(2016 Discussion) Gone Home

[llsaidknockyouout]

This was an indie game in 2013 that polarized people. The feminist/journalist wing raved over it and the "hardcore gamer" wing ridiculed it. What resulted was an immature debate as to what constituted a game where one camp took the "games need levels/coins/monsters/5+ hours of content or they're not games" side and the other camp didn't scrutinize the mechanics at all.

I think Gone Home was a great concept with execution of mixed results. The character development was uneven. One of the daughters had good development ; the other didn't. The father had some development but really not much (I understood the plot twist ; I just didn't think it was profound). The mother barely had plot development whatsoever. The story had some relateable bits, but I wouldn't say any of the characters had the depth you'd expect the game to have. The house recreated a teenage 90's atmosphere very well but also relied on cliched horror movie tropes (creating an expectation of a dead body that never there).

What I will praise most about the game (what more games should do) is that it let you explore the area the way you wanted to. No tutorials, no handholding. Hints were ever so subtle are progression barriers were kept to a minimum. The game did not tell you how to interpret its content. The game just let you develop whatever opinions you wanted yourself. There was no middleman between you and the content you experienced.

The short 2 hours I played it were enjoyable, but it would have been better at $10 than $20. While I do think there are some exceptions to the rule, in general, I don't think any game (even story-driven ones) are exempt from the standard of needing to provide enough content to justify the price.

 

[llsaidknockyouout]

Ooops. Please move this to the Game Discusssion forum.

 

[Redryhno]

Same as it was when I first played it. The art team deserves every bit of praise they can, it was a nicely constructed house that was believable enough to be what the setting said it was(for the most part).

Everything else just falls completely flat. Narrative is frustratingly predictable, I felt pretty much no connection to the characters as much as it was forced onto you, and the gameplay itself is pretty minimal and basic. Add on that it was praised so highly when the only standout about it was the lezzies and a pricetag about ten bucks too high, and you have yourself a game I loathe.

 

[Dizchu]

Most people don't really care about Gone Home, they just care about how controversial it is. People think GTA5 was controversial, or Hatred, or even Night Trap. Oh boy, they are nothing compared to Gone Home. The most offensive game in recent memory.

As a game it's pretty good, its use of a mundane setting ironically makes it a lot more compelling than most other games and the way it grounds the setting so heavily in a realistic depiction of the mid-90s is pretty interesting. It's worth playing if only to experience some sort of period piece of an age most of us would still remember (to some degree). There's a few red herrings which may be intentional or may be the result of gamers being so used to extraordinary things happening in video game stories.

To me where Gone Home falls short is where it loses confidence in its unique narrative presentation, by having voice-overs instead of utilising its well-done exploration-based storytelling. While getting rid of them may have alienated players, to be honest most gamers were already alienated so going the whole hog was the least they could do.

But really the most notable thing about Gone Home is the knee-jerk response from the gaming mainstream, with people unironically declaring it the worst game of all time. The game has very real flaws that can be addressed but for the most part most of the "criticism" seems infantile, accusations of an "SJW agenda", it "not being a real game", of it "pandering to LGBT people". It makes as much sense to criticise Gone Home for these things as it does criticising Doom for not being able to talk things through with the demons you encounter instead of shooting them in the face.

 

[llsaidknockyouout]

It's a problem when gay relationships in games are seen as pandering. I don't think the game does anything particularly to pander to anyone.

And it's sort of like what I said with The Wind Waker and it's artstyle: Fans are having a debate, but it's the wrong debate. We should be discussing the mechanics and story, but instead we're having war between feminists and hardcore gamers.

I do hope games learn from the free exploration, figure things out for yourself design. I was happy that there's no HUD's, popup menus, tutorials, game over screens or anything that takes the player out of the experience.

