"It would be preposterous to pass a global judgement on the intrinsic merit of hypertext: whether the maze is experienced as a prison or as the key to freedom depends on the individual quality of the text and on the disposition of the reader. But I would like to advance one general pronouncement concerning the immersive power - or lack thereof - of the genre: a genuine appreciation of a hypertextual network requires an awareness of the plurality of possible worlds contained in the system; but this plurality can only be contemplated from a point of view external to any of these worlds."

- Marie-Laure Ryan, Immersion vs. Interactivity: Virtual Reality and Literary Theory. 1994. Paragraph 35

Digital literature has received much criticism as readers attempt to come to terms with the material differences between it and printed literature. The navigation of the nodes has been likened to a puzzle or a maze; comparisons which could either scare or excite a reader with the extensive possibilities. Yet many of the problems found with hypertext seem to be based around readers trying to read it as one would a printed novel. For while printed literature employs immersion as a key tool for the retention of the audience digital literature sacrifices much of its immersive quality to the interaction required to navigate the text.

The difference between interaction and immersion can be understood, argues Ryan, through semiotics where: immersion views the referent of the sign, while interaction views the sign itself. Comparing this to a holograph, with both a two and a three dimensional image, Ryan illustrates that the two, while existing at the same point, cannot be seen simultaneously. The coexistence of these two features then relies upon a form of oscillation where each is forward at different points, where the reader is either immersed in the story, or directing its path. In directing the path of the story the reader is given the chance to analyse the situation from as many different perspectives as they can find in the story. This multiple representation differs from that common to the printed novel, and so, must be viewed differently. Hence, readers who expect digital literature to be as immersive as a printed novel often become lost among the multiplicitous strands of hypertext which offers less immersion. Consequently, a hypertext must be read differently from printed literature as it offers different things to the reader; for the plurality of the hypertext strands create juxtaposition between the various events which ultimately leads to greater critical analysis of the piece. Hence, the beauty of Hypertext is in its multiplicity which provides the author with a tool for critical discourse yet renders the text incomparable to print literature.