This new article by Christina Wodtke on A List Apart gives a sneak peek into the second edition of Information Architecture: blueprints for the web.
I found it extremely interesting, and I started making parallels with the concepts of playful design. Take for example point 1, which comes straight from an architecture paper:

Conflict: Children love to be in tiny, cave-like places.

Resolution: Wherever children play, around the house, in the neighborhood, in schools, make small “caves” for them. Tuck these caves away in natural leftover spaces, under stairs, under kitchen counters. Keep the ceiling heights low—2 feet 6 inches to 4 feet—and the entrance tiny.

Which is making me think about safe places in games. They could be the save point in a survival horror game, or just safe zones in a metaphorical sense (think about the chosen word to stop the game in hide-and-seek).
The concept of a safe place (a way to temporary escape the magic circle, if you want to put it formally) is extremely important in a game, because it can provide rhythm in the developing of the action.

It’s nice to see how all those elements connect, intersect and combine themselves.