Publié par ARSENAULT, Dominic and Bernard Perron (2008). « In the Frame of the Magic Cycle: The Circle(s) of Gameplay », The Video Game Theory Reader 2 (M. Wolf and B. Perron, eds.), Routledge, New York, p. 109-131.
This chapter models the cognitive process of gameplay by taking the “magic circle” concept away from its static origin to describe the temporal process of gameplay. The circle becomes a spiral: the magic cycle. Playing a game becomes a cycle of question-asking and hypothesis that get tested and confirmed in an ever-increasing mastery as the spirals get wider, tackling higher-order questions. Moreover, gameplay involves guesswork and trial-and-error in the heuristic spirals of gameplay and narrative, and interpretation that fosters a hermeneutic spiral as well.