Der Spieler is a 8-minute short film that explores the fate of a video game character who has been granted consciousness.
After an existence under constant external control, the protagonist begins to test the boundaries of his world.
The film is told entirely through screencaptures from different existing video games, transforming the “player” into not just one entity, but any playable character.
Endless freedom is suggested to the player, yet the protagonist himself escapes into video games to feel that he does not have to submit to outside constraints.
Ultimately, he discovers freedom in passivity.
Echoing Bartleby in Herman Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener, his stance becomes: “I’d prefer not to.”
Neither accepting nor refusing, he chooses to step away from the game altogether.
After an existence under constant external control, the protagonist begins to test the boundaries of his world.
The film is told entirely through screencaptures from different existing video games, transforming the “player” into not just one entity, but any playable character.
Endless freedom is suggested to the player, yet the protagonist himself escapes into video games to feel that he does not have to submit to outside constraints.
Ultimately, he discovers freedom in passivity.
Echoing Bartleby in Herman Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener, his stance becomes: “I’d prefer not to.”
Neither accepting nor refusing, he chooses to step away from the game altogether.
