a door to public discord
I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND I THOUGHT YOU 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-Shirleythe interactive The artwork invites players into a charged space of judgment, where every decision about who gets in also reveals something about the person making it.
The premise has a dystopian edge, but its power comes from something more familiar. This is a game about how we read each other, how quickly we decide what someone is worth, and how those decisions come together in social circumstances. Brathwaite-Shirley uses the structure of the game to make morality feel close and turn a browser window into a small civic hall where the action carries weight.
I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND YOU THINK THAT, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Serpentine
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s Ethics of Participation
The project expands THE TRUTH, Brathwaite-ShirleyThe multiplayer video game is featured in the Serpentine North from September 2025 to January 2026. This exhibition turned the gallery into a forum for difficult conversations around polarization, censorship and social connection. Since YOU DIDN’T GET TO THINK LIKE THAT, the work is moving to web and mobile to reach players wherever they face the pressures of online conversation. Play the online game here!
Brathwaite-Shirley, a Black Trans artist based in London and Berlin, community archivist and game designer, has built a practice around active engagement. Their work often asks the audience to do more than observe. It asks them to participate, to decide, to involve 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.
I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND YOU THINK THAT, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Serpentine
a soft tool in a hard world
The world of YOU DON’T GET WHAT YOU THOUGHT SO is derived from Brathwaite-Shirley’s graphic novel Below the Blue Line, where every negative comment ever written on the internet is brought to life. Factions cling to their own versions of truth and justice, while language once pushed to the fringes of public discourse begins to seep into politics, the media, and common discourse.
This setting may sound bleak, but the game avoids simple despair. Its radical quality lies in the way it asks players to stay uncomfortable. Characters, conspiracy agents and influencers come to the door with their beliefs, asking to be let in. The player’s mission is straightforward: Who enters? Who’s waiting outside? What kind of community begins to form from these decisions?
I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND YOU THINK THAT, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Serpentine
the feed as a pressure system
Alongside these encounters, a real-time feed runs through the game. It draws from the aesthetics of contemporary populist politics in social media, where anger, humor, fear and certainty often arrive in the same visual language. Power sets the pace of work, but it also creates pressure. Players must choose as the tongue continues to move around them.
The game draws on the aesthetic of early 1990s video games with its labyrinthine environments and monsters, while naturally speaking to a generation shaped by streams and comment threads. Its references are familiar enough to feel accessible, yet the structure keeps returning to a deeper question: What happens when every act of judgment becomes part of a designed world?
I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND YOU THINK THAT, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Serpentine
beyond code and wider access
Developed with the Beyond Code Collective and supported by the Glass Castle Foundation, the project also expands the idea of who can create and enter digital culture. Beyond Code works to connect students to technology education and opportunities, a mission that gives this publication an added level of purpose. The game becomes a work of art and a tool for sharing, taking critical thinking to spaces beyond the gallery.
For Serpentine, the launch continues a commitment to art traveling through public platforms. The institution’s relationship with Brathwaite-Shirley moves from research and exhibition to digital, extending the life of the work through access, repetition and sharing. The browser becomes a site for art, but also for civic rehearsals.
I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND YOU THINK THAT, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Serpentine
a living archive for difficult discussion
I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND YOU I THOUGHT SO Imagined as an evolving open source work of art. New characters and conversations will be gathered through workshops, focus groups and community initiatives, allowing the game to grow through engaging with different audiences. This living structure is central to its meaning. The work listens, absorbs and changes.
Brathwaite-Shirley’s archive contains headlines, social media posts, testimonies from black trans and queer communities, conversations with activists and spiritual leaders, and autobiographical notes. These materials give the game its emotional range. Satire and absurd humor approach real evil, while imaginary encounters sharpen questions already present in public life.
