Family Picture
1 2026-10-06T19:53:03+00:00 Jessica Barnard 79ae706aa49d80151739c4bab3ccba0d05fbcebe 271 1 “Gone Home” and the Embedded Narrative: How the It Plays to the Horror Genre’s Strengths plain 2026-10-06T19:53:03+00:00 Jessica Barnard 79ae706aa49d80151739c4bab3ccba0d05fbcebeThis page is referenced by:
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Collaborative excercise in building arguments
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Some games offer "a vision of empathy that is not about appropriating or instrumentalizing the feelings of others. It is also not about learning or becoming better people. This vision of empathy is about building precarious yet vital connections between points by following indirect paths constructed using one’s own body. It is about queer entanglements, a network of individuals connected by a series of knotted paths that is not straight and cannot be straightened." (Ruberg 67)
Ruberg states that some games, like Unravel, induce a sense of empathy that uses complex, interpersonal relationships rather than the typical straightforward methods (67). In Gone Home, players go through the house and explore the surroundings to unfold the story of Sam's identity. This is a brilliant example of evoking empathy through interpersonal relationships, because we embody Sam's sister, who is already feeling abandoned and is yet to discover Sam's loneliness, and uncover the narrative of the marginalized identity.
This image depicts Sam's family and closest interpersonal relationships. The story revolves around untangling the story of Sam and her family to understand Sam's decision to run away. In the image, Sam is in an informal flannel shirt that contrasts the way her family is dressed. This is a representation of Sam's isolation and feelings of loneliness.
This passage illustrates Ruberg's statement on empathy through connections between indirect paths by elaborating on the method of inducing empathy via interpersonal relationships.