GN Expansion Pak: Visual Novel fans, welcome to the book club

Welcome to GoNintendo Expansion Pak! Every Friday we’re going to have a feature that goes beyond the world of Nintendo. That could mean an article concerning games on other platforms, a review of a recent movie, a discussion about a TV show, a thought piece on anime…you get the idea. Everyone at GoNintendo has an undying love for Nintendo, but just like you, we have other passions as well!

On some level, we all want to be accepted, right? It’s nice to feel like you fit in from time to time. Some of us spend our whole lives trying to find common ground with people while others march fiercely to the beat of their own drum, but we all have moments where it would feel oh-so good to be welcomed into a space, whatever that space may be. Sharing a sense of community and commonality is part of the human experience, and when those harmonious moments pop up, they can give you some very warm fuzzies.

I have never been one to shy away from who I am. I’ve always been proud of the things I’m into, and I try my best to be an ambassador for those things. Unfortunately, wearing my feelings, interests and personality on my sleeve has led to some very uncomfortable situations in my 4+ decades of living. As I’m sure some of you know, the world can be not so kind when we put ourselves out there, and we can get teased, ridiculed, bullied, or even worse for trumpeting our passions.

While I’m not personally experiencing any harassment for my hobbies at the moment, I am watching a related situation play out with a new leisure activity that I picked up in earnest this year.

From literally my single digit years, I have not been into reading. I also know the exact reason that created those feelings. I used to see my parents read for fun, as I did with aunts and uncles as well. In my case, reading was something that was assigned as school work. I didn’t get to pick the books I wanted to read, the topics I was interested in, the pacing that worked for me and so on. Books were something you had to read no matter how invested in the topic you were, and you got tested on them as well. Without a doubt, it was my early days in elementary school that pretty much sucked the life out of reading for me, and things would stay that way until about 2019.

Every year for the last 7-8 years, I make a New Year’s resolution and stick to it. The whole reason I decided to stay committed to the idea was due to how following through ended up bettering my life each time. In 2019, I made the decision to finally watch all the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. I didn’t have anything against the movies or comic books at all; it was simply something in entertainment that passed me by. I had intentions of seeing Iron Man and Thor, but missed out on them because of work and other things. Before I knew it, the world was losing their minds over the events of Avengers: Infinity War, and I had no clue what anyone was talking about. Hearing all that chatter and discussion made me want to understand. I wanted to be in on the fun…I wanted to feel included.

Taking on the MCU opened my eyes to a whole host of characters and worlds that filled me with joy, wonder and excitement. As a matter of fact, I became such a huge fan that seeing the Marvel movies wasn’t enough. I wanted to learn where all these stories and characters originated from. I wanted to go back to the source material and really dive deep. After some research on comic books in general, I started making weekly trips to a local comic book store, and soon became absolutely enamored with comic books in general. That love for all things comic book continues to this day, and I still see it as one of the best decisions I ever made as far as delight and fulfillment goes.

…it was also my first real encounter with gatekeeping and the book world.

As with all things, whenever I get excited about something, I want to share it with everyone I know. I’m also very aware that I can come on extremely strong and over-enthusiastically, and that can scare people away. Decades ago, I learned to temper my approach and woo people rather than info-dump. That’s the approach I took when talking to others about comic books, but in my own mind I was buzzing with intensity. I know SO many people who read, and now I could finally share something in common with them…or so I thought.

I should have seen it coming a mile away, but for some reason I didn’t. While there were a decent amount of people who were happy to see my excitement and receptive to the discussion, there was an equal amount who scoffed at the news. Dismissive laughs, eye rolls, placating comments…you name it. These reactions were coming from people who I would have never expected to behave in this way, but it was very clear that I made a faux pas in talking about comic books with them. They read real books…massive hardcover novels that were filled with beautiful exposition that comic books could never dream of. These people were real readers, and I was just playing pretend with a child’s hobby.

