what kind of world will your actions create? serpentine's online game makes ethics playable

I DIDNT REALISE YOU THOUGHT LIKE THAT begins with a doorway that functions as a threshold for moral judgment. Players are invited into a charged space where deciding who enters also reveals something about the person making the decision. The work uses the structure of play to bring ethics close at hand, turning a browser window into a small civic chamber where actions carry weight. The project extends THE DELUSION, previously presented as a multiplayer video game that transformed a gallery into a forum for conversations about polarization, censorship, and social connection. Moving to web and mobile, the game reaches players wherever online debate pressures appear, framing participation as self-study through exposed habits and assumptions about justice.

"I DIDNT REALISE YOU THOUGHT LIKE THAT, an online game released by Serpentine, begins with a door, a simple threshold that turns moral judgment into a playable act. Developed by artist and game designer Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, the interactive artwork invites players into a charged space of judgment, where every decision about who enters also reveals something about the person making it."

"The premise carries a dystopian edge, but its force comes from something more intimate. This is a game about how we read one another, how quickly we decide what someone deserves, and how those decisions gather into social conditions. Brathwaite-Shirley uses the structure of play to make ethics feel close at hand, and turn a browser window into a small civic chamber where action has weight."

"The project extends THE DELUSION, Brathwaite-Shirley's multiplayer video game presented at Serpentine North from September 2025 to January 2026. That exhibition transformed the gallery into a forum for difficult conversations around polarization, censorship, and social connection. With I DIDNT REALISE YOU THOUGHT LIKE THAT, the work moves onto web and mobile to reach players wherever they encounter the pressures of online debate."

"Brathwaite-Shirley, a London and Berlin-based Black Trans artist, community archivist, and game designer, has built a practice around active engagement. Their work often asks audiences to do more than observe. It asks them to participate, to decide, to implicate themselves. In this Serpentine game, participation becomes a form of self-study, with each choice exposing the habits and assumptions that shape a player's sense of justice."

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine