The Magic Circle is a concept that originated with Johan Huizinga in his book Homo and is the essence of game design and experience. It is a unique space where the rules of the game apply, creating a separate, defined space where certain rules apply. This space is distinct from the real world, and it is essential for players to engage fully in the game.
The Magic Circle is a unique space that can be cooperative, competitive, or both. In Salen’s and Zimmerman’s version, the magic circle contains the boundary between the gaming world and the actual surrounding real world. Once players step over the Magic Circle, they enter a concrete or metaphorical circle where special rules apply. This magical world is a magical world that players step into when entering the world of the game. However, it is also misunderstood from a design perspective.
In Game Design, the Magic Circle is the area where a player steps when they agree to play the game. Inside this circle, the rules and reality of the game are suspended, and players accept the artificial reality of the game world. This space is distinct from the real world and helps to separate reality from gameplay, enhancing immersion and player engagement.
To preserve the Magic Circle, four principles can be introduced to help achieve this goal:
- Create a unique space where the rules and reality of the game are suspended.
- Create a virtual or frame of mind that allows players to step inside the Magic Circle.
- Use the Magic Circle as a tool to create a sense of immersion and engagement in the game.
- Implement the Magic Circle principles to enhance player engagement and immersion in the game.
📹 The Magic Circle – How Games Transport Us to New Worlds – Extra Credits
When we play games, we expect to be immersed in their world. We don’t always realize how much the atmosphere around us …
How do you use magic circles?
The speaker then proceeds to insert the hook beneath the initial two strands of yarn, subsequently drawing them down and then twisting the yarn in order to create a tail that emerges between their fingers.
How to make a magic circle?
The hook should be placed underneath the top yarn, and the yarn pulled through the loop to create a slipknot in the magic ring. Thereafter, single crochets should be worked into the loop.
What are the benefits of The Magic Circle?
The magic circle is a small, effective Pilates prop that enhances exercises by providing resistance and support. It is suitable for home workouts and can be squeezed harder for more challenge. Complete Pilates uses various equipment, including the barrel, trapeze table, reformer, and chair. Small props like the magic circle Pilates ring, stability ball, and therabands are also used in studio classes and one-on-one sessions.
How to do a magic circle?
The hook should be placed underneath the top yarn, and the yarn pulled through the loop to create a slipknot in the magic ring. Thereafter, single crochets should be worked into the loop.
What is the concept of The Magic Circle?
The “magic circle” refers to the space where the normal rules and reality of the world are replaced by the artificial reality of a game world. Edward Castronova highlights this as a protective barrier, but contemporary virtual worlds reveal a porous relationship between virtual worlds and the outside world. Virtual worlds display unique attributes but also exhibit characteristics deriving from the outside world. The term “synthetic world” is used to describe a world that cannot be completely sealed, as people constantly cross it, carrying their behavioral assumptions and attitudes.
The elements of synthetic worlds are evaluated in terms of their importance in the outside world, and these newly established values gain significance on both sides of the membrane. This makes it difficult to determine the meaning of the word “virtual”, as the “allegedly virtual” is blending into the “allegedly real” making the distinction increasingly difficult to see. The term “magic circle” has been attributed to Dutch historian Johan Huizinga.
How are magic circles made?
Circulations can be physically marked out on the ground or in grimoires and magical manuals, often involving angelic and divine names. These markings can be drawn in chalk, salt, or corded. Some traditions include tracing or circumambulation. The Sumerians used ritual circles called zisurrû, meaning “magic circle drawn with flour”, to delineate, purify, and protect from evil by enclosing a ritual space in a circle of flour. This involved drawing with powdered cereals to counter threats.
Examples of Jewish customs showing the use of the magic circle can be found in birth protection rituals of Alsace and the surrounding area. As early as 1560, a text by rabbi Naphtali Hirsch ben Elieser Treves mentions a custom in which a circle is drawn around the birthing woman to protect her from Lilith and demons. This was done using a Krasmesser (circle knife) wielded by the midwife or father of the child.
Paul Christian Kirchner’s description of Jewish birthing customs from 1734 includes illustrations showing a knife or a sword near the bed, and Johann Christian Georg Bodenschatz describes a sword placed near the pregnant woman in the eighteenth century. Oral accounts from 20th century Baden-Württemberg also reference circling movements with a knife to protect a woman in childbirth.
What is an example of a magic circle game?
In games, players accept being in a world where Italian plumbers jump over magic mushrooms and search for secret pipes to collect gold coins. When others play with them, they also enter the magic circle and accept the new world. However, in real-world situations, someone might not be aware of the existence of a magic circle or game rules. For example, in a movie theater, players understand the rules (be quiet and don’t disrupt others) and the magic circle they are entering, where superheroes are real for the next hour and a half.
What are magic circles used for?
A magic circle is a sacred space used in ritual magic, believed to contain energy and provide protection. It can be physically marked, drawn in materials like salt, flour, or chalk, or visualized. Circles are traditionally believed to form a protective barrier between practitioners and their summoned entities. The Heptameron text attributes the greatest power to the circles, as they serve as fortresses to protect operators from evil spirits. As a ritual space, a circle is not an obsolete symbol of superstition but an intentional creation for various purposes.
Making sacred space is considered one of the most primal rituals, and such intentional actions are as psychoactive as any substance. In summary, a magic circle is a significant symbol in ritual magic practices.
What do you do in The Magic Circle?
The Magic Circle, founded in 1905, promotes and advances the art of magic by requiring magicians to prove their skills and adhere to their Latin motto, “not apt to disclose secrets”. The organization’s headquarters near Euston are open to the public for shows, visits, and talks, featuring an intimate theatre and rooms filled with magic paraphernalia, including Houdini strait jackets and Dynamo’s shoes.