Again, I know this sort of reaction shouldn’t have been shocking, but shocked I was. I don’t know that I can accurately express how deflating the entire situation was. It put such a damper on reading comic books; it closed a door into a world that I finally thought I had cracked open. While I might not have enjoyed reading for decades, I always longed to be involved in the discussions surrounding the pastime. I wanted to be a part of that circle, and here I thought I had the perfect in, but that simply wasn’t the case.

My disappointment in how people met my news and excitement was a mood-killer, but it didn’t stop me from reading comic books. I may strive to be included in groups and feel like part of a community, I’ll never shun the things I like due to someone else putting them down. I know that I loved comic books and the stories they told, and it didn’t matter how many people mocked me for it. I was going to stick with those stories and let them fill me with elation, and that has continued to this very day. …and that wasn’t the end of my foray into the world of reading.

When 2023 was coming to a close, I knew it was time to make another resolution. I had put together a list in previous years that I would add and subtract from, and I took a look at my potential options to ride into 2024 with. That’s when I finally decided to pull the trigger on one that had been there pretty much since the beginning: reading. Now I had counted comic books as very much falling into the reading category, but again, plenty of others didn’t. I didn’t let that yank me from the comic book world, but I still wanted to give traditional books a chance. With that stinging sensation from years ago still in the back of my mind, I set forth into 2024 with the objective of tackling what I was turned off to in grade school.

Here I am 9+ months into 2024, and I’m extremely proud to say I’ve read 4 conventional books (This Is How You Lose the Time War, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, The House in the Cerulean Sea and Project Hail Mary) and I’m in my fifth right now (Under the Whispering Door). Just like the past resolutions I’ve decided to take on, reading books has been equal parts rewarding and eye-opening. It’s given me a whole new appreciation for a bunch of different things, and I’m incredibly happy that I decided to finally tackle something that’s been such a point of contention in my life.

Sadly, it’s also brought the gatekeeping issue front-and-center once more.

Now that I’m reading traditional books, I’m privy to all sorts of conversations I wasn’t before. The people I know in various circles now openly have book discussions around me, and I’ve really valued that. It’s been a great way to learn about other books and authors I might like, and the best ways to get my hands on the titles I want. I’ve also learned a serious amount of just how harsh some readers can be on others for the way they go about reading, and it’s honestly baffling to me.

By far, the biggest debate I’ve seen is whether or not someone is a reader if they listen to audiobooks. I can tell you that I’ve been around some truly heated discussions about the validity of audio books. Some people listen to audiobooks exclusively because it better fits with their schedules and habits, while others dismiss the idea completely. They don’t see audiobooks as a viable form of anything, let alone an idea that could be counted as participating in reading in any way, shape or form. There’s even a debate within a subset of audiobook fans, and it pertains to the literal speed at which you listen. Audiobooks let you speed up the narration, and just how far people do or don’t push those settings causes major backlash.

To say the entire state of affairs is disheartening would be a gross understatement. I know where all of this pushback comes from, as I’ve seen it so many times in my life. Again, it’s all about wanting to fit in. Some people welcome all types of readers as they want everyone to be part of the fun, and others gate off people for a multitude of reasons in order to protect what they see as a sacred experience, fit for only the group they’ve fostered and been accepted into. I think you know which side of the fence I’m on with this one, and I’m going to take it one giant leap further as well.

As I’ve said, I was lambasted and worse for considering comic books to be reading. When I was going through those tongue-lashings, I had one thought rush to the forefront of my mind. If I was getting the black sheep treatment for reading comic books, imagine how bad it would be for the visual novel fans out there!?

For most of my life, I never considered myself a reader. As they say, hindsight is 20/20, and I feel very differently now looking back, and that’s largely due to my interactions with the visual novel genre over the years. While my earlier years didn’t have hardly any connection to visual novels, the introduction of the Nintendo DS opened the floodgates for the genre outside of Japan. Thanks very much to franchises like Ace Attorney, and titles such as Hotel Dusk, visual novels found their way into my life and I never looked back.

