o:7005 Ergodic video games as agonist of masochism in gamers Ergodičke video igre kao agonist mazohizma igrača en sr Abstract: Throughout their history, even though their purpose and function have essentially remained unchanged, video games have repeatedly changed their essence, from pioneering technical endeavors, through arcade machines, to thoroughly complex modern video games. At a certain stage of their development, video games were very difficult to complete, with one of the main reasons being that for many years games were primarily played on coin-operated arcade machines, so it was in developers' interest for the games to be challenging. However, there is a crucial difference between difficult video games and video games that we call ergodic video games. The essential difference is that ergodic video games (or video games with ergodic elements) require players to adopt a non-trivial approach, i.e., additional effort, skill, and dedication, and since ergodicity drastically changes the difficulty level of the game, it also requires certain character traits from players, in terms of readiness to respond to frustration with persistence rather than giving up, which often borders on a specific type of masochism. Therefore, ergodic video games are colloquially called masocore games, which is a portmanteau of the words "masochism" and "hardcore". This paper aims to explore the causality between ergodic video games and the existence of masochistic character traits in players who play them, as well as how such games, by combining pain and frustration on one side with pleasure and a sense of accomplishment on the other side, provide a gaming experience that is almost impossible to experience by playing classic, non-ergodic video games. Sažetak: Kroz svoju istoriju, iako im je namena i funkcija suštinski bivala nepromenjena, video igre su ostatak svoje prirode nekoliko puta menjale, od pionirskih tehničkih poduhvata, preko arkadnih aparata, sve do u svakom smislu kompleksnih modernih video igara. Video igre su u određenoj fazi svog razvoja bile jako teške za kompletirati, čemu je jedan od glavnih razloga to što su se dugi niz godina igre primarno igrale na arkadnim aparatima koji funkcionišu na novčiće, te je developerima bilo u interesu da igre budu što teže. Ipak, postoji krucijalna razlika između video igara koje su teške i video igara koje nazivamo ergodičkim video igrama. Suštinska razlika je u tome što ergodičke video igre (ili video igre sa ergodičkim elementima) od igrača zahtevaju netrivijalni pristup, odnosno dodatni napor, veštinu i posvećenost, a kako ergodičnost drastično menja nivo težine igre, ona zahteva i određene karakterne crte igrača, u smislu spremnosti da na frustraciju reaguju upornošću umesto odustajanja, koja se često graniči sa specifičnom vrstom mazohizma. Stoga se ergodičke video igre kolokvijalno nazivaju masocore igrama, što je portmanteau od reči „mazohizam“ i „hardcore“. Cilj ovog rada je da istraži kauzalitet između ergodičkih video igara i postojanja mazohističkih karakternih crta kod igrača koji ih igraju, kao i na koji način takve igre, spojem bola i frustracije sa jedne strane i zadovoljstva i osećaja ostvarenosti kod igrača sa druge strane, pružaju igračko iskustvo koje gotovo da nije moguće iskusiti igranjem klasičnih, neergodičkih video igara. Keywords: video game, ergodicity, masochism, satisfaction, pain, sense of accomplishment Ključne reči: video igra, ergodičnost, mazohizam, zadovoljstvo, bol, osećaj dostignuća 1552099 https://doi.org/10.51738/Kpolisa2024.21.1r.63f 1552101 1820-4589 2025-02-06T09:48:21.626Z 44 yes 46 Aleksandar M. Filipović University Business Academy in Novi Sad, Faculty of Law for Commerce and Judiciary in Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia; Univerzitet Privredna akademija u Novom Sadu, Pravni fakultet za privredu i pravosuđe u Novom Sadu, Novi Sad, Srbija person 53551113 0000-0002-1097-2079 application/pdf 233056 https://unilib.phaidrabg.rs/o:7005 no yes 16 70 92000002 211A01 Kultura polisa 21 1 63 81 2024