3. Homo Ludens

The term 'play' is a rather braod subject that has many definitions to it. Playing a game, in particular, is fun and has pleasurably moments but some feel it may also bring addiction to the gamer subconsciously. These days, playing a video game at home has become very popular and has brought many reprecussions to it. Due to the wide spread of the Internet, players are not only teenagers and children, but the social group is getting more and more attraction and is now consisting of people aging 20 years and older (Kris, 2005). Because of this, the games made are being more violent and mature, some not appropriate to small children and teenagers. The gaming industry has become huge, standing to gain $10.1 billion in revenues per year. This caused a huge variety of games to be made and distribusted to seek a larger demographic (Kris, 2005). In our module, the game Samorost 2 is a puzzle game that might appeal to a large audience as it is simple in concept and violence-free.
The Magic Circle is having a safty zone surrounding the player while playing, any uncertainty may result in having an expansion to the game making anything or any person part of the game and being exposed to dangers around (Montola, no date). The Lusory Attiude is having that state of mind and knowing that you as a player are in the Magic Circle and knowing your boundries and the 'frame' in which the player is in during the game (Jesper, 2003). In the game 'GTA Sans Andreas', the Lusory Attitude can be tricky in ways of straying away from the frame or the purpose of the game, but the guidlines and storylines of the game that appear every once in a while are what guides the player and keeps him/her grounded.




Bibliography:
-Jesper Juul: "The Game, the Player, the World: Looking for a Heart of Gameness". In Level Up: Digital Games Research Conference Proceedings, edited by Marinka Copier and Joost Raessens, 30-45. Utrecht: Utrecht University, 2003

- Kris, O. (2005), Game enthusiasm rises up from the basement, Avertising Age, Vol. 76, Issue 37. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on Feb. 26th, 2007 from: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=18286663&site=ehost-live