What is the best way to enjoy a story, Hermione or Jon Snow style?

Recently, I've started playing videogames for real, and my experiences with them got me thinking about a lot of things. One of them is how spoilers may or may not ruin your experience with a piece of fiction.

I remember when Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released on the English-speaking countries: at the time, I wasn't fluent in this language, so I had to wait for the translation. To make myself less anxious during this time, I bought some magazines that had articles about the book to know more about it. Some of them had explicit description of the major spoilers, and I read EVERY SINGLE ONE. Even took the time to compare them to make sure there wasn't too much deviation between each, so that I'd know I was getting to know everything right. When I finally got the book in my hands, it was a great reading. I knew all that was going to happen, but the reading experience was great anyway, because I could enjoy every page nice and calmly.

Nowadays, however, I am a bit paranoid about getting this kind of information; I remember how it was an unique experience to read the Red Wedding chapters in A Storm of Swords without knowing ANYTHING about it. Last year, I read Macbeth, a many-centuries-old play which I knew nothing about, and I was completely absorbed by the plot. I want all my readings, watchings and, now, "playings", to be unique, I want to discover everything by myself, make up my own opinions about every detail, to be able to make up my own, particular involvement with the story. It's hard to do it when you get to know too many plot details.


Last month, I played Portal 1 and 2. By the end of the first one, I was a bit tired; I just wanted to know the ending ASAP, but all I found was more and more things to go through. I was so worried about doing everything myself and to discover all of the story alone that I felt the need to rush through it so I wouldn't be in danger of getting spoilers - even though it's not a recent game, it's not exactly all over the Tumblr dashboard...

I ended up getting a youtube playthrough to help me, what forced me to discover all things through another person's playing. I made sure to not act like this in the second game - I'd play it slowly, taking my time; the result? WHAT AN AWESOME GAME. Not only is it way better and more elaborated than the previous one, it felt amazing to be able to go through the chapters without any help, and to discover everything only as I went on - as if I was Chell myself. That is, like, the point of playing video games, right? To get immerse in the story, do things and choose stuff, as if you actually were the protagonist.

I don't care if physics wouldn't permit it - that was such an unexpected, thrilling moment!

But Portal 2 is a short game, with few but very charismatic characters, and all based on puzzles - and how I LOVED solving them!! I felt so intelligent and all. So, it was a pleasure to go through it and I didn't take too long to finish; that means the worrying of getting spoilers was soon gone. But now I'm playing Bioshock: at first, it was great, but now I'm really, really tired. Too many side missions which I'm obliged to do, and right now I just wanted to get to the end, so that I can talk about it with people and go through the Tumble tag without surprised I didn't participate first-hand. I'm also not that good in FPS yet, so the time a regular gamer would take through one part, I take three times more. All I want is the story to end, because the worry of getting spoiled is a cloud over me.

Oddly enough, I've already played Bioshock Infinite, which I fucking loved. But I discovered Booker's secret when I was halfway through the game. After crying in the corner out of shock for a while, I went back to it, and, surprisingly, it was still possible to enjoy it very much. However, I wasn't experiencing the story as him: he didn't know about it, but I did. I became an outsider looking in, just guiding him as best as I could. Also, every new level I waited for it to be finally revealed, but the plot only gives it in on the very last seconds of the story. After I finished it, all I wanted was to never having seen that. I just wanted to have discovered it at the time the game developers had planned.

A mindblowing scene that became so trivial because of one search
recommendation by Google when I typed "Booker DeWitt"...

And that's how I got this supreme spoilerfobia; but, if not knowing the spoilers also makes me stressed, for I live in fear of seeing anything about it on the internet, what's the point? I'm rushing through the story just to know it before I know it... and it's not just with games. This semester, we had to read Wuthering Heights for a class, and I started it a bit late. I had to rush through the story to not get spoiled, and it felt terrible. I transformed the reading of an awesome book, one which I really loved, into an assignment just because I needed to know stuff before the teacher mentioned it. Later on, I had to reread some e chapters to understand them better. Again, I felt miserable, but this time because I was able to not get spoiled.

Now, how can I find the balance? After my Bioshock Infinite trauma, I stopped reading even the synopsis of stuff - after all, I have already read some which were but an abstract of the book/movie, giving away the ending. But this ISN'T  a way to go, because the pressure is quite overwhelming. If you know many things, you may be able to enjoy everything more, go through the story just for the sake of it, like I did with Half-Blood Prince, But the immersion can be lost, especially in a game. If I'd known the major plot twists of Portal 2, I know I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much.

I suppose it all depends on the media and its complexity. Bioshock's main plot is the one which you participate, but the most important part of the story is in the past. It's not just going through levels and shooting splicers, you have to go after pieces of information to understand what the hell happened to the city of Rapture, and why you need to do the things you are being told to. Paying attention to the scenario is also crucial. The story of Portal, however, is way more direct, and though the places you go and the information you get during some puzzles give details about the past of Aperture, you don't need to explore as much to know what's going on.

Yes, I gave up looking for them by the end; it was indeed easier
to listen to them on youtube...

Books and movies also have this thing of details: you may know all main events, but the particularities of the characters and the scenario around them gives more meaning to them, the experiencing of the story gets richer, and it's way more fun to appreciate a material when that much care was taken by the developers - whether it was just a single author or a team.

Well, this is my dilema of the day; what is the best way to enjoy a story in your opinion - Hermione or Jon Snow style? I would also accept any kind of tips to calm down the heart of the geeky girl and help her enjoy her hobbies without getting unnecessary stress. How am I going to survive two months away from the internet when The Winds of Winter finally comes out, I don't have a clue...