POV: You're a Teenage Girl in a Conservative Christian Family

I played this game as part of the short games jam.

It's designed to show what life is like when you're part of conservative Christianity. You are given many options, but your options aren't always things you can actually do.

This reminds me a lot of families I knew growing up. I remember one family that banned The Little Mermaid because her outfit was inappropriate. Another family I know banned soda pop and trick-or-treating.

That level of restriction was generally ineffective; the people I knew that were most straight-laced as kids grew up to be the most wild when older.

So the game is very relatable in that sense. It's also pretty brief, which can often be effective in this type of message, but for me, I just didn't feel a big impact. It's completely subjective, someone else might feel very differently.

I was not raised by any kind of Conservative family. Ours was a church-going family, but never pushed it on anyone, including me. But in the same town we had a church that was much more fundamentalist, and without mentioning the denomination, we had a joke: "Why does [religion x] object to sex standing up? Because it could lead to dancing."

So while I have not been raised this way, I know people who were, and I have nothing but heartfelt sympathy for them. The limitations placed on them must make growing into adulthood very very hard.

This is a fairly simple story, but when you play through, you can see the point being driven home almost immediately, and with every choice you click. And even more story is told through your LACK of options, often.

Hard to acknowledge that this may be the life of someone you know or love, and often, you might have no idea.

Take the time and play through. It's not long, and well worth your time.

The piece is fairly short, with a couple of hundred words at most, and it will make you hate yourself (maybe) when you reach the end. Entrenched in the very harsh environment that is religious conservative norms, the game explores what it feels to be denied the little joys of life and exploring your identity.

It is not just a tour-de-force to be able to hit those emotions with so little words, but the way the choices are formatted hits like a ton of brick. As you click and come back to the main page, choices appear and disappear from the list... until there is nothing left. Until you are denied everything.

Strangely, the harsh Harlowe interface and palette adds another layer of bleakness to the situation.