What is the circle game explanation?
The Circle Game is a game where one person makes a circle with their fingers resembling the “OK” hand gesture and holds it below their waist, convincing a second person to look at it. If the second person looks, they receive a punch to the shoulder. The game is playable anywhere and can be played in inappropriate situations, sometimes setting elaborate traps. In one variation, if the target person breaks the circle with their finger, they get to punch the “circler” instead.
The origins of the Circle Game are disputed, with anecdotes of playing it in schoolyards in the 1970s and Matthew Nelson, who claims credit for inventing it in New Bremen, Ohio in the early 1980s. The TV show Malcolm in the Middle, which featured the game, helped popularize the game in the 2000s.
What is magic circle use for?
The Magic Circle is a versatile yoga strap that acts as a leg extender, providing a natural perch for the foot arch. It is particularly beneficial for hamstring stretching, especially for those with lower back problems or prolonged sitting. To use, lie on your back, extend one leg straight up, catch the foot arch with one handle, and gently pull the extended leg towards your face. Move the handle to the ball of the foot and flex and point the toes to stretch the ankle and calf.
📹 The Magic Circle
This video dives into a fundamental concept in game design, the Magic Circle. This concept describes the boundary between …
I’d also be interested in hearing about what can take you OUT of this circle. For example, achievement popups, especially during dramatic moments (which is often when they happen, since these tend to be after boss battles or such) can break the immersion and just tug you right back out into the real world.
Probably one of the big motivators for “World-building (the second method, essentially)” is that designers really need to live a life of variety – not connected solely to their bedroom and local comic book store. Having just a taste of what’s out there stirs the mind in new directions; and can blend experiences to come up with completely new concepts; and not simply “unrealistic/magical” concepts – we are now used to quite a lot of magic in our alternate realities.
The first game I played, Pokemon platinum, had me in the magic circle before I even took a step forward. First, the professor gives you promises of a world of magical creatures. This acts as the mystery. What kind of crazy beasts will be thrown at us? Then I spawned in the world and I notice the amazing calm music that had an adventurous feel to it. By this point I’m almost completely immersed. What really took the cake was the nice warm and homey town I found once I stepped outside my house, the serene music still playing. This combination was just so soothing, and I played so long that I hadn’t even noticed how many hours I spent on it. This is what has got me into Pokemon. Just that sense of child like wonder you always get. It’s what, in my opinion, defines Pokemon.
This series is consistently my favorite thing on Youtube. It feels good knowing that somebody has, or wants you to have, the right ideas to make the next great game. You’re inspirational, informative, and insightful to a T, and almost every episode makes me sit back and think about something. At risk of sounding conceited, that’s not a common occurrence. Most of the stuff I watch is the entertainment equivalent of Doritos; tasty, but not exactly enriching. You guys are like Doritos that make you smarter. I’m not terribly good at analogies, but you get the point. Keep on rockin’!
I had a strange experience the other day. I had gotten back around to playing Mass Effects 1 and 2 for the computer the other day (having already played them on the Xbox), and I noticed two things that can affect the magic circle in peculiar ways. In ME1 I noticed personal taste. Many people complained about the elevator rides as loading screens, complained that they took them out–but I’m a character fanatic, I enjoy the worlds and stories of course, but its characters that keep me coming back. This is what keeps me from enjoying Attack on Titan, I can’t get invested in the characters when I know they’ll probably die in two episodes. So when the elevator rides happen they aren’t a nuisance; I’m like Garrus, enjoying the chance to see the characters interact and get extra insight into them as people. That and the news reports help flesh out the world for me. The second was in ME2, and that’s the controls. Holy Heaven and all the angels, ME2 has horrid controls for the mouse and keyboard. It was obvious that the game was meant for a controller, and the effort to port it was miniscule, instead creating an inferior version of ME1’s UI. It took me until I was halfway through my first mission on Omega to figure out the controls, mostly due to the choice to tie use, sprint, AND take cover to the same button. And that was keeping me out of the magic circle, keeping me from getting invested in a game that I knew I already loved and had played over and over without issue. Sorry if this was a bit lengthy, I just thought it was an interesting thing to note.
Can I just say you guys are brilliant people all around? Not just in how you analyze how games affect us, but how you go above and beyond in saying how we can affect people for the better in all aspects of just DOING things. You guys are great and are an inspiration to us all, not just designers but players and makers of other mediums.
A lot of this I think has to do with what the player wants, as well as what they may or may not expect. Unlike many, I loved some of the Battlefield 3 campaign because in certain moments I got the experience that I wanted. Thunder Run is one of my favorite levels in any FPS game, that beating music combined with the sight of tanks, APCs, Helicopters, and Rockets all crossing the desert put me into the world of being in actual combat. And that’s what I wanted. Not to save the world from bad guys, Russians, or terrorists, but to be part of a large war, experiencing my own point of view of the combat that takes place. Thunder Run did that, as you roll across a desert, cross a dune, and see a city under siege with a long, deserted highway stretching and curving towards it. It was amazing. The rest of the campaign was terrible or alright, but DICE did that level really well.
This is pretty much why Halo means so much to me. During middle school and elementary school (though I was too young to play it), Halo 2 was my escape. The seclusion and awe of a ringworld, a thing I’ve never heard of before, with the music, made me loose myself. The story helped it seem plausible and more believable. Now that I’m nearing the end of College, Halo is going to be growing with me. It and I are going into a new chapter in our lives. For the developers, it’s only a pay check. But for us, its alive.
Well, I just realized why the game “The Magic Circle” is called that. You cross the magic circle into a world where you play game that’s meant to not being you into the magic circle, but everything else feels real even though you’re not technically “immersed” into the game you’re meant to be playing.