 

[Redryhno]

Eh, it's less gay relationships seen as pandering, and just so few of them being given the same basic respect of straight relationships. In gaming it's pretty much always either some kind of forbidden love thing that gets the people involved alienated/beaten/etc., or they're held up on this pedestal that no other relationship can hope to match. Far too rarely is it given the basic respect of it being the same as anyone else's relationship or just mentioned in passing like it doesn't matter, because it largely shouldn't. I don't particularly like LiS and especially not Chloe, but they did almost get to the ideal I'm hoping for with gay relationships of it just being out there. Hell, even ME had Traynor who I consider to be one of the better gays in gaming simply because you actually had to go and LOOK for her and even if she had a job a literal computer can do, she was somewhat interesting.

I live with a couple, and they're the same as any other co-hab relationship I've seen. They fight about stupid shit like which way the toilet paper needs to be facing, how their make-up is supposed to be organized, which way they'd rather me hang pasta(yes, this was an actual argument they had, didn't listen to me saying it not mattering since I actually do that for a living). But they also cuddle under a blanket every once in a while and just generally take care of one another.

How often do you see that happen in gaming? Hell, even with straight relationships they're there mostly for drama than anything else, but gays just seems to incentivize the writers to take it up about a dozen notches just because the character(s) are gay and they want to make it a highlight. And in doing so, the majority of the time they just make the characters be defined by which pair of genitals they like in their faces.

And it really shouldn't be that way, gays deserve better treatment/writing than to largely be held up as the new golden calf and marketing tool. At least when it comes to Western gaming. Not to say this kind of thing doesn't happen with Eastern devs, just that it will happen a staggeringly larger number of times over this way.

 

[Erttheking]

It's a problem when gay relationships in games are seen as pandering.

...Really? Gaming can put in all kinds of sexualized women into games in order to pander, but putting gay relationships in is crossing a line?

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Eh, it's less gay relationships seen as pandering, and just so few of them being given the same basic respect of straight relationships. In gaming it's pretty much always either some kind of forbidden love thing that gets the people involved alienated/beaten/etc., or they're held up on this pedestal that no other relationship can hope to match. Far too rarely is it given the basic respect of it being the same as anyone else's relationship or just mentioned in passing like it doesn't matter, because it largely shouldn't. I don't particularly like LiS and especially not Chloe, but they did almost get to the ideal I'm hoping for with gay relationships of it just being out there. Hell, even ME had Traynor who I consider to be one of the better gays in gaming simply because you actually had to go and LOOK for her and even if she had a job a literal computer can do, she was somewhat interesting.

I live with a couple, and they're the same as any other co-hab relationship I've seen. They fight about stupid shit like which way the toilet paper needs to be facing, how their make-up is supposed to be organized, which way they'd rather me hang pasta(yes, this was an actual argument they had, didn't listen to me saying it not mattering since I actually do that for a living). But they also cuddle under a blanket every once in a while and just generally take care of one another.

How often do you see that happen in gaming? Hell, even with straight relationships they're there mostly for drama than anything else, but gays just seems to incentivize the writers to take it up about a dozen notches just because the character(s) are gay and they want to make it a highlight. And in doing so, the majority of the time they just make the characters be defined by which pair of genitals they like in their faces.

And it really shouldn't be that way, gays deserve better treatment/writing than to largely be held up as the new golden calf and marketing tool. At least when it comes to Western gaming. Not to say this kind of thing doesn't happen with Eastern devs, just that it will happen a staggeringly larger number of times over this way.

I still have yet to encounter a more well written homosexual than Wallace from Scott Pilgrim VS The World.

It's a problem when gay relationships in games are seen as pandering.

...Really? Gaming can put in all kinds of sexualized women into games in order to pander, but putting gay relationships in is crossing a line?

He didn't say that sexualized women in games was good either.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Eh, it's less gay relationships seen as pandering, and just so few of them being given the same basic respect of straight relationships. In gaming it's pretty much always either some kind of forbidden love thing that gets the people involved alienated/beaten/etc., or they're held up on this pedestal that no other relationship can hope to match.

