In regard to digital media

Digital media

Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital form. It can refer to the technical aspect of storage and transmission Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital (as opposed to analog) form. It can refer to the technical aspect of...

, the term “magic circle” refers to the membrane that encloses virtual worlds such as first-person shooters (FPSs), online social environments, and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). As noted by Edward Castronova

Edward Castronova

Edward "Ted" Castronova is a Professor of Telecommunications at Indiana University Bloomington. He is known in particular for his work on the economies of synthetic worlds.- Biography :...

 in Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games, this membrane “can be considered a shield of sorts, protecting the fantasy world from the outside world." Instead of being impenetrable, however, an examination of contemporary virtual worlds reveals that the magic circle is actually quite porous. More directly, there appears to be a relationship between virtual worlds and the outside world. Even though virtual worlds display a range of attributes that are unique to their realm, they also exhibit characteristics deriving from the outside world. Castronova uses the term "synthetic world" because a synthetic world “cannot be sealed completely; people are crossing it all the time in both directions, carrying their behavioral assumptions and attitudes with them." As this suggests, elements of synthetic worlds are being evaluated in terms of their importance in the outside world. These newly established values, subsequently, gain significance on both sides of the membrane. Thus, it becomes difficult to determine the meaning of the word “virtual

Virtual

The term virtual is a concept applied in many fields with somewhat differing connotations, and also, differing denotations.The term has been defined in philosophy as "that which is not real" but may display the salient qualities of the real....

.” As stated by Castronova, the “allegedly ‘virtual’ is blending so smoothly into the allegedly ‘real’ as to make the distinction increasingly difficult to see."

Origin of the term

As noted by Eva Nieuwdorp, the term magic circle was “coined by Dutch historian Johan Huizinga

Johan Huizinga

Johan Huizinga , was a Dutch historian and one of the founders of modern cultural history.-Life:Born in Groningen as the son of Dirk Huizinga, a professor of physiology, and Jacoba Tonkens, who died two years after his birth, he started out as a student of Indo-Germanic languages, earning his...

 (1872–1945)." In Homo Ludens

Homo Ludens

Homo Ludens or "Man the Player" is a book written in 1938 by Dutch historian, cultural theorist and professor Johan Huizinga.It discusses the importance of the play element of culture and society....

: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture, Huizinga wrote:

The Magic Circle applied to digital media

Huizinga's concept was "picked up and applied to digital games” by Katie Salen

Katie Salen

Katie Salen is a game designer, animator, and design educator. She is a professor in the DePaul University College of Computing and Digital Media. She has taught at Parsons The New School for Design the University of Texas at Austin, New York University, and the Rhode Island School of Design...

 and Eric Zimmerman

Eric Zimmerman

Eric Zimmerman is a game designer and the co-founder and CEO of Gamelab, a computer game development company, which is known for the game Diner Dash. Each year Zimmerman hosts the Game Design Challenge at the Game Developers Conference...

 in Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Salen and Zimmerman note that even though "the magic circle is merely one of the examples in Huizinga’s list of ‘play-grounds,’ the term is used ... [by him] as short-hand for the idea of a special place in time and space created by a game." In more detail, they describe: Salen and Zimmerman argue that “the term magic circle is appropriate because there is in fact something genuinely magical that happens when a game begins."

Examples reflecting the permeability of the Magic Circle

According to Castronova, there are several areas that reflect the obscuring of the distinction between the real and the virtual. Three of these areas consist of “markets, politics, and law."

Markets

Virtual worlds usually contain their own currency. Thus, virtual goods and services have a certain monetary value associated with them. Moreover, many activities in these worlds require a certain degree of skill as well as commitment from the user, which adds to this value. The worth of goods and services, though, is not restricted to the virtual realm. While external markets, including eBay

EBay

eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...

