Ergodic media is characterized by its complex construction, which convolutes the ability to understand the text’s narrative. Ergodic stories are stories that are difficult to piece together or understand because they are not created with the goal of being understood.
That is their appeal.
Thanks to technological developments allowing for ease of constructing multimedia texts, the genre has gained a following in the last few decades. Ergodic modern classics such as “House of Leaves” and “Pathologic” gained particular attention during their most recent surge in popularity.
What is Ergodic Literature?
The term ‘ergodic’ was coined by author Espen J. Aarseth in 1997 and is understood as it is defined in his book “Cybertext—Perspectives on Ergodic Literature” with regard to his definition of ergodic literature. Here, Aarseth uses the term ‘ergodic’ to mean any text that the reader has to take an active part in constructing to make sense of it, and ‘Ergodic Literature’ to mean any form of media with a text-based element that is also ergodic.
Oftentimes, this can mean that the text itself is constructed in a non-linear way. This structural design forces the readers to parse out the order they think is most correct. As this is a highly individual process, it generally leads to differing reader experiences. Consequently, saying that Aarseth characterizes ‘Ergodic Literature’ as an especially interactive form of storytelling would be more accurate.
The difficulty of Ergodic Literature
Because the texts of Ergodic Literature are structured in such a way that there is no standard method to navigate or understand them, the reader has to do the heavy lifting usually done by form, style, and convention.
With this understood as the basis of ergodic media, Aarseth suggests that ergodic literature should be viewed as a co-creative effort between the author and its reader. As such, Ergodic Literature is essentially any text where a reader must work to bring their own brand of order to the chaotic structure so preeminent and foundational to the genre.
Ergodic Literature and Mazes
Aarseth’s “Cybertext—Perspectives on Ergodic Literature” explains this concept through the apt metaphoric idea of a maze. A fitting comparison, considering that the root words for ‘ergodic’ are ‘work’ and ‘path.’ In a maze, that is, a path you must work through, there are any number of ways an explorer can go and almost as many dead ends. There are more or less streamlined ways of getting from the ‘correct’ beginning to the ‘true’ end.
It is entirely possible that the explorer of the ‘maze’ will simply give up before they reach its ‘end.’ They might give up without ever experiencing the actual story. While it could be argued that a maze can be completed by simply following either the right or left wall until an exit is reached, no one would suggest that this is the most efficient or enjoyable way to do it.
It removes the suspense, planning, and thinking from the experience. Furthermore, it would almost certainly guarantee that a large portion of the maze remains unexplored.
The Joy of Mazes
If the quickest path to the end of the maze is the story the text is trying to tell, then hugging one wall of the maze would be the equivalent of reading an ergodic text in linear order, cover to cover.
In some cases, the story a reader is interested in (because the structure of ergodic literature often lends itself to multiple narratives layered on top of each other) might not even be related to the end of the maze. For some readers, the most interesting stories will be in one of the ‘maze’s’ neglected and cobwebbed corners instead.
However, perhaps most importantly, like a maze, a piece of Ergodic Literature is designed to make its reader think and explore the narrative. Ergodic Literature will force its readership to problem-solve or give up trying to understand the text. Readers are meant to pursue their self-directed interests and the puzzles of the text they find interesting.
Readers will delve into these stories in search of their ends, rather than having them gift-wrapped for them as is so common. Ergodic Literature knows that it is not for everyone, and it likes it that way. The narrative progression for ergodic stories is in no way intuitive. In fact, it will fight its reader every step of the way just for the sake of being difficult.
Ergodic Literature as a Catch-All for Ergodic Media
Interestingly, however, Aarseth does not limit his understanding of ergodic literature to solely text-based media. For Aarseth, anything with a text component has the potential to be ergodic literature.
This includes interactive video games, RPGs, hypertexts, and AI-generated writing, in some cases. Video games, especially, were among the core focuses of the book. Even in the early days of the internet, when far less was possible in the field of inter-textual and multi-media storytelling, it seems it was clear that video games held great potential for new and innovative ways of creating and telling stories.
If Aarseth’s book were written today, it would almost certainly include modern forms of intertextual stories. A primary example for this would be ARGs and possibly even community-produced texts such as SCP and Creepypasta.
Under these parameters for Ergodic Literature, even traditionally non-literary texts such as dictionaries, legal documents, and Wiki articles have the potential to be classified as ergodic literature. As a genre, ergodic literature has proven to be incredibly expansive and well-suited to the technological developments of our time.
What is the Ergodic Story Experience?