Which for many homosexual people is exactly what their experience of loving a person of the same sex is like. Even in supposedly progressive Western countries this is still the experience of a majority of gay people, that their sexual orientation gets them alienated, makes them the victims of abuse and is generally frowned upon or disdained by the people around them, whatever implicitly or explicitly. That this sort of stigmatization and obfuscation of homosexuality makes many gay couples consider their love and relationships to be extremely special, precious and rare shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

I am generally hesitant of pulling the privilege-card, but when it is considered pandering to accurately portray the tribulations of being gay and finding a partner (like Gone Home did) then I am not sure what other explanation there might be.

Far too rarely is it given the basic respect of it being the same as anyone else's relationship or just mentioned in passing like it doesn't matter, because it largely shouldn't.

This is a nice sentiment and one I generally share. However, very rarely in modern society is a homosexual relationship "the same as any one else's" relationship. For good and for bad our relationships are still treated as these wondrous, exotic things. From people who look at me googly eyed and wonder why I love/live with another woman to (mostly) men who can't get enough of lesbian sex fantasies. And don't get me started on having to explain to people how two women ended up as parents to a child...

 

[Redryhno]

Eh, it's less gay relationships seen as pandering, and just so few of them being given the same basic respect of straight relationships. In gaming it's pretty much always either some kind of forbidden love thing that gets the people involved alienated/beaten/etc., or they're held up on this pedestal that no other relationship can hope to match.

I am generally hesitant of pulling the privilege-card, but when it is considered pandering to accurately portray the tribulations of being gay and finding a partner (like Gone Home did) then I am not sure what other explanation there might be.

Never said anything about it accurately portraying anything. Just that far too often it's one or the other when the relationships and people surrounding them are pretty much just like straight relationships.

I grew up in Texas, for some reason largely considered the worst place for gays to show up in the U.S. outside of one of hte other southern states. And nobody ever did either of those things to anyone involved. Family went through a wannabe religious awakening when I was like ten and the guy everyone loved at a church where my fifty year old parents were the youngest was a gay guy. Still a sorta good friend of the family these days whenever I get back around to where they live now.

The guy that everyone hated if they weren't in good with the administration along with him in high school was gay. Real bitchy, real mean and dismissive if you weren't his butt buddy that would throw accusations your way if you ran into him in the hallway, planted one of those damn rainbow ceramic kitchen knives in a friend's locker after she had a bad day(long story short, step-sister beat her with a soapsock at least once a week since elementary and couldn't get anyone to believe her and so she slapped him after he ran into her and started his normal psuedo-victim bullshit) and would've gotten her sent to the "learn without being taught" bullshit they call ISS for six months if the on-duty cop there hadn't believed me that nobody used their lockers if there wasn't a lock on the damn thing.

In band, first chair was a guy I still to this day really don't want to be around(far too high-strung and had a serious case of middle-child syndrome), but for some reason thought I pushed him to be better for some reason. How, I'm still not sure of since I really hated being competitive at that point in my life and so never tried to really practice for anything that benefited only me(but I got top 35 saxes in my state every year though with ATSSB and solo/ensemble, still not exactly sure to feel proud or ashamed about that).

These guys were all really open about their sexualities. Nobody alienated them, nobody beat them, nobody was thrown out of their homes. They were just normal people. And that is not something we get when it comes to gays in videogames. Don't exactly have a problem with the Gone Home path, but that is pretty much one of two paths we get. And it's pathetic that being gay is either used as a starting point for a tragedy, or a marketing ploy. That is all I'm talking about here.

 

[NPC009]

I was wondering the same thing. One of the reason everyone got their panties in a bunch about Gone Home, was because critics fell in love with a 2 hour virtual experience that cost $20. That's what most of the 'haters' were upset about: the relatively steep price. However, now in 2016, Gone Home is like 80% off during every freakin' sale and you can literally buy it for the price of a sub. Or not. You know. That's a thing. Not buying it, I mean. Problem solved?

