VIDEO: Player Two is a touching tribute to a father and son’s love for racing games – prepare the tissue box

On May 22, 2014, the PBS Game/Show YouTube page uploaded a video titled “Can Video Games Be A Spiritual Experience?” Among the flurry of comments posted, one stood out from the rest, which undoubtedly tugged on the heartstrings of many. So much so that Vimeo user John Wikstrøm created a short film about it. Prepare your tissues.

The story here involves a son, and his love for playing video games together with his father on a Microsoft Xbox since the age of four. One of the games that they played was 2002’s RalliSport Challenge. However, tragedy struck when the son’s father passed away while he was just six years of age.

The passing resulted in the son being unable to bring himself to play the game for many years. However, he finally did bring out the old Xbox and powered it up, where he discovered a ghost in the game, literally and figuratively. In the game, his father’s ghost car is lapping the track, re-enacting the very last lap time his dad set in the game before his death. What happens next, you’ll have to watch the video.

Should you visit the video page, you’ll still be able to find the comment posted by 00WARTHERAPY00. His exact, unedited words are as follows:

Well, when i was 4, my dad bought a trusty XBox. you know, the first, ruggedy, blocky one from 2001. we had tons and tons and tons of fun playing all kinds of games together – until he died, when i was just 6.
i couldnt touch that console for 10 years.
but once i did, i noticed something.
we used to play a racing game, Rally Sports Challenge. actually pretty awesome for the time it came.
and once i started meddling around… i found a GHOST.
literaly.
you know, when a time race happens, that the fastest lap so far gets recorded as a ghost driver? yep, you guessed it – his ghost still rolls around the track today.
and so i played and played, and played, untill i was almost able to beat the ghost. until one day i got ahead of it, i surpassed it, and…~
i stopped right in front of the finish line, just to ensure i wouldnt delete it.
Bliss.

Those 166 words do tell a very touching story, where a son manages to reconnect with his deceased father in a meaningful way – their love for video games – after all these years. We do say that the short film manages to capture that exquisitely, don’t you think?

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