I read this post on Even’s beautifully designed polarfront.org a few weeks ago and it struck a chord,
“When surfing networked images of Orkut relations and the latest Livejournal images (actually there used to be a page on adcott.net that displayed only the images – that rocked) consciousness seems to gather to a little spot and then fade completely. Akin to the brass knobs on Japanese pachinko machines, it’s not meaningfull interaction, but a ruse tricking you into believing you are affecting outcome, a trick to facilitate immersion…”
I’d argue “The Pachinko Effect” could be used to describe the way a lot of interactive media works operate. This is not to put them down, on the contrary, it is to note that there are many different modes of interaction. I like the idea that a work could be designed so that user interaction has little to no effect on the work, but still gives the user a feeling of agency. This approach could work well (or just be frustrating) for more ambient works. For example, a row of buttons could have nice roll-over images or mouse-down actions, maybe even make beeps or clicks when they are pressed, but have no effect on the greater outcomes of the work. Or perhaps the meaning of these interactions could be so abstract and convoluted that they are as good as random. If the work was as exciting as a pachinko machine to watch and listen to I think people would come back for more 
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