On Replaying Games

Have you ever heard of the "Backlog of Shame"? I find it's most commonly associated with people's massive Steam (digital game shop) libraries, but it can really apply to any sort of entertainment options that people say they will get around to but may or may not. I guess it's most associated with Steam because it is so easy to pick up cheap games. The logic behind it is that when I was a kid (old man alert!), games were very expensive, so you didn't typically just get a new game every week or month (or days, anyone?). You had to make the most of what you had. In my case, I remember getting a game on my birthday, during the holidays, and on some other special occasions if I was lucky (or had generous relatives!). Other than that, renting was where it was at. Before I go full Grampa Simpson and rant about the onion strapped to my belt (which was the style at the time!), I should get to the point.

Image generated using Frinkiac. The Simpsons is owned by Disney.

Once we got access to larger libraries of cheaper games, a lot of us have libraries of games that span hundreds of games. If you sat down and tried to play through every single game the way we did when I was a kid, I am certain you would devote decades of your life. In fact, the HowLongToBeat website could likely be used to get a ballpark amount of time, but some things are better left unknown. As a result, we have to make a choice with our time. I'll read online about how people make these elaborate plans to get through their Backlog of Shame, much in the way you might try to tear through your backlog at work. I've tried sometimes to intentionally play games I already own rather than buying something new that catches my eye (I know, what a concept!), but I find when I do, I start to feel a weird pressure. That backlog really does turn into work. At some point, I had to give up and tell myself that I will never play through all of my games in the backlog. This is an extremely first-world problem, but it's a question of how we spend our leisure time, which I think is still an important one for our personal satisfaction. You could apply this to book, movies, or any other thing we do with our spare time. 

"Seriously, what's the point?" you might ask, tapping your foot like Sonic. Well, don't jump off the level just yet, because I'm getting there.

The concept of playing through a game backlog, or ignoring it and playing new things, is how to address replaying a game! This Reddit link (Do you replay games? r/patiengamers) is just one of many examples where someone actually feels guilty about replaying a game in the face of having a backlog of other games to play. As you can see in this link and others similar to it, there are a wide range of opinions, but just the fact that people feel guilty of not playing something new is an interesting thought experiment. One user comments along the lines that it reflects our consumerist culture, that we always have to be purchasing something new. I think it's a bit more complex, although I get that view.

I fit in the "and/both" category. I have a large library of games, but I also love replaying games. Growing up on and still enjoying classic games has conditioned me to replay them frequently. I can't imagine just playing through Megaman X once and then telling myself, "Well that was fun, but once is enough. I have other games to play!" Sure, I might move on to another game to play for awhile, but eventually, I'll get that itch. It's a weird sort of feeling that makes me want to revisit something. Even though playing through it will be familiar, I don't think of it as just doing the same thing over and over again. In a game like Megaman X, you can play it in a different order, give yourself restrictions (such as limiting what upgrades you get), or trying to speedrun it. 

Sketch I made of the boss select screen in Megaman X. I've just given you three different ways to play!

Even then, if you decided to replay the game in the same way you did previously, I don't think of that as wasting time. That is more like you enjoyed the vacation, tour, movie, etc., so much that you want to get as much out of it as you can! Each time you experience something, that experience is a two-way street. Sure, Capcom didn't change the data in the Megaman X cartridge between my playthroughs, but I certainly change a bit each time I experience something because I am not a static entity. In both my second and third playthrough of the game, I may have played the game before and understand how to beat certain bosses, but they are still different because each time I play, the snapshot of how I perceived the game on my end changes in some way. Maybe I get better at dodging certain attacks, or I prefer to take certain hits like a tank so I can bypass a set of spikes. Even speedrunners who learn how to optimize their playthroughs may spot ways to further innovate their runs along the same general path!

This is just the beginning of this line of thought, because I haven't even touched on randomizers, procedural generation, or a mix of the two, but I hope that if you have never gone back to replay a game you've played or finished before that this encourages you to do so. Never give up your interest in trying new things, but don't forget that you can still have a great time retreading an older path!