This process illustrates how individuals can be gravely affected by inconsiderate politics. Travelers who were allowed to enter one day must be denied the next, even if they did nothing wrong. The constantly changing rules seem arbitrary. This increases the pressure on the player to check every detail in a short amount of time, as well as on the travelers to stay informed and meet all the requirements prescribed by the government. As the game progresses, more and more papers are required for entry into Arstotzka: from a simple passport to an entry ticket, to a more detailed entry permit, to special case documents like work passes and diplomat authorizations. The very first thing that the user sees and interacts with on any given day are the regulations posted in the rulebook, which is updated almost every morning. The following will detail the procedures that occur on any of the 31 typical days in the game.
Suspicious individuals are fingerprinted, cross-examined, and detained if they put up a fight. Other countries such as Impor and United Federation are singled out during gameplay as well.
Those coming from the neighboring country Kolechia are segregated and searched for weapons and contraband, in fear of a terrorist attack. Foreigners who wish to enter for work, or those who wish to immigrate into Arstotzka, must have the proper forms alongside their passports and supplement identification. Slowly, foreigners are permitted entry, but they are heavily assessed on the basis of their documentation, originating city, appearance, and presumed gender. Papers, Please begins with the user being appointed to run the newly opened checkpoint, and is only allowed to let Arstotzkans through. Papers, Please, a game developed by Lucas Pope, presents a procedural rhetoric about the limitations and restrictions on living standards of the working class in a totalitarian government, which, in this case, is represented by the imaginary country of Arstotzka. Implementing procedural rhetoric within games is important to discuss due to the fact that “videogames are often interactive require user action to complete their procedural representations” (Bogost, 45). Together, they make procedural rhetoric, which is “the practice of authoring arguments through processes” (Bogost, 29). Rhetoric can be defined as “the art of persuasion” (Bogost,15). Apple rejected that build for containing "pornographic content.In Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames, Ian Bogost defines procedures as what structures behaviour and how things work in terms of the operation of systems (Bogost, 3).
The iPad version has no full nudity option for the search scanner photos. The purpose of the scanner is to discover whether suspicious NPCs are carrying illegal items, and using it produces a relatively abstract 2D image of a naked human body - for reference, see the main image for this article.Īccording to Lucas Pope, the game's creator, Apple considered this content inappropriate for the App Store, on the grounds that it could be considered "pornographic." However, the iPad version ran aground on Apple's notoriously fickle content standards, specifically due to a "search scanner" that the player can use within the game.
The 'right' decision is rarely obvious, and the unforeseeable, often severe consequences for those passing the border make Papers Please one of the more thoughtful games of recent years. Almost all of its mechanics and systems relate to checking the credentials and histories of the people attempting to enter or leave the country. In the game, the player takes the role of an immigration officer on the border of a country in the grip of political and social upheaval. Since then, it has picked up a slew of awards and nominations from august institutions like BAFTA, GDC and this very website.
Papers Please was launched on PC last year, winning fulsome praise for its sincere treatment of difficult subject matter. The iPad version of Lucas Pope's award-winning Papers Please was rejected by Apple on the grounds that it contained content deemed "pornographic" under its guidelines.
Pope said he is working on an update to re-implement the game's nudity as the default setting, and should have it released in the next week. : Lucas Pope has since tweeted that Apple told him the original Papers Please rejection was a misunderstanding, and encouraged him to resubmit the game with the nudity option restored.