I recently played through Song of Saya (thank you, Games You REALLY might not have tried 😉 ) and I was amazed at how even the everyday music created a sense that the world itself offers no respite. It really had an incredibly subversive way of getting you to understand the nihilistic outlook of the game’s antagonist. I thought another good example of the magic circle was in Heavy Rain, where you spend the first hour connecting with the real world before things move into the extraordinary so that it all seamlessly, in my opinion, escalated events without ever having that jarring sense of disbelief. Awesome episode guys, I love this series!
As a theatre designer and director this is always a huge intention and I love seeing the similarities and differences games and theatre have to approaching it. My current project is working on the idea of creating that feeling of isolation like Journey which becomes a lot harder when you’re trying to transition a group of people.
I find that articlegame soundtracks are where a lot of today’s best music is found, because they focus specifically on generating emotions or responses from the listener, rather than spouting off 3-5 sentences about sex, drugs, violence or the desire for the former, with a generic percussion beat in the background. Plus, they are completely free to do any genre they want, as articlegames aren’t tied (as much) to modern/contemporary tastes as music and movies, there are plenty of techno soundtracks, but also lots of classical, jazz, country, or some new, completely undefined genres out there.
While not a article game, the D&D campaign setting Eberron did a fantastic job of getting me interested through its world-building. Granted, my personal experience overrides the canon in some places in my perception of it, but the interconnectedness of so many aspects of the world shows such care in its craft, and it just draws me in.
I recently has an experience EXACTLY like the one you’ve described and I just had to share it with my friends, but perusal them play, I couldn’t help but feel a sense something was off. I had created my own circle, and it /was/ an individual one that I don’t think could have properly been shared. It was a bizarre feeling.
When done right even experiences you may have contempt for can suck you in. For example anyone that knows me knows I have no love for the Halo series. However the opening theme on Halo 3’s title screen makes me want to play the game. And in the final mission where you escape the Ark One Final Effort playing in the background does get me jacked up. Its a great driving theme that compliments the action and it sucks me into moment.
It makes me happy to know that I am not the last die-hard Xenogears fan. Just hearing you include it hits me in the feels because it was one of the first super Immerseive games I’ve played in my life. Crossing the magic circle in that game was never hard for me and it remains a big part of me even today.
For me, The Path was a really immersive experience. It doesn’t have much of a story to speak of except what you discovered on your own, but the atmosphere and the mystery surrounding it all are incredible. Far in the distance, you see something shimmering or a girl in white that compels you to follow or a friendly woodsman’s campfire. Every aspect of the forest just begs to be explored.
I know exactly what this episode is, even if I didn’t have a word for it. I didn’t get into Journey when I first started playing. I barely talked to the other person if at all, just went around hunting glyphs and soving the puzzles. Until I hit the sand surfing section. When it got to the point when the camera pans to the side, showing you the ruins/mountain, along with that beautiful music, I became hooked. I stated falling into the story and trying to experience the game with the other person. The feels came, and I started communicating more and actually feeling for the story and what my character was going though.
Even a game that you play with several people can use this to their advantage. As an example, I got into the beta of a game called Nosgoth. It’s a vampires vs humans battle game. When I finally got to play my first match ever and was waiting for enough players to join the server the music was kind of calm, but at the same time made me a little excited and just really made me wish some on would join. When the final person needed joined all of a sudden the music changed. It became strong and serious. I went from “come on already, join the server” to “it’s about to start…get ready”. The change in music made my heart rate increase slightly so I felt like I was more into the game than I had previously been. When the match started the music was almost gone. They just had the sounds of the environment there with the softest music as possible playing. It was still intense music, just quiet. This made me feel even more into the game than when waiting for the map to load.
I was waiting for the entire episode, but I never heard it…Opening Cinematics! When I boot up a game for the very first time, the thing I’m looking for is a gripping cinematic that shows all the awesomeness the world has to offer. Blizzard is exceedingly good at this, and you can tell that they put a lot of work in to reach that level of polish.
4:41 This is what got me into Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. Initialy I didn’t give much thought to those games (or even knew much about them), but when I heard people talking about how deep the story can be and thought about the concept a little more, I gave in. One of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. It’s a bit of a shame that it doesn’t get as much attention as the main series does.
I never quite realized that this was as much of a facet of my entertainment experience until it was spelled out here. Now I definitely see why, even after being fully grown up, I still prefer animated shows and movies over live-action, it’s personally my easy ticket into the magic circle for entertainment. I used to always qualify this to preferring art style over technical prowess in games, but now I can definitely see how maybe it’s not just that, but providing a world and characters I’m willing to buy into. Ratchet and Clank for instance always did this for me in the shooter category where modern military shooters just don’t, they do so much better in my opinion of inviting me into the magic circle and making me care about the characters, their world, culture, and struggles. Excellent work again extra credits, and keep it up!
I tried to play Deus Ex: Human Revolution but I can never immerse myself into the world or care about the characters. Earlier today I picked up Valkyria Chronicles and within a small amount of time I wanted to keep on playing late into the night; I read all the back story and extra information on the history Gallia. The Magic Circle is a very interesting thing indeed.
I can’t believe they didn’t mention suspension of disbelief which is a decently universal word for what the magic circle is trying to achieve while the closest magic circle gets to what they describe is a ring shaman would draw or visualize because they thought there was energy in it. Edit: Thanks to Ritchie Thai for mentioning the correct use of the term Magic Circle.
As time passes it becomes harder and harder to abandon your everyday troubles to enter this “magic circle” you mentioned. I am experiencing this at the moment where I replay Chrono Cross (nice Outro btw.). There was a time when this game gave me goosebumps right from the start and now I feel almost nothing. But that won’t stop me from replaying my old masterpieces and one of them will draw me into it I’m sure 🙂
The deepest I’ve ever been inside this “magic circle” was back when I played an old (admittedly not very good) PS2 game, Shadow the Hedgehog. The opening theme introduced me to hard rock/metal, an experience so powerful that I played through said game easily 15 times, with constant adrenaline shots and chills sent through my spine every time the main character spoke. Good times.
