Humanities

111 pages + Appendix 8 pages This study addresses the temporal and spatial boundaries of the play of massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft with phenomenological and autoethnographical approach. The study assesses if the play happens inside a magic circle and can this magic circle be equated with the digital game. Magic circle is concept defined by Johan Huizinga (1938) and it maintains that play activity is spatially and temporally separated activity. In this study the play experience of the author has been taken as the starting point of the autoetnographic evaluation and through the play-experience it is assessed if the play is disclosed to the game or if it surpasses the limits of the game. The study suggests that play escapes beyond the boundaries of the game and that magic circle cannot be equated with the game platform. In this it follows Stenros (2014): Instead of one frame of the play or one magic circle we have multiple. This study suggests that the magic circle of play is larger than the digital area of the game. The magic circle itself becomes permeable too. Its edges are hazy and differ from one play experience to another. The study suggests the use of term playspace for this hazy and shifting area of play. Despite the fact that playspace is individualized space which varies i