Last week, I purchased the first videogame of my adult life—Gone Home, a computer game produced by local studio The Fullbright Company. And the reason I purchased it was because I saw myself in the game: It’s set in a suburb of Portland in the ’90s, like where I grew up; it’s about a teenaged girl who loves Heavens to Betsy and Bratmobile, like I did. The fact that the game shares my cultural reference points, that is deliberately inclusive, worked on me. I bought a game!
I’ve long felt, in a vague and not particularly motivated way, felt that I should pay more attention to videogames. I like stories, and storytelling, but if you hand me an Xbox controller I usually just walk my character directly into a wall, get frustrated, and refuse to play anymore. More crucially, somewhere along the line, I absorbed the notion that gaming isn’t really for me—that it is for dudes who like guns and boobs and punching. Intellectually I know that there are plenty of women who play and design games, who have a stake in the health of the industry, and that there are games of all sorts that are varied and engaging and smart. Practically, I tolerate the fact that every boyfriend I’ve ever had is super into videogames, without ever trying to play myself, and without ever thinking too deeply about the reasons why I don’t.
On Wired today, Portland writer Rachel Edidin wrote a piece called “Why I’m Never Going Back to Penny Arcade Expo,” about her frustration with the sexism, transphobia, and general nerd-bro cluelessness of Mike Krahulik, co-founder of the PAX gaming expo and artist for the popular web comic Penny Arcade. It’s a good post. It’s a thoughtful post. And in calling out the very attitudes that I, fairly and unfairly, associate with the gaming world, it’s the sort of post that makes me think—like reading the description of Gone Home did—okay, there might be room for me here. If i can figure how how to work a goddamn Xbox controller.
(It’s worth noting that the Fullbright Company declined to attend PAX this year, citing similar concerns. We’ve got an article on the Portland company in the pipes—stay tuned.)
Did you finish the game, Alison? I played it over last weekend and it totally was in my wheelhouse — as someone who grew up reading The Rocket, then The Stranger, and moved to Olympia in the mid-1990s.
The Indoor Kids recently did a good podcast with the Fullbright developers. One of the hosts, Kumail Nanjiani, described the game as a wonderful way of telling a very small story, which is very accurate. I hope the attention Gone Home is getting will encourage others to create games that tell small stories and discard all the typical video game tropes of fighting, killing, driving, etc. There’s room in the medium for both.
I hope you write a review, on Blogtown at least. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Anyone still complaining about the Dickwolves just wants attention. Saying that they don’t feel ‘safe’ at PAX because of it is a ridiculous, calculated lie.
Have you read Mike’s post on the topic, currently on the front page of penny-arcade.com?
Grown-ups:
Stop. Playing. Video Games.
Jesus.
Play games games, fuck, read.
Video games are TV. Adult men who play video games as a way of life are hopeless. Write them off.
Good trolling “C’mon, man!”
Yeah, grown-ups:
Stop. Reading. Blogs.
Really, you obviously like to read and engage with things otherwise you wouldn’t be taking time to comment on a blog, so it makes sense that if you could open your mind and use a bit of imagination you might like video games. They are like interactive movies or even like interact books. I pity your lack of courage and inability to see beyond preconceived notions.
——————
Gone Home is a great game. Needs a bit of fine tuning with the story but still very satisfying and unique.
Fine, go shoot zombies and slap hookers while I fuck your lonely girlfriend.
Freeze tag. Now THERE’S a good game!
I don’t need to read about any dickwolf to know nerds are scared shitless of women. This kind of shit isn’t BECAUSE nobody liked you in high school, it’s WHY nobody liked you in high school.
Does this mean Merc will stop hosting the “Video Games for MEN ONLY” ad?
I’m with @c’mon. Expand your mind a bit. Step outside.
If 1P shooter / thieving / etc games make you think, it’s about killing and other antisocial behaviors. Do we really need help with that?