I can only reflect this best on certain games I’ve played a while ago, like Super Mario Galaxy 2 or Skyward Sword. SMG-series in general broke that sense of reality in me which felt almost magical. Skyward Sword again made me get wholly immersed in it’s world, almost being part of the game’s enviroment. I think Lanayru Desert brought out this feeling the most.
Whenever I played Suikoden 2 I would NEVER skip the intro. The music alone could tell the story of the game. It starts out with fear, destruction and death. Then there is a note of hope. Afterwards is a rising crescendo as a flurry of characters flash across the screen. A call to arms. The gathering of the stars of destiny. They are barely shown for a split second but each frame captures them perfectly. You want to meet these people. It ends with a powerful fanfare as the three principle characters are shown. It was the perfect way to start an epic tale of betrayal, war, politics and redemption.
I have to say, after hearing the points made about how to invite the player to enter “the circle”, I cant help but think back to the way Persona 3 and 4 did it, by taking a mostly everyday setting and twisting it bit by bit into this wondrous adventure in which you as a protagonist, were faced with many mysteries and questions, all the while still having this everyday non supernatural “still”period between adventures, but being surrounded by characters which were in the same situation as you. It just seems to break off from, then turn back and obey all the points made here; and yet still make an engaging experience, I just found it curious.
These articles are fantastic when deconstructing why Dark Souls and Shadow of the Colossus were such memorable experiences for me. IMO, those two games are the best games ever made. Sure, my opinion might be different to that of others, but for me, those two games were the ones that marked a before and after. The ones against which all other gaming experiences are compared against.
One of the best examples that came to my mind was To The Moon. It’s a game with hardly any gameplay, and its graphics are hardly stunning, as it was made in RPG maker. But the way the music, the characters and the story suck you in is beyond amazing. It’s a beautiful ad heart-wrenching game that managed to get me to care about combinations of pixels on a personal level and feel for them.
I’ve had a hard time getting “immersed” ever since I was a kid and the issue is not actually environment, it’s that the “other worlds” are fairly dead, and somewhat creepy if you were actually there. Repetitive movements, people with the same face, a world that does nothing unless you yourself contribute to it. The only series that I really got into (that wasn’t forgiven due to antiquity) was Metroid Prime not because of the gameplay itself but that everything you scanned had a “purpose” in said world regardless if it was relevant to you/Samus. There was even an implied ecosystem. It also used the isolation to get that effect but another popular game that does that Shadow of the Colossus did nothing for me.
That was a really good episode. I’m beginning to think one of the major reasons I so much prefer console gaming—specifically disc-based (which I guess also applies to a lesser extent to PC games with discs)—to PC gaming is the concept of this magic circle. As seemingly pointless as it is, turning on my console, putting in the disc, and turning on my TV are all aspects of console gaming which I think strongly improve it (at least for me). They’re the rituals, like the drawback of the curtain, which let the feeling that I should be worrying about something else fade away. Again, Extra Credits, great episode!
One way to help someone cross the magic circle that wasn’t mentioned is to create a world that COULD exist, even if it couldn’t exist in THIS world. This is a pretty subjective method, since someone with an imagination (like me) could see that in almost ANY game, while others would require a bit more than that. At the same time, in order to draw imaginatives in, it must also fulfill that bit about being “fantastic”, otherwise it’s too close to the real world to be interesting.
This weekend I started writing Skyrim/Elder scrolls short stories. I finished one already, currently working on a sequel to it. This episode is like a godsend. It explains as much about me as other people. I wish to know what I can do to draw someone who hasn’t played Skyrim or hasn’t invested into the story to read it.
This circle is also very real for gamers of the table top worlds and realities. Just as real (if not more, and use that loosely because it is a depends-on basis) for them to be immersed and consumed by these realities. Especially Role Playing Games that have very flexible walls like Dungeons and Dragons. Regardless, very great article, I have learned a lot from you guys about this stuff in the past 3 hours more than I have in the past 3 years I have been working on game development and design. Yay for binge perusal! Thank you very much!
I remember when I was a 3-4 year old I used to play a game on my dads computer and I were a pirate! A pirate with a mighty galleon, a ruthless crew with me and I’d used to rob the spanish and the english from their riches, while mostly failing and then trying again, I truly felt like the mightiest pirate in that universe because I could built towns and I could destroy them if I pleased to do so! Those hours spend infront of that screen were magical.
Music is such an important thing in drawing you into the circle. An interesting idea can fall flat in games if the music delivered doesn’t evoke the right feeling. I mean, the music can be a really decisive factor in drawing you in, but the characters, the plot and the world is what keeps you engaged. At least that’s how I see it. This circle is fragile, it can be broken really easily when it’s not properly tended to. I mean, I’ve dropped a lot of games because they couldn’t mantain the magic circle!
You know, this brings to mind what Egoraptor said to Jontron at one point – that he didn’t understand engagement. When he was playing a game he didn’t feel like he was in that world, he felt that he was just playing a game on a console with a controller, always and nothing more. This obviously works differently for different people.
They spent the whole episode talking about the magic circle and ended with “See you on the other side”. I didn’t think about that at all until the end music was a Chrono Trigger track cover, and even though I didn’t notice where I knew it from until a few seconds after, they threw me into that flipping circle XD
As one who writes a lot of stories (I hesitate to call myself a writer, because I’m not professional), I love these episodes that focus on the ways of telling a narrative. This time, though, I was really hoping they’d cover how you can get people to step into the magic circle with just words. Does anyone know or know where to direct me?
