IAT 210 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Luden, Formal System, Closed System
30 May 2018
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IAT 210 - Textbook - Unit 1
“The Life of Games”
● Codes governing entry into game lack explicit representation
○ “Players and fans and officials of any game or sport develop an acute awareness
of the game’s ‘frame’ or context, but we would be hard pressed to explain in
writing, even after careful thought, exactly what the signs are. After all, even an
umpire’s yelling of ‘Play Ball’ is not the exact moment the game starts”
● Players & fans must rely on intuition & experience w/ particular culture to recognize
when game has begun
● Frame of game - what communicates that those contained w/i it are “playing” and that
space of play is separate in some way from that of real world
○ Frame is concept connected to question of “reality” of game, of relation b/w
artificial world of game & “real life” contexts that it intersects
○ Creates feeling of safety
○ Responsible for not only unusual relationship b/w game & outside world but also
for many of internal mechanisms & experiences of game in play
■ Called magic circle
Boundaries
● Boundary b/w act of playing w/ doll & not playing w/ doll is fuzzy & permeable
○ w/i scenario, we can identify concrete play behaviours
■ E.g. making doll move like puppet
● may be frame between playing & not playing, but boundaries are indistinct
● w/ toy, may be difficult to say exactly when play begins & ends
○ w/ game, activity richly formalized
● Game has beginning, middle & quantifiable at end
○ Game takes place in precisely defined physical & temporal space of play
■ Either children are playing or they are not - no ambiguity concerning their
action
● Game analysis can occur w/i context of digital media
● As player steps in & out of a game, he/she is crossing that boundary or frame that
defines game in time & space
● Although magic circle is merely one of examples in Huizinga’s list of “play-grounds,” term
is used here as short-hand for idea of special place in time & space created by game
● Fact that magic circle is just a circle is important feature of concept
○ As closed circle, space it circumscribes is enclosed & separate from real world
● As marker of time, magic circle is like clock - simultaneously represents path with
beginning & end, but one without beginning & end
● Magic circle inscribes space that is repeatable, space both limited & limitless
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Document Summary
Codes governing entry into game lack explicit representation. Players and fans and officials of any game or sport develop an acute awareness of the game"s frame" or context, but we would be hard pressed to explain in writing, even after careful thought, exactly what the signs are. After all, even an umpire"s yelling of play ball" is not the exact moment the game starts . Players & fans must rely on intuition & experience w/ particular culture to recognize when game has begun. Frame of game - what communicates that those contained w/i it are playing and that space of play is separate in some way from that of real world. Frame is concept connected to question of reality of game, of relation b/w artificial world of game & real life contexts that it intersects. Responsible for not only unusual relationship b/w game & outside world but also for many of internal mechanisms & experiences of game in play.