, sell content from synthetic worlds, virtual items gain importance in the outside world. As Castronova points out, “the existence of external markets makes every good inside the membrane just as real as the goods outside of it." In fact, there are Third World

Third World

The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...

 factories that are specialized in looting

Looting (gaming)

Looting in a gaming context, specifically in massively multiplayer online games and MUDs, is the process by which a player character obtains items such as in-game currency, spells, equipment, or weapons, often from the corpse of a creature or possibly the corpse of another player in a PVP situation...

  synthetic worlds for currency and other rewards. According to David Barboza, “the trading of virtual property is so lucrative that some big online gaming companies [as well] have jumped into the business, creating their own online marketplaces.” Such marketplaces, however, exert pressures onto the economy of synthetic worlds. Castronova states that in worlds where the farming of loot has developed, “the value of gold pieces against the dollar rapidly drops and, therefore, the value of assets obtained by everyone in the game drops as well."

Politics

Another example that illustrates the blurring of the distinction between the real and the virtual is related to politics and the concept of fairness within synthetic worlds. Castronova states that users “are a community of interests who are affected by the decisions of a coding authority, usually the game developers." Communication between users and the coding authority takes place in online discussion forums outside the synthetic world. Here, users can discuss issues of fairness they have experienced and pose suggestions for improving the world. By referring to the MMORPG World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...

, Constance Steinkuehler and Marjee Chmiel mention that players “convene in online discussion forums to discuss and debate the merits of different builds, at times even refusing to play with others who have made choices that go against the communal wisdom developed therein." Even though there are political activities inside synthetic worlds, it is interesting to note that “debates, which really do involve legitimate political interests, almost always occur outside the membrane rather than inside it." Since game developers are seeking profit, they have to pay attention to these debates and, if necessary, adjust the rules within their products. Castronova notes:

Law

The third area blending the understanding of the real and the virtual is linked with ideas regarding property. As the acquisition of currency, items, and skills within synthetic worlds is usually tied with a considerable time dedication of users as well as their individual abilities, people often gain the sense of owning their achievements in cyberspace

Cyberspace

Cyberspace is the electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication takes place.The term "cyberspace" was first used by the cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson, though the concept was described somewhat earlier, for example in the Vernor Vinge short story "True...

. In May 2006, for example, Kathleen Craig wrote: “In what might be a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, a Pennsylvania lawyer is suing the publisher of the rapidly growing online world Second Life

Second Life

Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...

, alleging the company [closed his account and] unfairly confiscated tens of thousands of dollars worth of his virtual land and other property.” Consequently, in October 2007, an entry in the “Blog” section of the Second Life website declared that both parties have agreed to settle the lawsuit and that the lawer's “account, privileges, and responsibilities to the Second Life community have been restored." According to Castronova, “the obvious economic value of the interests present in synthetic worlds has led to some notion of value under the laws of Earth; law is another site where virtual and real are blending together."

The Magic Circle in culture

According to Castronova, our culture "has moved beyond the point" where distinctions between the virtual and the real are helpful. He concludes:

The Magic Circle in the culture of gaming

Economic, political, and legal activity that cross the membrane between the synthetic worlds and the Earth exists to blur any real distinction between what is synthetic and what is insistently real. These examples may be affected more generally to gaming as a collective. Games have become such a central part of living that the differences between game and real life is starting to become blurred. Continual development in the culture of gaming may be seen in various behavior and practices. For example, when a pilot of a plane receives instructions from an air traffic control

Air traffic control

Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...

ler, at that very same moment, somewhere in the world, there is someone flying a simulation of that plane, or something like it, on a similar flight path, and that person also receiving path instructions from a controller; all of this is occurring through VATSIM.net, a virtual air traffic simulation system. Through the website, flight simulation has adapted into a multiplayer format, and ordinary people get to interact as pilots and interact with air traffic controllers to create a natural reproduction of actual air traffic.

The political movements that happen inside and outside games, for now, mostly concentrate on the games themselves. A gamer’s day consists of switching between the game life and real life. But while one is sitting in front of their computer and is engaged in the synthetic game world, they are just as likely to discuss the day’s weather as they are talking about the game, whilst chatting with a friend in-game. The distinction between labeling an act that strictly occurs in the game, and something that happens out of game (i.e. checking email about getting “gold” pieces in the game world) becomes inconsequential; the two worlds inevitably must interact with one another.