Nice work here, I’d never heard it described as a circle/bubble before. I’m surprised they didn’t mention controls in it though; barring something like Silent Hill where your movements are supposed to be sluggish and awkward, if a game has clunky controls, or an awkward button combination required that makes you have to think about what your hands are doing, it’ll rip you right out of the game.
to go up to the music thing go to 1:33 of this article Ace Combat 4 Playthrough – Final Mission your callsign is Mobius1 (and your squad emblem is a mobius ribbon, just to know what the enemy is worrying about) ( the game, and series, is/are mostly based on its soundtrack. When the second track kicks in you are just like: I NEED TO WIN THIS! )
This is why I love Nintendo. While many modern games today tend to focus on real life war and realistic gore, things I’d rather not dwell on, Nintendo still caters to experiences that one could never have in the real world. Things like capturing, befriending, and battling alongside creatures with mysterious powers (Pokemon), throwing fireballs at sentient mushrooms (Mario), and even just creating your own town surrounded by friendly animals (Animal Crossing); those are examples of fantastic escapism, which is exactly what gaming is to me. 🙂
I actually have a really hard time getting immersed in games. I didn’t when I was younger, and for a long while when I started to get older. I still remember when I got Pokémon Crystal, I got the mystery egg, and it hatched, but I forgot to call Professor Oak and I thought that he would get angry at me. Back in a time before I knew that article games had limitations, before I found out that they weren’t an entire simulated world. I miss those days greatly…
I’m not sure why but sometimes I’ll just be sitting in my room on my computer and think to myself, ” Why is Loghain so afraid of Orlesians” or,” Just what in all of Middle Earth is Gandalf?” So even though I may not have entered that circle, the mystery pulls me back in, even months after I’ve quit playing/watching/reading. Maybe it’s Fridge Logic?
James, I think you are explaining the magic circle in a less-than-full way. The Circle is created not by any one thing, but simply by a fully immersive experience. As long as the audience is not taken out of the Circle by elements that clash, confuse or otherwise kill the immersion, anything can be used to keep them there. Consider a game that includes music with lyrics you just don’t like, for example maybe that glorifies senseless violent behavior; in noticing that you get taken out of the game for a moment by that Ugh reaction and from there you are closer to leaving the Circle. If someone happens to be not particularly bothered by senseless violence they wouldn’t have that Ugh reaction and wouldn’t be pushed out of the circle, which helps explain why some games work for some people and not others. Simply by choosing to play a game we are choosing to enter the magic circle, and from there it is the game’s responsibility to keep us inside; the magic circle is not something we get pulled in to by good storytelling decisions, it is something that we are pushed out of by bad storytelling decisions. I suppose you could say there is both a push and a pull, but at the very least considering this other side to the question would lead to a more-full explanation.
I know the game is just a silly little matching game but the audio of the first African level of Jewel Quest II has done that for me. I mean its just a picture on a computer screen where I’m matching jewels and masks but the “authentic” seeming use of African tribal music and sounds of villagers going about their business,in some ways, put me into the game. Very interesting.
I think the best way to achieve this is through association sickness, having a player associate music with battle, peace or fear, you’re in a fight in skyrim, you here the elder scrolls theme in the background, it triggers you to fight, why would you even think of running? That thing in front of you challenged you to a fight, so you FIGHT when you hear that music. also this can be achieved with visuals too, having some sort of sign that always seems to indicate a fight, take you Streetfighter versus loading screen, you see your character squaring up to the opponent with the flames in the background and a very pro dominant “VS” sign, you prepare yourself to the fight, straight after the stage or character theme tune comes on, you associate these to things with the fight. At least… That’s my take on it…
Ah Xenogears and FFT. I felt a little disapoineted with Xenogears in parts but the story kept me through right to the end. FFT on the other hand made me have to restart my game no less then 3 times to get a character powerful enough to beat it. I didn’t care though because I needed to hear that story at least 3 times to follow it. Seriously it’s like Game of Thrones meets Final Fantasy. Get your hands on a copy (War of the lions on the PSP is probs the best version) and give it a try.
For me, an excellent example of this is in Arkham City on Wii U. At the end of the tutorial section, when you arrive at the capsule containing Bruce Wayne’s Bat-Suit, in order to open it you have to “scan” your thumbprint on the gamepad’s touch screen. Needless to say, I totally and fully felt like Batman when I place my thumb on the screen, the capsule hissed open, and a robotic voice welcomed me in.
This is also what separates pop culture from PC and console games. The presumption that being immersed in a fantasy game, as an escape from your everyday life, somehow indicates that you’re not in control of your life. Even though being immersed in a game, is no different then being immersed in a movie or television series, which both are accepted in pop culture. But then again, films were also a controversial entertainment media for many decades, and dealt with a lot of the same issues as games do today.
Interesting episode. I’ve been going through Dark Souls and despite the fact that it has a rather more minimalist environment than most of the games I play, I get a lot more immersed. Something about the solitude of the aesthetic and the level design. And then a boss comes out of nowhere, butchers me in seconds, and my reaction is best described as “well, that happened.”
Burst out laughing at 5:03, then realized how true that is for so many games I play. Sometimes it is borderline irritating how right you are about everything. P.S: Since we use this game as an example for everything-good-done-right anyway, let’s throw it out here as well, because it did everything you said perfectly – Bastion. P.P.S: There are already thousands of people inside Transistor’s Magic Circle, without even knowing what the game is about. Supergiant has it going on.
To me, one of the games that made the magic circle complete, with all the things, is half life 2. The action music puts you in the mood of the fight. The visuals are also great and immersive. You are in an oppresed city. And also, the story. It’s a lot “What happens exactly? I know what’s happening, but why? How?”
