Instead, they are mustering new processes – for example, a process for promoting repeat business, or for preventing a commotion – and seamlessly blending them with the procedure for product returns” (Bogost, 6). Thus, many Imporians are kept from meeting family members or from working in Arstotzka, although they have all the required documents.Īs Bogost points out in Persuasive Games, more than one procedure can be applied in various situations: “When the human clerks and supervisors in the retail store agree to forgo their written policy, they are not really ‘breaking procedure’. At one point in the game, for example, the fictitious country Impor introduces trade sanctions against Arstotzka, to which the Arstotzkan government reacts by denying the entry of all Impor citizens. 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). 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).

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