Reloading Old Saves

Many computer and video games have a feature that lets the player save their progress save their game and then reload a previous save. This allows players to, essentially, turn back time to a specific point in time. From there, the player can do any number of things. The player can relive an experience they've played through previously. They can retry a challenge, now armed with additional knowledge about the challenge. They can make different choices and explore previous paths. Being able to reload a previous save file is an experience unique to gaming, and it's not even present in all games.

While probably most games have a feature that lets you save and reload your game, some games don't. When games lack this feature, that omission is a deliberate choice on the part of the game developers, usually intended to create an experience more akin to real life. In real life, we can't go back in time for any reason. We can't relive experiences, except through memories. We can't retry challenges, except on subsequent attempts. And we can't change the choices we've made; we can only make new choices moving forward. Many game developers try to capture these elements of life to makes their games more intense and to make their choices more meaningful.

In life, our choices are always meaningful, in part because we can never decide to go back in time and change our minds. Once we've made a decision and acted on it, that decision is set in stone and recorded in heaven. Repentance is always an option, but retries never are. That's partly why we need to be careful with our decisions. It's important to try not to do anything that we're later going to regret. Every choice we make becomes a permanent part of our past. We can't reload old saves and start fresh from there. As the previously ubiquitous phrase says, You Only Live Once. Life isn't like most video games. Life is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.