Existing behind every game is a magic circle. In games and digital media, the magic circle is the space where the rules of reality are suspended in place for the rules of the game world. We typically enter a magic circle when we play a game for the first time or log back into a game that we frequently play. The voluntary choice of picking up the game and playing it means that we are willing to drop the rules of reality that we are familiar with and choose to believe in the rules that are present in the virtual game or a real life sport. 

Magic circles in sports can be seen in virtually any sport. In volleyball, the main goal is to get the volleyball over the net and into the opposing team’s side. Realistically, the ball is just a ball. You probably wouldn’t use it for anything else. But while you are actively playing, it is the most important item to you. It’s how you score points. You need to have the ball touch the ground on your opponent’s side while also preventing the ball from touching the ground on your side. Players dive and jump to keep the ball in the air for as long as possible. This is because you agreed to the rules of volleyball and entered the magic circle. 

The magic circle takes a big part of video games in maintaining engagement and appeal to its audience. Magic circles are often found in the introductory sequences to help establish what the players will be seeing in the game’s world. I will give an example with one of the more recent games I have played: Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2). RDR2 is a narrative driven open world action adventure game with a focus on historical accuracy and realism. RDR2 begins in 1899 in the American Southwest with your protagonist: Arthur Morgan on the run from the police authorities with his gang of outlaws in the snowy northern states of the game’s setting. They talk about dreams of evading the police, running away to the West and how they need money to achieve all this. The player character, Arthur Morgan, is a hardened cowboy who cares about nothing other than the valuable ties he shares with his gang. Through this intro, the game’s magic circle has established that you play as an outlaw at the end of the wild west era in a world that is slowly embracing technology and industrialism as he fights to find a way for his gang to leave and find a way to live the life they choose to live. The rules in RDR2’s magic circle are more specific since they focus on a single character and take into account the games setting in defining the rules. Committing crimes results in your character being wanted and often being chased by bounty hunters. Act like a criminal and you will be treated as one. As a result, I found myself playing the game and making choices as Arthur’s character would, often thinking about how Arthur would respond to situations based on his ideals and flaws. An example would be how because the rules of the magic circle focused on realism, I was discouraged to solve problems guns blazing like in other action or western movies.