Cheating- “There is No Magic Circle”

In the beginning of the semester I hadn’t even known what the “magic circle” was or what it meant. With this being one of the first concepts that i learned while taking this class, i find it interesting that this reading here speaks completely about how there is no “magic circle”. We have also talked about in this class the contradictions about the theory of the “magic circle”. Some people believe that it is a space with no consequences, where only in that space you can explore your morality more than usual. That when you leave the game nothing will be wrong, and everything will be okay. Although, this may not be true for some instances with playing certain video games. There will be some things that you truly feel from interacting with games. Games are created through the act of game play, which is dependent on player acts (Consalvo).

I find it even more interesting that Consalvo has specifically been interested in cheating in relation to games, and also how that relates to the magic circle as well. I feel that her theory using cheating in relation to game play makes complete sense. Cheating is almost like a player in its purest form with no limitations. This is where the game really happens, and becomes deeper in meaning. It makes you want to analyze our values and ethics more in game play. This here is proof that games are not magic circles, where this kind of study in my opinion reveals more of why games aren’t magic circles and how the ordinary rules of life do apply in games. Why try to restrict the game world to a bounded circle anyway? There is so much more to understand through the act of cheating but its the context of this act that we need to actually understand.