Black Ops and the Magic Circle

Children's Games by Pieter Brueghel (circa 1560)

When I go online on the PS3 I generally hope a few friends are online so that we can join a game of Call of Duty together, its more fun to be in a game with people you know as opposed to complete strangers. Team Death Match with 5 friends is a great experience where you as a group perform better than individuals. After these games we remember the highlights, a great kill or a lucky shot long after the game is over, we remember great games even longer still.

These friends that I play Black Ops with are friends that I've known for about 7 or 8 years, we used to all Kayak together in Ireland and abroad, we've lived through some pretty intense experiences in the past. By our actions or inactions in the past we've all been responsible for each others safety and I can think times when one of us has saved another from serious danger. These are the kinds of friends who I've formed strong life long bonds with and who I can rely on if I need help. Unfortunately these days we don't see much of each other due to people moving on so Call of Duty helps keep us together and strengthen our friendship.

In the past when we met up the talk would be of some difficult river or dangerous situation that turned out o.k. in the end. Nowadays stories of Call of Duty games are starting to intersperse the conversation, I think the thrill and togetherness we once got from kayaking is being supplemented with games. After all both Whitewater Kayaking and video games are just games, right?

I think this sums up both activities pretty well:

"...the feeling of being 'apart together' in an exceptional situation, of sharing something important, of mutually withdrawing from the rest of the world and rejecting the usual norms, retains its magic beyond the duration of the individual game."

To me this describes both Kayaking and Video Games succinctly when groups are involved. Whats interesting about this quote is that it isn't about either, its not written by a contemporary game journalist or a sports psychologist, instead its written by Johan Huizinga, in 1938. His book Homo Ludens forms the basis of Play Theory and from the quote above you can see how relevant this work is today. So far the book has provided insight into why we play games and some of the varying forms play can take, I couldn't have asked for much more from Mr. Huizinga!

P.S. There's a bit of an Easter Egg if you click the image above.