The following contains spoilers for Alice in Borderland, now streaming on Netflix.
It's no surprise to say that being a player in Alice in Borderland absolutely sucks. Players get subjected to sadistic games where their survival is dependent on the number of games that they clear as well as the type of game. These games push them to their emotional and physical limits; they have to watch their friends and allies die and often are forced to kill other players to survive. Anyone who plays these games would never come out the same person.
Despite all of that, being a player isn't the worst thing a person could be. Being a dealer, someone who sets up the games and watches them play out behind-the-scenes, might just be a worse fate.
Alice In Borderland's Dealers Sacrifice Their Humanity
Dealers are chosen when they first enter the Borderland and are led to a secret hideaway where an elaborate set-up of monitors and desks is laid out. It's unclear whether they're chosen randomly or strategically. Their job is to set up the games, watch players go through them and clean up the bodies after. Fundamentally, dealers and players aren't so different from each other: their survival depends on how long their visa lasts. What makes them different is that they kill players through their game set-up and their survival is dependent on the number of players who die. The higher the death count, the longer the dealers live. If the players clear the game, it essentially means death for the dealers.
The dealers watch the players on the screen, sequestered in another room. For seasoned dealers who have been there for a long time, they don't even see the players as human beings anymore. They're numbers, days that get added to their visas to prolong their survival. They cheer when they see players die or get injured; they curse when the players successfully clear the game.
It's part of the reason why Momoka volunteers to be the witch in the Witch Hunt. She has seen first-hand how the games turn everyone into mindless killing machines, and she's afraid she'll end up being the same. She wants to believe that there is still hope, that someone who break the vicious cycle of dealer versus player. The games are cruelly designed to reveal the worst parts of humanity in both the players and the dealers.
Dealers In Alice In Borderland Have No Control
Because the dealers can't control who lives or dies, they just watch the games unfold and pray they'll be "lucky" enough to live for a few more days. They're literally placing their lives in the hands of others, waiting for either salvation or doom. It can't be denied that there is an imbalance of power between the players and dealers, but it's an illusion: the dealers never had power in the first place because they never had a say in when they lived or died.
Although the players don't know anything, they at least have some measure of control over their lives. It's terrifying, of course, to know that one wrong decision could lead to their deaths, but at least they know that they lived and died free. Most of the games are designed to give a fighting chance for the players if they're smart enough to look for it, but they are not designed with the dealers in mind.
Dealers Get No Second Chances In Alice In Borderland
If the players complete the set of number cards, they're given the opportunity to go on to the next stage which is the face-card games--in other words, going up against the citizens of the Borderland. If the players manage to clear those, then there's a chance that they can go back to the original world. While the games are infinitely more difficult, given the fact that the citizens have been there much longer and the games harder to clear, the players at least have a chance to live.
However, dealers don't get a second chance. If the players find all the playing cards, it's game over for the dealers, and they're all killed, regardless of how many days they have left on their visas. What's more, if they were to ever reveal to anyone other than their fellow dealers, who they are, they would be shot with a laser. Their every move is being monitored by those higher up in the chain of command--most likely the citizens.
Similar to the rumor that a player can go back to the original world if they find all the playing cards, there's a rumor among dealers that if they can kill 100 players, they can also return to the original world. Whether it's true or not doesn't matter -- it's all false hope. That's why the dealers don't want any of the players to survive: Their survival not only means that their visa doesn't get extended, it also means their odds of survival at all dwindle every day. A dealer trades in their humanity in the hopes of living for a few more days. Unfortunately, their days were already numbered with no way to stop it.
Alice In Borderlands Seasons 1 and 2 are currently available to stream on Netflix.