Play, Game, and the Magic Circle

Welcome to Week 1 of Track 1: Game Studies reading club! Our reading adventure will begin with an exploration of the definitions of play and game. For Game Scholars, the terms, "play" and "game," are very different and multivalent concepts, the meanings of which continue to be objects of scholarly debate. Long before Game Studies had burgeoned as a field, theorists were exploring the cultural meanings of play, and defining the relationship between play and games. Cultural theorist Johan Huizinga reminds us: "Play is older than culture, for culture, however inadequately defined, always presupposes human society, and animals have not waited for man to teach them their playing" (Homo Ludens, Huizinga, 1938). In essence, play is an activity that all animals, not just human beings, engage in. However, human beings have further defined and differentiated various types of games, each with its own parameters for confining the act of playing. What then, is the relationship between play and games? It is with this central question in mind that we begin our readings for this book club.

There are 5 main readings for this week (with some optional readings listed below the main readings). For the sake of clarity, I have organized the texts in a linear fashion, under subheadings, to be read in successive order. Enjoy!

-- Sherry Jones (Track 1: Game Studies Facilitator)

Main Readings

What is Play?

• [GOOGLE BOOK] Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture by J. Huizinga (p. 1-20)
• [GOOGLE BOOK] Man, Play and Games by Roger Caillois (p. 3-10)

What is a Game?

• [PODCAST] Ludology - Episode 79 - The Magic Circle (Interview with Eric Zimmerman)
• [ARTICLE] "The Game, the Player, the World: Looking for a Heart of Gameness" by Jesper Juul

Philosophy of Play and Game in the Age of Computation

Optional Readings

The History of Games

• [WEBSITE] The Dot Eaters - Videogame History 101
• [ARTICLE] The Foundation of Geemu: A Brief History of Early Japanese Video Games
• [BOOK CHAPTER] "Genre and the Video Game" (Chapter 6 of The Medium of the Video Game by Mark J. P. Wolf)

Recorded Live Streaming Video (Review of This Week's Readings)

Published: July 22, 2014, 5:00pm-6:30pm MST.