I bought it for that price and was pretty happy with my purchase. Flawed as the narrative was, wandering through that house did leave a strong impression. It was an interesting experiment in storytelling in games.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

I actually really liked the story. I'm not going to sit here and argue about the quality of writing, the reason I liked it was because it really resonated with me emotionally. So while it may have been full of tropes and been predictable or whatever, the thing it did really well for me was evoke those feelings of what it's like being a teenager and the the emotional highs and lows that you go through. Stuff that often seems trivial when you look back as an adult but at the time it means the whole world to you. And while my own life experiences were very different than Sam's in the game (I'm a straight guy and my parents were pretty laid back when I was a teenager) there was still a lot I could relate to.

The game world was well put together for the most part. Discovering the stories about various family members worked well. However I did have an issue with the voice overs. Not the voice acting itself, which was fantastic, but the fact that it doesn't make any sense within the context of the game. There's a lot of thought put into the way the devs crafted the world, giving the players things to find around the house, then that all goes out the window when they give you exposition by just slapping a narration over the top. A narration which, as I recall, is from Sam's journal entries, in a journal you don't find until the end of the game. I understand they wanted to tell that story with voice acting throughout the game, and I'm glad they did, but it didn't really fit in with the way they created the rest of the game. I don't know what a good solution to that problem would be though so I'm willing to let it slide.

I also had a bit of a disconnect with the protagonist. You're playing as Sam's sister Kaitlin, and Kaitlin would obviously have a lot of prior knowledge about the family and the house. But I, the player, don't share that knowledge. So rather than feeling like someone who has gone home, I feel like random stranger who has broken into this house and is rifling through this family's belongings. Again I don't know the solution to this problem. I guess it shows why writers like to rely on amnesiac protagonists.

Overall I enjoyed my time with it but I probably wouldn't play it again. And the price tag was a bit steep but as someone else here mentioned it goes on sale all the bloody time anyway (pretty sure I only paid a few dollars for it).

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Cute little deconstructive game with a good soundtrack and decent voice acting that was about $15 over its sane price ceiling. Arguments that the marketing was deceptive do hold a bit of a water. On the one hand, subverting player expectation is a neat trick. On the other hand, subverting player expectation when you have a 2 hour game priced at $20 is perhaps excessively sassy and might lead to a whole lot of hurt butts.

Eh, it's less gay relationships seen as pandering, and just so few of them being given the same basic respect of straight relationships. In gaming it's pretty much always either some kind of forbidden love thing that gets the people involved alienated/beaten/etc.

That's a reality a lot of gay people have had to live through. I'm not sure reflecting it in media is somehow dishonoring gay relationships, or (god forbid) "pandering". It's not a universal reality for every gay person who ever lived, but good luck finding a universal reality when scripting a game or a show or writing a novel.

 

[Redryhno]

Eh, it's less gay relationships seen as pandering, and just so few of them being given the same basic respect of straight relationships. In gaming it's pretty much always either some kind of forbidden love thing that gets the people involved alienated/beaten/etc.

That's a reality a lot of gay people have had to live through. I'm not sure reflecting it in media is somehow dishonoring gay relationships, or (god forbid) "pandering". It's not a universal reality for every gay person who ever lived, but good luck finding a universal reality when scripting a game or a show or writing a novel.

The point of that was outlined in a later post as I'm hoping you see, but the basic gist for me is this: We don't get "normal" gay relationships very often in gaming(or straight either, but the word gay seems to make writers go Hamlet "murder or not to murder"-type levels of drama).

Too often they're either marketing(Bioware, indie artsty titles) or a setup for a tragedy(Gone Home, Bioware, etc.). That's the dishonoring thing for me. Not that they exist, just that "normal" gays don't exist in gaming, everyone always has some kind of tragic backstory related to their sexuality being persecuted or they're largely just window dressing to make some kind of social statement without allowing the world created to be less progressive than our own(which ties back into my complaints when it comes to theme and setting clashing and sounding a helluva lot more modern than they have any right to be, but that's another day's argument).

And since I've yet to get a response from the person that found fault in my argument, I'm gonna go with them either giving up at my stupidity, or being satisfied with my answer.

 

[pookie101]

i personally enjoyed it, great little adventure game with interesting stories to discover that really grabbed me