Who's in Charge? - Power Dynamics in Papers Please!

I was really interested and intrigued by the ways in which Papers, Please! commented on and explored the relationship between the state, the individual, and the nature of power dynamics. To talk about the ways in which I believe the game commented on the complex ways power manifests itself within the individual and state sponsored systems and institutions, I want to talk about how the game explored the concept of immigration through the “lens” of an immigration officer. Specifically though, I want to talk about the daily bulletins received by the player at the start of the each day, and how it is that the game uses these bulletins to make commentary.

Now, as we discussed in class, the gameplay of Papers, Please! is simple but incredibly complex at the same time: the player works as an immigration officer at a checkpoint, and per instructions of the state, one lets people into the country or denies their visa. As the officer stationed at the checkpoint, the ultimate decision to let the immigrants in rests in the player’s hands, and the outcome of the story in a way, rests on the manner in which the player conducts business in the game.

Now I don’t want to get too much into the story line of the game or such, but rather, I’d like to go ahead and hone in on these daily bulletins, and the manner in which power is commented on and manifested throughout the game. Like I said before, the player’s tasks depend on the instructions that the state gives, and the player is ultimately confined and forced to abide by whatever the state mandates, if one wishes to keep their family and self alive. Yet at the same time though, power is conceded and given to the player, by giving them control of what happens at the individual checkpoint. What decisions are actually taken, are ultimately left to the individual. So my question is this: who are you (immigration officer) working for? The state, or yourself? I ask this because I think it’s interesting that the game instills a dilemma over ethics and a sense of discomfort within the player in carrying about the required tasks, and sort of sets them up think that that they’re working for themselves and their family. Yet ultimately, as the game play gets more and more complex, the game sort of demands the player to want to get better at operating within this bureaucracy, which in turn means working for the betterment of the system/state.

That is why I find these daily bulletins so interesting- while the player may think that they are ultimately working for themselves specifically, these bulletins’ comments are a reflection of the ways in which the player handles/operates the border, which in turn impact the degree of rigor in which immigrants are inspected at the border. That is to say: the player is working for no one but the state- No matter how shitty or great of a job one does, the system will ultimately go out of its way to uphold the structures that keep it in place.