Gone Home from The Fullbright Company

[juv3nal]

That seems a like a very open apology, far beyond 'here's cash, now my conscience is free!'.

 

I'm half playing devil's advocate here, but I'll be "that guy" and say that the problem is that its very openness can be interpreted (uncharitably, sure) to mean he doesn't really understand what he did wrong.

He says "I realize I was wrong and I’m genuinely sorry." without acknowledging specifically what he was wrong about, why/how he was wrong about it and what he should have done instead.

Maybe he knows all those things, but the statement avoids making that explicit and if he doesn't have answers to those questions, that's not a good recipe for not behaving in a similar way in the future.

[Joewintergreen]

I think it's pretty clear that (as of the time of his post) he doesn't understand what was wrong about what he did, but he does understand that it was wrong and is taking steps to broaden his understanding so that he can be not dumb in the future. I think that is impressive of him considering his track record.

[syntheticgerbil]

I guess the sentence stating the large chunk of cash directly following a very short apology strikes me as insincere. But this is coming off partly of my feelings of their Kickstarter bloat, so take of that what you will. In general though, I feel like using money or gifts to cover up a mistake always comes off as insincere. Kind of in the way that an abusive husband might buy his wife nice jewelry to cover up his transgressions (Yeah I know that's a way extreme example).

 

I might have taken it very differently if he had not stated how much money he gave or spent more time explaining why he was sorry, as the others posted. But as it rests, I guess we'll have a difference of opinion on what Gabe's gesture means.

[Patrick R]

Any apology that only comes after a huge public blowback always comes across as insincere.

 

Also I am excited to play Gone Home.

[melmer]

[Twig]

Gone Gnome?

[miffy495]

Mington is in the UK. Obviously that is "Gone Home" read very quickly and with a slightly slurred British accent. "g'n 'ome".

[melmer]

It's a gone home ghost gnome

The as yet revealed full title of gone home

[Argobot]

Fullbright Company trying to go for that sweet Travelocity money, apparently.

[mikemariano]

You get a sweet achievement if you carry the gnome until the end of the game.  But since a ghost gnome can only be held by a ghost that means...

[Erkki]

a ghost gnome can only be held by a ghost...

I hear people say this all the time, but it just isn't true. I admit I don't know the metaphysics of it well, but on several accounts I have witnessed ghost gnomes being carried by living people.

[Colourful Stuff]

This seems like a good place to put some thoughts I've been having about environmental storytelling. This summer I'm doing some cleaning contracts, the first of which I'm a week into. The job involves working my way through a list of student flats, entering the empty rooms and clearing them of anything left behind by the occupant. Usually this will be a few plastic bags, hair bobbles or a forgotten bar of soap, but once in a while I come across a room that initially looks occupied. The office often make mistakes so I'm mindful to avoid clearing rooms before the occupant has checked out.

I'll talk a little bit about one of today's assignments. The room was in disarray, boxes and clothes strewn across the carpet. I immediately looked to the desk as the presence of a computer is a sure sign that the room is still in use. The desk was clear except for a Hitachi CD player and some Lego. The bed was unmade, sheet and mattress protector gathers in a mouldering mound.

This was an empty room, and empty woman's room, and empty Japanese woman's room, judging by the two care packages emblazoned with a half familiar alphabet. Next to a the boxes of unfamiliar food and beauty products was a bin bag overflowing with issues of The Economist. Already an image was beginning to form of who this person was. Studying at Liverpool Uni while learning English as a foreign language (you would be hard pressed to find a city who's native English speakers have a weaker grasp of the language, the Scouse dialect using "fuckin'" as punctuation.) I liked this person, I would have liked to know this person. Equally I was frustrated by this person's careless disregard for my time, making me carry down three flights of stairs what she didn't want or couldn't afford to ship home.

Then the sickly task of bagging and binning began. Despite my best efforts I can't help but feel like I'm breaking a social contract by throwing away an other person's belongings, and despite my best efforts I can't stop breaking another social contract by taking a voyeuristic pleasure in this process. The style, size and value of every item of clothing mentally logged and added to or subtracted from my photofit absentee.

This time I found a corset and cheap, plastic Ann Summers dress. This completed the picture of a young, liberated woman from a privileged background, separated from her parents for the first time in a strange city. I felt uncomfortable, as I always do after this sort of victimless voyeurism but pleased that I'd found a happy life in the debris of her year.

Then I moved on to the ensuite. On the toilet cistern sat neatly side by side were two pregnancy tests. They were positive. This didn't so much complete the picture as it did wee all over it. My hypothesis was confounded by something horribly intimate. The messy room was not the careless residue of a happy life, it was insignificant when contrasted with the enormity of her predicament.

To bring this back to video games and Gone Home, the idea of environmental storytelling once seemed contrived to me. It seemed like a useful tool to negate exposition and was only possible because of the strange way people we play video games. Poking about like pervey Wombles, picking everything up and looking in every nook and cranny for secrets or clues. What I've realised over the past week is we are all pervy Wombles, video games are just allow us to express our voyeuristic impulses. I've heard people say that they wouldn't start looking in all the draws and picking up all the ornaments in real life, like you do in Gone Home, but I think they might. The impulse to find the stories hidden around us is powerful and I can't wait to indulge that impulse with Gone Home.

[chummer]

My hypothesis was confounded by something horribly intimate. The messy room was not the careless residue of a happy life, it was insignificant when contrasted with the enormity of her predicament.

Then you realized the room you were cleaning was actually your own. #twitterchillers

 

Thanks for sharing that. I enjoyed reading it. As someone who was a janitor for two years, I wish I had a story like that. Most of mine involve getting into yelling matches with homeless people. Or finding homeless people sleeping in the elevator. Or catching teens making out.

[mikemariano]

This is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that.

[Gormongous]

Agreed, the best New Games Journalism I've read all year.

[Professor Video Games]

Fullbright Company trying to go for that sweet Travelocity money, apparently.

 

Get your free Gone Home Travelocity Ghost Gnome with XP Booster when you preorder today!

[melmer]

Preorder bonus pervy womble edition

[dibs]

So, pregnancy test preorder bonus confirmed? Unlike regular pregnancy tests, the preorder test will also detect the prescnce of ghoestrogen in case of a recent encounter with a ghost bone.

Great story, colourful stuff.

[syntheticgerbil]

 I've heard people say that they wouldn't start looking in all the draws and picking up all the ornaments in real life, like you do in Gone Home, but I think they might.

No way, whenever I am bored at someone's home, one thing I like to start doing is looking through their stuff. I mean it's not like extensive ransacking, but I'm sure I'm rather obnoxious.

[osmosisch]

What a great story, Colourful Stuff. Thanks!

[Zeusthecat]

Yeah, that was a really good story.

[Colourful Stuff]

Wow, I didn't expect such a positive reaction. Thanks for reading about my crappy/amazing job.

[Steve]

Just checked back in on this thread-- fascinating story, Colourful Stuff! Thanks for sharing.

[melmer]

I came so close to writing a 'colourful stuff' piss take comment a few days ago, so that gave me a little unintended lol

WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP SAYING THAT

... Just me then

[James]

No, me too.

Colourful story, great stuff!