The ergodic story experience, by the very nature of ergodic media, is unlikely to be the same for any two people. As a genre and as a style of creating media that is highly individualistic without a standard set of guidelines or rules as to how it should be made or consumed, it is something that people generally come to either love or hate. In that sense, it can be considered something of a niche or niche-adjacent genre. It is by no means for everyone.
Understanding a piece of ergodic media can be frustrating and is often time-consuming. So it comes as no surprise that many of people who try to get into the genre leave feeling unfulfilled and disappointed. This is because every piece of ergodic media requires learning through trial and error how that specific piece of media works to understand the story or narrative that it tells. It is a little like trying to read a piece of media written in code. First, you have to decipher the code before you can begin reading the story.
House of Leaves: Ergodic Text and Diction-Based Story-Telling
The experience of reading Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves is not dissimilar to that of a video game. Considered a modern literary classic today in many academic and literary circles, “House of Leaves” is a multi-layered, multi-story narrative and an excellent example of a text-only ergodic story.
The main narrative of the book is about the ‘author’ of the primary set of footnotes in the text. Specifically, House of Leaves is considered a chronicle of this character’s slow descent into insanity. His increasingly incomprehensible and personal ramblings are further built upon by subsequent ‘owners’ of the book within the story’s narrative, who provide footnotes to his footnotes.
House of Leaves is a text that is far easier to want to like than it is to actually like. It is an incredibly interesting read and very much an acquired taste. This text is ergodic in that you have to read the supplementals and supplementals-of-the-supplementals, which you might otherwise ignore in any other text. This is a basic requirement to understand the most interesting story this book has to offer. It is a text that subverts many, if not most, conventions of reading a novel in the pursuit of telling a particularly unique story in a particularly creative way.
Pathologic: Ergodic Story-Telling Through Game Mechanics
Pathologic is a very strange game. It flouts many commonly established game mechanics in favor of telling a multilayered story. The game’s mechanics are structured in such a way as to intentionally make playing the game difficult and the story hard to access.
Playing the game feels very much like opening up a Russian nesting doll. You have to complete at least three full playthroughs of Pathologic at minimum to fully complete the game. And as the game progresses, you discover you are playing a game within a game. And then, that that game was just another game within an even greater game between you and the game developers.
Difficulty is its own Reward: Hurting the Player to Help the Game
Any attempt to fight in the game is met with instant death, despite combat being available to the players. Even in the route where all the NPCs are aiming to kill you on sight and around the clock. Each in-game day, survival, let alone accomplishing the game’s objectives, becomes more difficult. Any failure to accomplish daily objectives will ramp up all subsequent days’ difficulties. Movement in the game is incredibly slow despite the majority of the gameplay being spent walking.
Pathologic forces the player to develop strong time management skills and spend a lot of time thinking about their decisions. This is very unfortunate for the player, as Pathologic routinely incentivizes the player to make immoral decisions and punishes them for attempting to do the right thing. In order to access the third playable character, the first two characters’ routes must be completed; each new route is more difficult than its predecessors.
Pathologic has a complete ending, a ‘true’ ending, and a real ‘true’ ending; none of these three endings’ existence are ever disclosed to the player. Although the game regularly uses avatars to talk to the player directly through the player-character.
The game’s real ending concludes with the player conversing with the Game Developer’s Avatars, who make fun of the player’s difficulties throughout the game. Pathologic is a game that loves to hate its players. It makes very clear that it has no interest in those who are unwilling to suffer for the satisfaction of success.
Are Ergodic Stories Worth the Investment for You?
Ergodic Literature is the Dark Souls of the text-media world. It is a genre for puzzle solvers and the stubborn gamers. It is for the people who like a good mystery and are not afraid to get their hands dirty. Conversely, a casual reader, gamer, or consumer will be easily overwhelmed.
Ergodic media is not relaxing, and it is never easy. Any good piece of ergodic media will always be mentally exerting, like Pathologic and House of Leaves. Remember, this is a genre that will try to make you cry. This way, when you do succeed, despite the odds, victory will be all the sweeter. For those willing to invest the effort, at least, struggling and eventually succeeding is its own reward. Ergodic media is not for everyone, but it might be for you.
What to Look Forward to: Ergodic Innovations in Storytelling Now and in the Future
Ergodicism, despite having its origins in text-based media, is far from exclusive to that mode. More and more, ergodicism is leaking out into other forms of media and entertainment. Presently and in the future, audiences can look forward to seeing ergodic interactive elements in both theatre and film. Ergodicism has finally gotten enough traction as a genre that other disciplines are looking to replicate the success it has seen in literature and video games. I would strongly recommend giving Ergodic Media a chance. Because in the end, Ergodic Literature, media, and storytelling are here to stay.