Since I started looking behind the game, finding out, that everything is just code and some models put together, then programming games on my own, working with the gears in the machine, i can no longer experience a game like I did when I was younger; I dont get into it, cant really like or hate characters, because I always have a little voice in my backhead, telling me, that they all are just 1s and 0s. I used to love games like DragonAge or TheElderScrolls, but today, when I play Skyrim, I analyse the game, looking now they did it, what tricks they used and what psycological games they try to play with my head, to give me the feeling of being there, in a world of mysterie and magic. I cant play these games more then one hour, before I get bored and look for something different. I bought games, other cried and laughed with, but I just saw the repeating use of one tree-model, started to count, how many different they used and how they tried to emulate that every tree were different. Many people, like my parents, would be really happy about that, because I simply dont spent much time playing games, but for me, its just horror. I really love games, thats why I started to learn developing them, but in the end, it just destroyed the experience of playing games for me. Thinking about, how the game tries to keep me into it and analysing the use of psycology, ecenomical theorie, storytelling and the monetary systems the different (online) games use, and wondering, how you could improve them or what I would do different, is maybe a good base for a job, but stole my main hobby I had for many many years.
So basically, the “Magic Circle” is the trigger of the willing suspension of disbelief? Then it would also be important to remind designers not to push players outside again once they’re in (breaking the suspension of disbelief), which is something that happens every so often, especially in works without consistency, but also in some other ways (Like AkaiAzul pointed out somewhere in these coments).
I know that feel bro. It was surprising how I really got immersed into Zelda for the NES. Note that I first played it in 2010, and never had played retro games before. The only reason I started playing it was because I was playing OoT at the time and wanted to know the origins of the Zelda series. At first I thought that game was stupid, I thought the grafics and the music were terrible, but when I played the 2nd time, I just watched the title screen and listened to the music. Somehow the combination of these two awakened a feeling of wonder and mistery inside me and that’s what kept me playing that game and, before I knew it, I beat the 2nd quest.
IGNORE ME!!! lol The immersion experience that always does it for me is the contrast between the opening movie music and the music of the first level in SOTN (Metamorphosis and Prologue). Even if you know nothing of Castlevania besides the box art and the title menu Metamorphosis is the music one would expect. Music thats dark and a sound that bleeds gothic horror with its bells,strings, and choir. Then it transitions to Prologue a drastically different sound that summons the exact same ideas. With its powerful screeching guitars and driving drums this song has always reminded me of Iron Maiden. Which reinforces gothic horror but in a different more intense way. The Castlevania series is always praised for its music. I’m not saying its music is the only reason the games are memorable and immersive but it definitely helps.
Even if Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 *SPOILERS AHEAD* (DS) uses the same old “Hey I woke up here, what was my name again” thing and a typical Plottwist (which I found to be very unnoticable) I find that that game did a really good job at transporting you into another world, I could see myself as the protagonist, I could see my partner as a friend, and the part, where you have to leave your partner, really got me, I actually caught myself with a tear in my eye. Also the Music in that game was amazing and fitting. I am real sad, that the newest one is so (I feel) bad…
So I don’t know if I’m the first one in the comments to do this but I want to bring attention to the PvP games like starcraft or DOTA or League of Legends where the player is brought into the magic circle without questioning. That with no plot these games can bring the player into the magic circle by making them feel as if they are in the game. I just noticed this and wanted to share.
I say one good example is rimworld, I stopped putting myself in it. You want to know why? It made the colonists feel real, instead of voiceless npcs. When one person died I mourned with my colonists. When the end credits played, I was holding back tears. Both when I left the rimworld and when my colonists all died, their story had ended, the leaving of the rimworld made me cry due to their work escaping the world is done, they won. The death of the colony made me cry due to my colonists failing, I wanted them to succeed but they failed so I cried for them both for their failure and the loss.
Honestly what I think makes a game more interesting is games that break the timeline/store into parts. No I do not mean sequels and prequels. I mean like if I were to play the story missions only on a article game there isn’t much I get out of it but if I play the side missions I find out more about other characters and feel that my time was invested wisely. This gives me a sense of mystery. In games like Mass Effect and The Elder Scrolls doing side missions means the difference in the outcome of the game. This makes the experience much more satisfactory. But not only that doing side missions also gives lore about the world we are immersed in making that experience better. Of course games cannot be good just because of lore because the main story line has to be interesting on its own. But because the main story is good and leaves out explanations as to what or why something is makes questing more interesting and fulfilling when you have the ability to learn more on your own. I can’t tell you how many times I have looked up lore on article games. It helps explain a lot and gives purpose to playing a game multiple times like perusal a movie like Donnie Darko more than once to understand its plot.
Okami does this fairly well. As soon as you press start you hear a the sound of Japanese drum and a child calling “Okami” slowly echoing away as if you’re leaving the old world behind and being drawn into the games. Then you are greeted by what seems like an ancient fabled story and artstyle like you’re sitting down hearing the legends of old from a wise elder figure with the Japanese brush style and the calming music before it starts to fill with colour and suck you into the dark cursed threat that lies ahead showing the main antagonist’s shadow and eventually leading to the reveal of Amaterasu, the goddess, standing proud with a howl…before abruptly falling asleep to let you know the game has a sense of humor.
“What if what you see isn’t really what you see? The person standing next to you is a warrior, and that door over there is a portal into another dimension. You either dismiss it, or you acknowledge that there is more to this world than you think. Perhaps if you go inside, you might find some very interesting things.” –Shigeru Miyamoto This was printed on the back of the box for the Nintendo GameCube. If there was ever a relevant moment to share this, it’s now. I think I got the quote right, but I may have botched a word or three in there…
I believe I may have some sort of fear or aversion to entering the magic circle. I love games and have played them all of my life. When I was 14 and Super Mario Galaxy 2 came out, I played it afternoon to night and weekends after school until finishing it. (Wasn’t very popular back then). However, I now find myself having a hard time getting into games. I consider myself an ambitious person who is hoping to make an impact on the world some day and end up being focused on work or responsibilities often. I now often only play Minecraft (as well as one or two other games) and don’t enjoy it to a large degree. I also now maintain a social life, but that as well as any other responsibilities don’t mean that I end up with no free time. If any one has ever had or knows how to help out with this issue, it would be greatly appreciated.
