Ergodic literature
In short Writing the reader has to work to get through, by choosing, arranging or operating it.
Definition
Ergodic literature is Espen Aarseth's name, from his 1997 book Cybertext, for texts that require "nontrivial effort" to traverse. Reading a novel takes effort too, but only the trivial kind: moving the eyes and turning the pages. An ergodic text makes the reader choose a path, arrange its parts or operate it before there is anything to read. The category is older than computers: sonnets cut into interchangeable strips, a novel in a box of unbound sections, branching paperbacks for children. Aarseth used it to set games and literature side by side on the same terms, and on that view video games are the fullest form of ergodic literature.
Not to be confused with
- Interactivity
Interactivity means the work responds to input; an ergodic text may only demand effort, like a box of unbound chapters that never responds.
- Player agency
Agency is the felt power to make meaningful choices; ergodic effort can be pure labour with no sense of choosing anything.
Where the game lives
- rules: used
- goals: dropped
- feedback: dropped
- uncertainty: dropped
- choice: used
- play: not essential
Ergodic texts keep choice and the rules for moving through them. Most drop goals and feedback, which is where games go further.
used dropped
Examples
Cent mille milliards de poèmesRaymond Queneau, 1961
Ten sonnets cut into strips, one line per strip, for 10^14 possible poems.
The UnfortunatesB. S. Johnson, 1969
A novel in a box of 27 unbound sections; only the first and last are fixed.
Choose Your Own AdventureBantam Books, 1979
Branching paperbacks that sold more than 250 million copies by 1999, by the publisher's own count.
In the essays
Part 1 of 2
Why Games Hit Harder Than Books and Movies
Books tell and films show; games make you do, and then hold you responsible. That makes them not the highest art but the most participatory one.
Industry, Art, Media: What Video Games Actually Are
A video game is three things at once: an industrial product, an artistic work and a medium that argues. The most revealing parts of a game sit where the three meet.
Sources
- BookCybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. Reading list
- WebsiteOur History. Chooseco.