(con)TEXT
Chris Meade Memorial Prize (Main Prize) 2022, available on itch.io, serious game
(con)TEXT is a text-based Twine game that uses a point-and-click mechanism to progress through the game, and unveil a narrative of religious decontextulisation. "(con)TEXT looks at a small piece of text, modelled after a headline, and examines some of the many contexts that it is steeped in." (Kausar 1) This implores the reader to fact-check what we are exposed to instead of unwittingly consuming and internalising hate against a group of peoples. Underpinned by stigmatisation of Islam, this game explores the decontextualisation of this religion, especially through social media. It describes how what we are exposed to is "taken out of historical, political, social, economic and cultural context to paint Muslims in a certain undesirable light" (Kausar 1). In this sense, it is a game which explores possessing a stigmatised religious identity.