I think it’s very telling that I never even considered visual novels as reading in the traditional sense. While I personally didn’t have any hang-ups, it’s clear the biases of those around me had wiggled their way into my mind, which made me doubt my own actions. Sure, visual novels may make use of images and sound in conjunction with text, but it’s the writings that are very much the star of the show. Visual novels literally have the word novel right there in the title after all, and the entire point of the software is to wrap yourself up in its story. To think of them as anything other than activity fit for a bibliophage is downright silly.

Having seen just how judgmental and snobby some readers can be, I wanted to stake my claim on the other side of the argument. If you’ve never thought of yourself as a reader yet you often cozy up with a good visual novel, I want you to know that you’re very much included in the hobby. Don’t delude yourself into thinking any other way as I did, and don’t discount the time and effort you’re putting in.

To be brutally honest, the discourse surrounding what does and doesn’t count as reading is embarrassing. Why so many feel they need to shut others down while propping themselves up is beyond me, especially when it comes to leisure activities. Whether it’s a comic book, novel, manga, visual novel, short story or what have you…taking in that narrative is what makes you a reader. You envelope yourself in a world, explore it in your thoughts, and follow along as the writer takes you on an adventure. You let your worries and struggles wash away and sink deep into the tale crafted just for you.

Video games have come a very long way in a short amount of time, and that definitely relates to acceptance. Just 20 years ago gaming was seen as only for kids and a complete waste of time. Nowadays gaming is seen by the vast majority as a perfectly normal activity alongside the usual suspects like reading, watching movies/TV, listening to music and so on. It’s encouraging to see such great strides made, but there are still parts of gaming that need greater exposure and public support to be not just accepted, but understood. Visual novels definitely fall into that category.

It’s depressing to see self-described gamers who bash visual novels as not a real form of gaming. Should visual novels fans be shunned because their software of choice isn’t gamey enough? If you’re not running, jumping or shooting, does it not qualify as a video game? It seems absolutely silly, doesn’t it? That’s especially true when you know there are bibliophiles out there who adore reading, yet they couldn’t even fathom a visual novel as a valid form of literature. So if visual novels aren’t games and they aren’t books, then what in the hell are they?

They’re both of course, but you probably already knew that.

It’s possible for something to exist and be multiple things at the same time. While some people love when stuff can be easily classified into a specific category, there are plenty of times when that just doesn’t make sense. Visual novels are very much video games, and at the same time they are books. At their core, visual novels have most, if not all of the important attributes to lay claim to both categorizations. Visual novels are software you can purchase physically or digitally that can be played on a piece of gaming hardware. Visual novels are also tomes filled with thousands upon thousands of words, and you’ll need to dedicate hours to reading them beginning to end. Visual novels string together words in a magnificent manner to paint a picture that makes us smile, frown, laugh, or possibly change our entire way of thinking. Visual novels don’t have to be just a book or a game, they can and do encompass the best of both worlds.

If you enjoy visual novels, from this day forth you should consider yourself a reader. Yes, prepare for backlash if you declare yourself as such in certain circles, but that’s your chance to change a few minds. While I came across many people who were aghast at the idea of a visual novel counting as reading, I found others who were at least welcoming. I found fewer still who were so intrigued that they decided to try a visual novel for themselves, and they almost instantly understood my stance. Were there as many open-minded friends, family members and acquaintances down with the idea as I would have liked? Of course not, but the important part is that I did find some of those people. That gets the ball rolling…that gets the conversations going…that gets the minds changing.

Reading is a joy no matter how you partake in it. Go grab your Kindle and snuggle up in that comfy armchair. Head out to your local library and snag a hardcover to blow through over the weekend. Grab your earbuds and fire up that audiobook you’ve been dying to give a go. Charge up your Switch and get going on the Famicom Detective Series or 1000xRESIST. Spread the word on what you’ve read and how others can check it out. The people who matter most will listen, trust and join right alongside you. That creates a shared story in and of itself, and that’s where the true magic of reading resides.

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