Why I spoiled Gone Home in my review
by Scott Nichols
Before the reviews went up for Gone Home, I knew it was going to be interesting seeing who considered what parts of the game a spoiler.
Almost a year ago when I played the IGF build of Gone Home, I would have agree that Sam’s coming out story was a spoiler. As such I kept the secret, thinking that it played a much larger role in the game. Keep in mind this was a demo that ended when you open Sam’s locker and hear about her first kiss. The story, at that point, culminated in the realization of Sam’s sexual awakening, without any access to the basement, kitchen, dining room, greenhouse, or attic that comprised over half of the entire experience.
After playing the full game my view on its spoiler status changed, and I was excited to read reviews from other writers and see whether they considered it a spoiler or not after playing through the whole thing at once without a first playthrough that ended at the locker.
It turns out mine was the only review (that I saw at least) that mentioned Sam’s coming out story. I was shocked, expecting at least a few to at least acknowledge one of the game’s most prevalent themes. There was actually one other writer who sent me private messages on twitter asking if I thought talking about queerness was a spoiler or fair game for a review, and I explained that I thought it wasn’t. That writer’s review ultimately does not include any reference to Sam being a lesbian.
Now, the argument has been made that it is best to go into Gone Home without any prior knowledge of the plot at all, and I think that is also an acceptable view. But if you are writing a review from that stance, it can be a nigh impossible task. Mentioning that the father is a troubled writer or that the mother is contemplating an affair already breaks that trust, which most reviews had no trouble disclosing. So why leave out the main character, the character who is quite literally the voice of Gone Home?
I believe the fact that Sam’s sexuality is considered a spoiler says more about our culture’s views on homosexuality than it does on the actual game. Homosexuality is still largely considered the taboo “other,” even by allies and many within the LGBT community. That is not “other” in a negative sense, but rather the simple expectation that someone is straight until proven gay, and when that proof is given there is a tendency to act surprised. I am guilty of this as well, it is a pervasive part of our culture.
So even though Sam’s attraction is clear from the very first note mentioning Lonnie, a note most players will find within their first 10-20 minutes, it is still treated largely as a surprise, as an unexpected twist that subverts expectations. Even though there is no grounding for those expectations in how Sam is presented at any point in the game.
Let’s compare the reaction to Gone Home to another recent game with character relationships at its core: The Walking Dead. I would argue that Sam’s relationship with Lonnie is just as central to Gone Home as Lee’s adopted fatherhood for Clementine. And yet reviews had no issue coming right out and (rightfully) praising The Walking Dead for having and developing that relationship. The fact that Lee takes on that father-figure role isn’t a spoiler, it’s how that relationship informs their actions that players will discover and shape the emotional core of the game.
Likewise, it isn’t a spoiler that Sam is attracted to other women. Like the theme of fatherhood, within the theme of “queerness” there are still a vast spectrum of experiences that could be conveyed. Her sexuality simply acts as the framing agent for those experiences.
Just using Sam’s queerness as a starting point it opens tons of story possibilities. Does Lonnie feel the same way? If so, will they stay together? How will Sam’s parents react? How does Sam’s school react? How does this all piece together to explain why Sam isn’t home, and where she might be? Does the fact that Sam is missing have anything to do with why the parents aren’t home? What is going on with the parents anyway? Who is Oscar? Why is the house called “The Psycho House?”
One more question, does Sam’s sexuality ruin the reveal of those more relevant questions?
Knowing that Sam is a lesbian doesn’t spoil the discovery of her Captain Allegra stories and how they evolve with her own self-realization. It doesn’t spoil how her own affinity for writing fiction draws a parallel to Terry, who also tried to make sense of childhood experiences through fiction and received only discouragement from his own father. It doesn’t spoil how the “ghost” of Oscar that caused Terry to become reclusive and jeopardize his marriage was also the catalyst for Sam’s first true love. It doesn’t spoil a strained and complex family dynamic. It doesn’t spoil Sam and Lonnie’s zine, or Sam’s attempt in vain to make her school aware of the abuse and bullying she received because of who she loved. It doesn’t spoil that Sam and Lonnie’s only option was to escape from their expected lives if they had any hope of being happy.
So why did I come right out to say Sam was a lesbian in my review, and spoil Gone Home for all those potential players? Because Sam’s sexuality isn’t a spoiler, and I didn’t actually spoil anything.
I wonder if in some part it has to due with Gone Home’s genre as a mystery. While it defeats the purpose of criticism to explain the end or major clues that lead to the end, it also defeats the purpose of experiencing it for yourself.
A mystery is predicated on the notion of going in knowing little to nothing and revealing facts. Where Lee and Clementine’s relationship was the premise, Sam’s sexuality isn’t the premise, but part of the puzzle that leads to the answering the inciting mystery: where is everyone?
Sam’s story does take center stage and really supplants the basic question, but the game still fundamentally follow the logic of a mystery where the revelation of her sexuality is revealed just like the identity of a hiding witness would be in a standard mystery story. A key element to explain what happened, but the not the end result. Still in reviewing any crime novel to reveal such would be a foux pas at the very least.
Gone Home also mirror’s the mystery format in that it depends on the reader how obvious the clues are. some people never solve it before the detectives, some people only get part of it. In my case I guessed at Sam’s predicament by the second room worth of notes and my notion only got confirmed as I continued to explore. Even though I figured it out very early, I did figure it out, which is part of the appeal and driving force of a mystery story.
On this train of thought, had Gone Home been apart of a different genre with the same underlying narrative and themes or asked a different question with Sam’s sexuality as part of the premise – for instance where did Sam go as opposed to why isn’t Sam here – it may not have felt like a spoiler.