I may sound bit boring, but when discovering new fictional world, it also can make me interested about what the creator was thinking about when creating them. No game, song, book, movie or art can be good, unless the creator likes it, puts time to do it and explores the new fictional world which he/she created by thinking about his/hers own experiences. No matter how small or meaningless they seem at first. For every good creation, there is always a bit of reality in there. But that is also the reason why horrible games exist, (like those which AVGN plays) when they are not considered as new form of art, but just new way to make money.
Multi-award winning sci fi author wrote something about “the magic circle”. ‘The truth against the world!’—Yes. Certainly. Fiction writers, at least in their braver moments, do desire the truth: to know it, speak it, serve it. But they go about it in a peculiar and devious way, which consists in inventing persons, places, and events which never did and never will exist or occur, and tell about these fictions in detail and at length and with a great deal of emotion, and when they say they are done writing down this pack of lies they say, There! That’s the truth! They may use all kinds of facts to support their tissue of lies. They may describe the Marshalsea Prison, which was a real place, or the battle of Borodino, which really was fought, or the process of cloning, which really takes place in laboratories, or the deterioration of a personality, which is described in real textbooks of psychology, and so on. This weight of verifiable place-event-phenomenon-behavior makes the reader forget that he is reading a pure invention, a history that never took place anywhere but in that unlocalizable region, the author’s mind. In fact, while we read a novel, we are insane—bonkers. We believe in the existence of people who aren’t there, we hear their voices, we watch the battle of Borodino with them, we may even become Napoleon. Sanity returns (in most cases) when the book is closed.’
This probably doesn’t count as it is a visual novel, but Katawa Shoujo. I can never marathon games. I usually can only play for 90 minutes at a time. Yet I played that game for about 8 hours with almost no breaks. It had me hooked. I wanted to cook dinner but I couldn’t. Why the hell are you preparing dinner when you could be spending time with Lilly? She is more important than food. Get your priorities straight.
i was ctying by the soundtrack at the end,a remix of old good chrono cross… you know you shoould explain why chrono cross was such a masterpiece, to bash out those who hate it cuz it wasen’t like “chrono trigger” and how that team deliver every mechanich in a great deal, pulishing far more than was needed, amking it (at least for me) the best game in the world…
As a new game designer I would like to ask you a question: “Is having agency over your progress as important as having agency over your actions?”. That is, is it just as important to be able to see how good you are (stats windows etc.) as it is to just feel it through gameplay. Can you ditch stats and numbers altogether if your progress is apparent enough in play?. If you are able to see your progress, do you think it will impose or perhaps encourage (in a slightly forceful way) that the player takes agency over her progress? Instead of simply playing the game and gradually become better “under the hood”? I would love to hear what you think about it (if you see my comment at all). Thanks! —— EliasFrost – Developer, Secluded
Wonderful 101 does this so perfectly in the beginning. In the opening the world looks nice and inviting, but nothing more special than any other game. Then Wonder Red puts on his super suit, and the campiest, yet awesomest saturday morning cartoon theme song starts play. And then you’re ready to punch baddies in the face.
That rearrangement of chrono’s theme… I looked at the OCRemix page, and nobody commented on how half of the notes on the sitar (is that a sitar?) were wrong. ah, well, I guess you guys ARE professors of development theory, not a thing commonly associated with being able to tell that ~half of the lead is transposed up one semitone.
Xenoblade Chronicles got me into the circle in an instant. the visuals? theres two gigantic titans swinging swords at each other. no good explanation why other than “this happened thousands of years ago because it did.” the burning question? comes in during the tutorial. what is the Monado? but goddamn the music. more often than not, music in games, while its normally fantastic, it doesnt automatically say “shit just got real” like it does in Xenoblade. youre fighting some random little enemies, then “Those Who Bear Their Names” starts to play instead of whatever you were hearing before. a tune with a bit more importance and a commanding presence, you start to spin the camera wildly, wondering “what happened? the music got awesome for no reason” then you see it. a level 80 enemy walked up behind you. its too late to run, you start to put your weapons away to turn and flee, but he swings his massive paws and kills you. and off youre whisked to your last landmark, losing all of 5 minutes (yay for no gameovers!) and knowing you gotta be careful here. although, an idea for a future article, what can take you out of this magic circle? the whole month i spent playing Xenoblade, i learned after just two days i could NOT play it while my brother was home. he thinks things are extra funny, when usually theyre just worth a little chuckle, not doubled-over-falling-out-of-your-chair laughter. every time id get to a cutscene in this story heavy game, id hear him laughing his ass off, and id miss half the scene.
This greatly reminds me of Jungian theory. The ability to step outside of yourself is not only fun and exciting but necessary for our survival. It gives a therapeutic treatment when done correctly that makes the banal more meaningful. I agree that music and visuals help us enter this world but movement/dance is very much a central part as well. Nothing is more magical and interesting than the ritualistic movement in Final Fantasy X where they sweep the arms and gather the hands as if holding a ball and bow. This has significant value to this magic circle. Games can be a progression of integrating movement in general in ways that teaches about different cultures and teaches us unity as a world. This can only come together as article game designers becomes skilled ethnographers and do not try to imitate movement or rituals (or other art forms) of other cultures but respectfully create their own interpretation.
