Ergodic Videogames

So this was something that made me have to think. 

Trying to define what ergodic videogames are, as termed by James Newman in an article for Games Studies (the online journal), was pretty difficult. But ultimately it comes down to conceptualization, I interpreted.

I found this journal when writing my plan for my literature review and it was pretty interesting once I got my head around it, supporting one of my thoughts about player-relation to the main characters that some players don't empathize or engage with a player-character, particularly in first-person shooter games as they are just an embodiment, as Newman describes it, which acts as a vehicle for the player to explore the world. 

He argues against most theorists that the player character's appearance is irrelevant to the player, and that it is the 'off-line players' - those who play the game with another but don't PHYSICALLY play - gain more of a relationship with the player-character as they are not directly assuming the role of that character. According to Newman there is more conceptualization on the off-line player's part, as the the primary player thinks less of the character who they play as and yet cannot see (with regards to first-person shooters). Newman sought to 'challenge the notion of identification and empathy in the primary-player-character relationship'. 

This argument is interesting in regards to how I might then approach culture in character design and how necessary it is to particular game cultures, i.e. is it necessary in certain types of games like first-person shooters which are far less narrative driven than RPG's? 

He concludes that the relationship 'between player and gameworld suggests that this linkage is best considered as an experiential whole that synthesizes action, location, scenario and not merely as a bond between subject and object within a world. While this could be true, I see this as a contradiction where I see that the 'experiential whole' is fleshed out by the presence of story and by extension a character. Even if the player does not empathize with the character whose shoes they have filled, they are likely to engage with non-player characters elsewhere in the game, which I feel Newman has overlooked in a sense.

At any rate, it might just make the cut of my lit review, depending on which angle I now decide to approach. I need to stop looking at things. Need to stop changing my plan O_o  There's too much I'd like to analyse and too little words!