Megan Vrolijk

I think that the idea that the "cybertext reader is not safe" is one of Aarseth's important points when comparing the article with the games we played on Monday. Not only does the player have an avatar who they often become connected with in a way that a reader may not connect in a novel, the actions the avatar takes is controlled by the player. The result is that "Each decision will make some parts of the text more, and others less, accessible, and you may never know the exact results of your choices; that is, exactly what you missed." Aarseth later compares non-linear text in the form of I-Ching to action adventure games. An additional difference between the two that he partially explores is that in a book the reader can subsequently explore the other options in way that is not available to a player. In a game, all the options are not apparent. While a player may be able to discover all of the options, one does not realize what all these are without much time and effort. However in I-Ching, one only has to look at the number of pages to realize the number of choices.