Gone Home

I watched someone on YouTube play it instead of playing it myself. At first, I thought this game was going to be a scary game because the house looks creepy, but the video game was interesting and suspenseful. I did like how by the time the game ended; we knew a little bit about each family member. I somewhat did not like how quiet it was in the house because throughout watching someone play this game I expected something to pop out and scary me, Especially when Katie read one note and it was saying how when Sam told the students in her class that her family had just moved into that house, they all looked at her like she was a mutant and when Katie found a ghost sighting journal I wanted to close my laptop because I don’t like playing scary games. I was interested in knowing where the parents went, and why it looked like the family rushed out of the house. I like how the story unfolds that Sam and Lonnie liked each other and how Katie and Sam’s parents did not approve of this because they feel she should be with a boy.

The girl movement started in the 1990’s. There was a poster in Sam’s room which tells us she was all for this movement. Washington band bikini kill, and the lead singer Kathleen Hanna were the ones to begin this movement. Theory voiced that women wanted to express themselves freely through music no matter what kind of music it was. Women weren’t seen singing punk rock music, it was really a guy’s kind of music. When we think about rock music, we think about guys singing it and loud, deep voices.

Lorde’s Argument

I think the argument Lorde is trying to make is that if you keep silent about something traumatic in your life or something that is happening to you that isn’t fair, or you don’t like, keeping silent will not fix the problem or protect you. “My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you” (Lorde, Pg.41). I think this is similar to the game because Sam, the mom, and dad do not speak up for themselves. My biggest question for this game is what will Katie do next? Will she speak out for her sister, or not say nothing at all?

My Comparison

The game Gone Home and the Riot Grrrl movement reminds me of the quote from the book “feminism is For Everybody, by Bells Hooks. “Imagine living in a world where there is no domination, where females and males are not alike or even always equal, but where a vision of mutuality is the ethos shaping our interaction. Imagine living in a world where we can all be who we are, a world of peace and possibility. Feminist revolution alone will not create such a world; we need to end racism, class elitism, imperialism. But it will make it possible for us to be fully self-actualized females and males able to create beloved community, to live together, realizing our dreams of freedom and justice, living the truth that we are all ‘created equal” (Hooks, pg. 10). I feel this quote related to the game and the movement people I feel that all Sam and the movement wants is to live in a world where they can love who they want and be free to express themselves how they want and not be judged by others.

My Topics for My Research Essay

Some topics that I am interested in talking about in my research essay are queer video games and sexuality. I think these topics will be very interesting and fun to talk about and these are topics that relate to gender studies and have been talked about in this course. I think I would talk about the importance of creating more queer video games because I believe games like these can really help people of all ages now that they are not alone. With the topic of sexuality, I think I would talk about the importance of understanding your own sexuality.