Metoid is the ultimate example of what this guy is talking about. It’s almost as of the Music is part of the level design, and it’s part of what makes the series so great (Exept in Shitroid Other M. Fuck that game and all of it’s developers. I hope Shitborrow baptist church and the Amazing Shitthiest starts bothering them)
I don’t think I realised the biggest reason that I was not able to get into Fallout3 was that I found the music totally off-putting. I was not able to want to solve the mystery – even though I had questions – because that small aspect of the world I would have had to inhabit was itself preventing me crossing into the circle. EC once again making me understand my gaming experiences more clearly.
Wow, I didn’t interpret the comment about priests the same way as many other people! O.O I just took it to mean that the priests would use the magic circle to move people from a “daily humdrum” state of mind to something more spiritual and begin thinking differently and open themselves up to a different type of interaction. “Allowing us a conduit into that emotion.” …and this is from a non-theist, haha.
I wonder if asking those suspenseful questions, the one we have a burning desire to answer, is the only way narrative or storytelling can invite players into the magic circle? Are there other narrative tools that can be used, such as interesting and memorable characters, or some sort of uniqueness to the setting? Or perhaps even just the atmosphere evoked?
interesting. I played a game called “thousand dollar soul” that is basically a story telling game with branch paths which ultimately lead to one true ending that combines all endings to one. it was an incredibly satisfying experience. also, it is 100% text based. highly recommend it. it is on newgrounds.com.
So the “Magic circle” is suspension of disbelief? Though I do like the name Magic Circle much more than the bland-sounding “Suspension of Disbelief” that we spent all of 10 minutes on in my English class, it said many of the same things that this article does. That you need to establish the setting early, impactfully and quickly to “activate suspension of disbelief.”
My biggest problem is bringing people into the magic circle. I know to many people who just refuse to believe in meaning in anything that isn’t tangible. And if i bring them a reasonable scenario based on a work of fiction, they will just say “Oh, it’s only a game”, and ignore the entire point. So how do you bring meaning to such people?
2:12 me perusal a typical romance. I’m usually like “You are a complete jerk, fix it. You are too judgmental, even if he wasn’t a jerk you would still be harping on him.” Case closed. But it goes on and on, with no new problems. In one specific case it was more like “You both want the other to be your late spouse. But he isn’t, and she isn’t. Deal with it.” Of course, they break up but in the end they are both too desperate for someone to love them like their late spouse they get together again. Maybe for me it is just that I don’t think like those people. Their problems seem to obvious to me, and their situations are not relateble. I have been able to relate to romantic situations in non-romances where I strongly relate. I just think that people interested in a genre naturally have certain personalities, which makes sense. Why would a non- adrenaline junky watch an action film?
EA Battlefront for all its flaws still has that entrance to the magic circle when you start the game and the Star Wars title music starts playing. It amazes me every time how without that music the gameplay is Meh! at most but when the TV has its speakers on and on high volume that John Williams socre floodes the room and I am in for the game.
Is that also the case when you are so into the game that the only thing that matters is THAT game? Every single thought every cell of your brain is just concentrating on. that. one. thing. Is that something like that? I’m tlaking about a stealth strategy rougue like here (invisible inc for the 2 guys who know it.)
I know many game designers using the term magic circle in this way, but I think “magic” is a kind of misleading in this sense. The circle can be understood as a separate element in engagement or creation of an abstract game space. It does differ from the psychological bubble that one creates to separate herself by obtaining a playful mindset. This can be the awe and trust the article mentions as this is a strictly phenomenological experience of safety. The Magic Circle itself is an inherently social phenomenon. It signals the social contract one engages in when accept the rules of play. Once it is established it is not necessary for everyone to be in a playful mindset, and it can be crossed easily. It usually has a transformative quality to it, as it creates a shared boundary that changes the rules of the world and everything that enters gets re-evaluated and transformed. Theorists often mush these things together, but it is best to separate the subjective experience from the socially shared space from the physical arena.
hey, guys, long time viewer, not sure if this is my first comment though..but I was wanting to ask, in the same vein as this particular article. You’ve described many types of article games, yet, I’ve found it hard to put into words how a game type that still persists today can keep me immersed WITHOUT any actual music or visuals, in fact, the genre of games I’m speaking of are often referred to as M.U.D.s or Multi User Dungeons. While I know that I enjoy these games myself, I often have trouble explaining to friends and family why these games are so fun. They think it’s boring and find it disturbing how I can (and admittedly HAVE) spent upwards 12 hours or more just playing these games. Can you guys help me figure this out a bit better maybe? Or simply just look into the genre as a whole? I’ve not heard you guys mention this particular genre at all, and I feel it is mostly unnoticed and unrepresented. the Text based article games where one must read to know what is going on. I don’t expect you guys to drop everything and look into the genre, and I DO enjoy your articles wholly and love listening to many of your points on game design, heck, I enjoyed learning about the Punic Wars. But I feel that maybe checking out this genre might open doors, and maybe you guys might help me figure out how to explain why the games I play of this genre are so fun that the one I’ve been playing has kept me coming back for almost 9 years now….
Could it be that Ubisoft failed on this particular topic with Watch Dogs? I was not grasped by that game as I normally am with the many others I delve into, and I think it might be because it seemed like it was all too possible. I’m not the only one either, most of my friends that have played Watch Dogs agree, it isn’t as compelling to play and get lost in as Assassins Creed or Rayman.
Only 484 views? What? I would just like to say that there are many game design websites nowadays, but none of them have covered something so abstract – yet useful – in game design. Yet, I am baffled by the views…. As for feedback, the visual footage isn’t really engaging, and the article itself dragged on a little more than it should. Also this is a nitpick, but there were no subtitles, but its understandable with 484 views. Regardless, the concept and topic you covered, and the information you presented was really informative! Cheers!