Open AccessReally Fake: The Magic Circle, the Mundane Circle, and the Everyday
Author(s) -
Joshua D. Zimmerman
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
eludamos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1866-6124
DOI - 10.7557/23.6046
Subject(s) - fantasy , magic (telescope) , everyday life , entertainment , virtual world , aesthetics , sociology , epistemology , computer science , art , visual arts , literature , philosophy , human–computer interaction , physics , quantum mechanics
This article focuses on how the “everyday" has colonized and complicated the virtual world. Using examples drawn primarily from Sony Online Entertainment's Everquest 2, I explore the way that both the institutional force of the everyday and mundane objects such as tables and chairs have come to be a major part of play in MMORPGs. In exploring these topics, I consider the possibility of a "mundane circle" in which mundane objects and activities exist in a fantasy setting. I also examine how the presence of these mundane objects refreshes the fantasy world. In the end, I question whether play can truly be called so when the virtual world is so reminiscent of the real world.