Thi Nguyen reflects on how games act as media of agency. That as we game, we temporarily embody a suite of agencies. Although the game will end and the agencies (with their constraints) leave us, this process leaves an indelible mark on us outside of the gaming environment. It is uncontroversial to say that work, applied effort, leaves the worker changed. It gives the worker a sense of possession over the fruits of that labor, however abstract they may be. The point-and-click game is analogous to the ergodic novel in the sense that both assign agencies and constraints and therefore require work—again, temporarily—to accomplish. The result, then, is that the reader/player is left with a lasting sense or possession over the memories from that time spent with those agencies.

I am left indelibly marked by the experiences Millie has communicated through this ergodic visual novel. The points at which I relate are reinforced by the ways in which my own lived experiences diverge from these I experienced within this text. I am grateful for this experience and for the author’s care and labor.