Inside is a 2D puzzle jump-'n'-run game. The plot begins without a back story. A young boy slides down a cliff and finds himself alone in a dark forest. From there he encounters numerous threats, for example he is chased by humans, vehicles and dogs. The protagonist is more or less defenceless and must therefore hide or run away. As the game progresses, the environment changes. It becomes more industrial and remains spooky. There are only a few colour accents and also the soundscape seems threatening and, depending on the intensity, integrates physical and emotional states of the protagonist. The game world is full of obstacles that have to be overcome by solving puzzles. The boy's abilities are limited to grabbing, jumping, sneaking, running, swimming and climbing. At his disposal are elements incorporated into the world, such as boxes, switches, a submarine or animals. Other people can also be instrumentalised for his purposes. This is done by means of a thought helmet through which the boy can control others in order to progress in the game.

Other people are, on the one hand, overseers who betray the boy to others or seek to destroy him and, on the other hand, will-less, collapsed creatures who are subject to an unknown authority. This is shown by lorries in which they are taken away as well as rows of people in which they stand or walk in step. There are also frequent camera installations in the background that monitor the people, so that overall a dystopian and totalitarian society is depicted. As soon as the boy stands out, he is moved back to a nearby point from where he can start again.

The research interest in Inside is in the area of the transmission of values and norms. The aim is to investigate whether the player relates the prevailing regime to the boy's fear during the game and how the attitude towards the themes of power, violence and community changes. The focus is on the boy's survival, which is only possible through escape, adaptation and various hiding places. During the play, the boy's dissociation from his outside world and life in it becomes increasingly clear. The story takes place in a world full of oppression, forced adaptation and complete rejection of differentiation, so that the individual threatens to disappear. We are working on a research design in which subjects are encouraged to reflect on these themes. We are investigating which game scenes evoke which associations and which preconditions on the part of the test persons (e.g. previous knowledge, game experience, personality, level of education) must be given so that the game interpretation and game reflection can succeed. To this end, we collect standardised data in advance and then have players play the game in order to ask them about their interpretations during and afterwards and to reflect on them. The aim of the data analysis will be to design a lesson plan for ethics lessons.