from an article in gamedeveloper, "Jerked Around by the Magic Circle - Clearing the Air Ten Years Later" by Eric Zimmerman:

Focusing on the math in making a game (such using a spreadsheet to juggle the relative experience point level-up curves of different classes in an RPG) might mean temporarily suspending a critical awareness of (for example) the sociocultural identity of the player base.

However, eventually the RPG designer would need to connect the pure math to the game's play and to its culture. A level-up experience point curve implies a certain tempo of play advancement relative to a reward/frustration pattern of desire.

And the shape of this play is certainly something that should be designed relative to an understanding of a particular kind of player's expectations and assumptions -- aspects of player attitudes that are closely tied to sociocultural identity.

In other words, the math bone is connected to the culture bone. [emphasis added]

you just gotta love the exasperation as the writer tries to explain that the "magic circle" concept is not like a literal magic Circle of Protection from Culture and Context

i'm reading this in context of a later article here: "Torture, Play, and the Black Experience" by Aaron Trammell