FNAF has an established house style which allows the player to identify the game. The use of props and environment design also creates a sense of immersion as the player can use it to interpret context from the scenario e.g. the phone on the desk alongside the SFX of a phone ringing. First person perspective and the mechanic of being able to look around also makes it feel as if the player is directly in the environment.
Genshin Impact has an abundance of characters and NPCs which the player can interact with via dialogue and multi choice. This gives the player an illusion of choice as it makes it feel like they have a direct influence on what happens in the game. The selling point of the game is also getting to know the characters as each of them have an individual backstory/design/personality which makes you feel like you know them personally and therefore getting attached. Also note the ‘isekai’ trope of the main character being from another world and not from there, allowing the player to identify with them more→ roleplay.
Homo Ludens- First academic book by John Huizinga published in 1938 dedicated to the study of Play
Proposes the idea that Play precedes culture, all cultures have it. It even transcends species, most mammals display this among adult and young.
It requires a specific setting and context, has a time and place
The idea of magic circle (proposed by Huizinga) is a scenario whereby specific rules and scenarios apply- aka ‘make belief’ - e.g. playing hide and seek and an adult (unaware of the scenario) reveals the location of the child hiding breaks the magic circle.
This can be applied to other scenarios
Contextual and pre-established rules, often through societal expectations, are confined to that specific space and time
People who don’t follow this hierarchy or expectation can cause disruption and creates a conflict.
This term was popularized by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman in the context of video games