Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Figures and Illustrations -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Ergodics and Ludology -- 1.1 Ergodics and Ludology -- 1.2 Making a Case for Interdisciplinarity -- 1.3 Discourse Analysis -- 1.4 Problems with Definitions -- 2 Interactive Play -- 2.1 Play Theory: A Summary for the Unfamiliar -- 2.2 Defining the Player -- 2.3 Interactivity -- 2.4 Evoking Human-Computer Interaction -- 3 Human-Computer Interaction -- 3.1 Game Literacy and Representation: Remediation, Immediacy, and Language -- 3.2 Ergodic Literature and Computer-Mediated Communication -- 3.3 Interview Data: Discourses of Fantasy vs. Reality -- 3.4 Personalized Concepts and Experiences of Play -- 4 New Literacies -- 4.1 Interactive Digital Games as Cultural Narrative and Imagination -- 4.2 Non-linear Storytelling and Narrative Elements of Interactivity -- 4.3 Interview Data: Experiences of Narrative -- 4.4 Divergent Pathways and Potentialities -- 4.5 Experiential Narrative Forms -- 5 Ideology and Self-Identification -- 5.1 Identity and Ideology: Discourse, Gender, and Character Connections -- 5.2 Immersion: Believability, Virtual Worlds, and the Uncanny Valley -- 5.3 Interview Data: Masculinities -- 5.4 Ergodic Ontogeny: Demonstrated in Discourse -- 5.5 Self-Identification and New Media Identity Construction -- 5.6 Role of the Player -- 6 Reflective Research -- 6.1 Layers of Meaning -- 6.2 Limited Identities for Unexpected Players -- 6.3 The Physical Effects of Interactive Play -- 6.4 Reflexivity -- 6.5 In Conclusion -- Index