Tuesday 6 March 2007

HOMO LUDENS

Johan Huizinga is author of the book 'Homo Ludens' (1938). The term 'homo ludens' translates to 'playing human.' (Mornhinweg, date unknown). The term 'Magic Circle' originally derives from Huizinga's Homo Ludens (1938), and refers to the state that a player is in when playing a game, this can be both physical (for example children playing a game of chase) or psychological (Digital gaming). The term 'Magic Circle' tends to capture the boundries of a game, and the rules set within it. Within the 'Magic Circle' there are special rules in which you can live out fantasies that would usually be either impossible to do, or illegal. An example of this can be seen in the game Grand Theft Auto, where the player is able to hijack cars and kill pedestrians, without punishment or any feelings of remorse. Salem and Zimmerman define the 'Magic Circle' as: "inscribing a place that is repeatable, a space both limited and limitless. In short, a finite space with infinate possibility." (95, Rules of Play).

Another important aspect of 'play' is that of 'lusory attitudes.' Bradford (2003) defines the Lusory Attitude as: "the attitude taken by the game players towards the playing of the game." The lusory attitude is the attitude that a player takes when deciding to enter the magic circle of a game, it means they must accept the rules of play, and enter into contract between players that these rules will be adhered to. Within the game Grand Theft Auto, players are unable to gain entry into all areas of the game, as they must complete tasks to unlock certain areas. The lusory attitude within this is the fact that a player must adheer to the rules of the game, to enable themselves to be able to move to different parts of the city, where as in real life, it is unlikely that a person would be locked out of parts of a city.



Bibliography:

Mornhinweg, M. (Date Unknown) Retrieved on 6th March 2007 from the World Wide Web:
http://ludens.cl/dummies.html

Whitehead, J. (10th January 2007) Definitions of Games and Play, Retrieved on 6th March 2007 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/classes/cmps080k/Winter07/lectures/game-defns-rules.pdf

Bradford, G (2003) Kudos for Ludus, Retrieved on 6th March 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/pcu/noesis/issue_vi/noesis_vi_3.html


Further Reading:
http://gamestudies.org/0601/articles/rodriges

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