Impostor Syndrome

The author of this game has specifically said that they did not intend this work to be a popular game, but that it was intended to provoke thought and discussion, and to be seen by many people.

This work is mostly lielnear, with a sequence of side comment links and a single story progress link at the bottom.l, until the end when you get some binary choices.

The piece is about imposter syndrome, the feeling that you are not competent at what you do, especially in the context of women, trans individuals, and other minorities.

As a description of imposter syndrome, it excels. As a mindless diversion, it is only mildly successful, but that was never it's goal.

I enjoyed this--the writing is good, the points it makes are done well--but I was a bit leery about it when I first read the brief. I thought this might be an attack on minorities entering the tech world from the brief, and was glad it was not.

It does not feel particularly game-like--there aren't recognizable challenges nor are there puzzles--but it is well-written and engaging. Perhaps one of my favorite of the non-choice/non-puzzle entries in ifcomp 2013.

In some way interesting as case study of Anna Anthropys manifesto "Rise of the Videogame Zinesters".