Now I don’t disagree that your assertions as to the politics of hiding Sam’s identity in reviews don’t exist, but I’m thinking they don’t exist solely as the reason. I think the inherent understanding of the genre have more to play with it than ideas of identity. Now does that mean one should supersede the other, that’s a different question and one that each individual reviewer must make.
I get that it’s a mystery story, but I disagree on the framing of the role Sam’s queerness plays in the mystery. It’s less like the discover of a key witness, and more like discovering that Watson and Sherlock Holmes are friends. It is such a central part of Sam’s plot that it is less of a clue toward other clues and more of a basic starting point of information.
I am also latching onto one of Sam’s notes that comes later where she says to Katie something along the lines of “You had to know, you always knew, right? I’ve known since She-ra.” Which I took to explain why the early notes about Lonnie were so obvious. Gone Home does such an excellent job of putting us in Katie’s head with the descriptions of objects that it only makes sense for the notes to take on an obvious slant if the sisters were close and Katie already thinks her sister might be gay. In terms of thought parity between the player and character, it makes sense to go in knowing that Sam’s story deals with coming out.
There is also the fact that you can find the notes out of order. My girlfriend was playing and the first Sam note she found was in the secret passage about Sam and Lonnie snuggling after their first concert. When she found the other notes about how they met, she squealed with delight just as much as I did the first time I played and instantly recognized a young gay romance forming.
As for different clues being obvious to different people, I’d refer back to my point about spoilers being culturally indicative.
One final point, and this one is entirely personal and selfish. When I came out in 8th grade, I would have killed for there to be a game like this that I could relate to. By keeping Sam’s sexuality secret an audience that desperately needs this kind of game – to give them courage in lieu of real-world support structures – might never know it exists. One thing I mention in my review is how I never had the courage to talk about what I was going through with my older brother like Sam is able to with Katie. We grew distant, but now after playing we’re finally having conversations that are 10 years late. If knowing that there is a gay character can help prevent that kind of sibling lapse in others, then I’m happy to consider it a back-of-the-box feature/selling point rather than a spoiler.
I can understand that and even wish that certain details might have been handled differently so it wouldn’t come into conflict with the genre Fullbright was trying to be apart of. In a way it’s the same dichotomy that other critics, I’m think of Ben Abraham and Brendan Keogh specifically, have noted about the differences in understanding between gamers and non-gamers.
To gamers the atmosphere and gaming tropes are on full display for this to be a horror title. While to non-gamers these tropes don’t register and Gone Home’s more mundane aspects take hold. Neither reading is incorrect, nor is one group missing out on part of the experience by either seeing the tropes and not seeing them. It’s this same dichotomy that I think one could see the difference in approach to review.
On the one hand is the gamer used to how games deal with certain elements – hidden passages, dark cellars, jump scares – and respond accordingly, which emphasis certain elements of the game, namely the experience of a young woman in a strange house under these circumstances. Which in turn heightens the worry for her family and the question of where they have gone. Which is ultimately undermine, which allows for a greater sense of relief.
On the other hand is the non-gamer who does not read these tropes for they have not grown alongside them. They see the question of where everybody is as an important, but ultimately a rational, mundane affair. They take the quirks of the house at face value and in a sense are ahead of the game to the non-gamer. Questions of supernatural or harsh twist to their fates don’t enter their minds. In that sense it upfront becomes a young adult story centrally focused on this family and the undermining of expectations need not take place.
In the latter’s case I can see that particular element not being a spoiler as the mystery takes a backseat and any of the element quietly switch into a different genre. So in a manner of speaking, one could say it is a matter of the review’s audience.
And I think that would go doubly in your personal hypothetical case where this game existed back then. I’d still recommend someone go in knowing as little as possible. They mystery is for us more so than it is for Kate. But it is tellingly advantageous in the other direction as well.
You’re quite right, Scott. Sam’s queerness shouldn’t be considered a spoiler, because knowing it doesn’t spoil any other element of the game. It’s a framing element—no different than knowing that she’s your sister.
The two things I’ve spoiled openly about Gone Home have been that it’s a coming out story and nobody dies. Because I really don’t want queer people’s experience of the game to be worried if it’s going to devolve into a tragic cliche.
Could not agree more, Sam’s (or anyone’s) sexuality can be a surprise for Katie, sure, but not a bonus secret for the player to unlock. That way tokenisation and fetishisation lies. W/r/t deaths, I’m less sure. For me, a major part of the emotional roller-coaster of the last part of the game was the various hints implying a potential tragic end, and it would have lost a lot of that impact if I’d known in advance, although I did show it to a friend who needed to know that there wouldn’t be a sucide for trigger reasons.
I’m glad you included it, because as you mentioned there still exists negative opinions of homosexuality in our society. By everyone keeping it secret, they dishonestly point players towards a game that the player may have otherwise not wished to play or support (monetarily).
Making it known doesn’t ruin the story or the quality of the game, it merely allows players to make more informed decisions about what they wish to play. I can only imagine how many opponents of homosexuality would resent being “tricked” into buying the game through that absence, and would as a result become even more opposed to changing their minds.
think you nailed it. the queerdom is seen as a “special” kind of secret because, well, teenaged lesbians are supposed to be secret or something? and gayness is obviously a binary and a complete thought in and of itself–the information is “this character is gay,” not anything more intricate, no matter how intricate the complete story may be. the faggotry will stand out in the mind of the audience as being the point, rather than the scenario it’s involved with. calling Sam’s sexuality a spoiler is missing the point that it’s just the frame for her story.
and if people had told me this was a coming out story when the game’d first been released, I would’ve bought in months ago.
I’m trans as well. It would be nice if they made another game but with a trans protagonist. Not as a sequel or even the same genre, but a thing on its own. Something different, but still nostalgic. Haters can deal with it, they wouldn’t be the target audience anyway.