C. Thi Nguyen

Whether, in my case, my wife and I are going to be trying to kill each other or supporting each other.

And then we just do it.

We go all in.

Yeah, yeah.

So there's a few different approaches to this.

So one of the ideas from the literature on games is this idea from an anthropologist, Johan Huizinga.

which is, he calls it the magic circle.

And he thinks that the essence of play, and here he unites games with theater very explicitly.

Game sports and theater for him are part of the same thing.

And a magic circle is an alternate space and time that you enter into where you change roles and actions change their meaning.

And I think this is a fancy way to describe and highlight something that is really, really obvious, which is just magic.

Again, my wife and I love each other.

And then we go play a game and we try to kill each other.

Then we pause.

and we make each other drinks.

Then we go back to the game and we try to kill each other.

And it's also that it would be really, imagine like if after the game were over, like we fought because like, how could you?

I was going to win.

And then you, no, no, like this is- Why didn't you sell me the wheat?

Right, right.