challenge posed by the game design itself, the application of new technologies is also pushing the boundaries of the magic circle. For example, games using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies naturally break our usual understanding of the magic circle. In the future, as more new technologies emerge, games might further transcend the traditional definition of the magic circle.

Although the magic circle becomes blurred or infinitely expanded, it still exists. As mentally healthy game players, we still understand these variations of the magic circle and can distinguish between the game world and the real world. Whether it is the designer’s creativity or the advent of new technologies, what is broken is only our previous understanding of the magic circle, not the magic circle itself.

These challenges redefine our perception of the relationship between the game world and the real world. Perhaps in the future, the magic circle will truly be broken, and the game world and real world will perfectly merge. But for now, this remains only a fantasy and vision of game designers.

Our discussion of the magic circle is essentially a study of the relationship between the game world and the real world. As game developers, we determine what the games we create can express and how they impact the real world. If you’re interested in the magic circle, think more about how to transform players’ passion for games into real-world knowledge and how the game process can have a positive influence on our work and daily lives.