Magic circles and the separateness of play

The metaphor of the magic circle is commonly used in game studies when discussing the boundedness of play. It is a boundary that arises from the activity of playing, of doing things for their own sake, and of following arbitrary rules, and it is experienced as different from the quotidian. This chapter addresses the history of the concept, how it has been criticized, and how this boundary and the space it sets up can be approached from three different angles: the social, the mental, and the cultural. The boundary and the space are socially created and negotiated in the moment; it is the product of mental bracketing of an activity carried out, a paratelic mindset; it is a culturally recognized general category with specific pre-existing physical and conceptual spaces. Although the three approaches are here presented somewhat separately, in practice they are intertwined.