Contents
Do you reread books? Replay games? A lot of people do, and I’m one of them. But what is it that brings us back to media we’ve already finished and already know the ending of?
Rereading a book is a personal choice. We reread them for various reasons. This post is just some of my reasons, but perhaps you can relate. Which games you replay is also a personal choice; however, games are also reviewed and judged based on their replay value. Replay value is based on the choices, various storylines and multiple endings offered to the player. Books don’t have an equivalent to the replay value of games. As much as we sometimes wish the ending of a book would be different, the words are always the same (unless it’s a ‘choose your own adventure’ book, but that’s for a whole other blog post). The games I choose to replay don’t usually have much replay value. I replay them for other reasons, similar to the reasons why I reread books.
Characters
If a character is entertaining, I’ll reread a book or replay a game just for them. Every reread I get to know them better. Sometimes, I suspect I assume their intentions during a reread because I know a decision they’ll make later in the story, but even assuming their internalisations is enjoyable.
Characters are one of the reasons why I read fanfiction. If I want to know more about the characters, I’ll read any story about them. I want to know what other readers thought happened to them after the books, or what they could have potentially done during the book.
I also like to analyse their development and speech. The writer in me wants to know exactly why I find their voice so captivating. What lines grabbed me? What decision or choice showed their motivations? How active are they in their decision making?
World
If there’s a fictional world I want to live in, I will reread or repay for it. Just so I can picture myself in that world. It could be the magic, architecture or creatures that interests me, or all three. Whatever it is, if I want to know more about the world I will reread the book to see if there was anything I missed. Or to visit it again, like a routine vacation spot.
Imagination
When I read books, I imagine the scenes like a movie in my head. I reread books because of my imagination, visualising scenes differently each time. The movie in my head is never the same – maybe because my imagination has changed, maybe because I know more about the story/characters/world in a reread.
Mechanics
Game mechanics will have me replaying – the enjoyment of playing and the controls. The games I play the most are stylised games from my childhood. They’re not particularly difficult games to play, but the controls are thoroughly enjoyable. If I enjoy playing a game because of the mechanics, I want the game to be extremely long. I don’t need to hurry to find out what happens in the story because, as cliche as this may sound, the journey is just as good as the destination.
There isn’t exactly a book equivalent for game mechanics. The closest I can think of is the enjoyment of holding a book, listening to an audiobook, or swiping the page of an ebook. This is similar for all books, however, except perhaps if a book has enjoyable footnotes, an audiobook has a fabulous narrator, or an ebook has an outstanding layout. Like I said – not exactly the same as game mechanics, but enjoyable in their own way.
Details
I will reread a book if there are details I missed during the first read that become clear during the second or third reread. Not all books have this, but it’s one of my favourite things about rereading books and I wish I could find more that did. I read books closely, usually slowly, and rarely miss a detail. So when I do, I find it captivating. I then spend an excessively long time fitting that detail into the rest of the story and all the other places it could be relevant in my understanding of the story. I doubt this rambling even makes sense, but give me all the details please.
Nostalgia
The books I read and games I played growing up always make me nostalgic. They remind me of my past interests and who I was growing up. Certain games bring back memories of playing with my siblings and asking my dad to get past certain levels or boss fights for me – something I would never do now because it turns out he’s pretty awful at video games, just not as bad as I was as a kid.
There are new games coming out by the same creators as the games I played growing up. I play these games out of respect for the creators and my own curiosity – will there be similarities to the games I’m most nostalgic for?
What do I reread and replay?
I, unfortunately, can’t make a list of the books I reread or games I replay. I don’t know why, but I’m weirdly possessive of them. Also, there are too many. I like analysing why they mean so much to me though. The closest you’ll get to knowing which books I reread is by seeing which ones I’ve rated five stars on Goodreads. I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I rarely leave five-star reviews – this isn’t because I don’t enjoy the book, but rather because I reserve five stars for those books I would reread again and again and again.