Teenagers Are Rediscovering an Old Game About Authoritarianism

Grand Theft Auto V also came out in 2013. Minecraft is from 2009. CS GO is from 2012 but is very alike the original from 2000. All of those are still some of the biggest games today I believe.

It sold almost 2 million copies and won numerous awards...

This seems to be common, and is crazy. It’s perfect for high schoolers.

My kid had to campaign to get it added back to his school curriculum.

"Old" could be some 1993 game in 2001. But today games didn' t make a radical change as they did from Doom and Ultima VII to Max Payne and GTA3.

Lots of people speak as if the game is somehow "realistic" about living in authoritarian states. But it's a complete mishmash of totalitarian tropes.

Most obviously, you are a border official being oppressive to people who want to come into your country. To work, mostly.

Generally speaking, people do not strive to get into authoritarian countries to work. This was certainly not a common problem east bloc countries in Europe (whose aesthetic Papers, Please otherwise obviously tries to channel). True, some were a bit freer and richer than others, but then you, as a citizen of the less free countries, probably couldn't just go work there on your own initiative. Planned economies generally don't let you!

Speaking of that, that's another jarring thing: you, a government official in a role vulnerable to corruption and worse, got it on short notice via a lottery. That sounds... implausible. On one hand, it's very command economy, with the state just commanding you out like a soldier. But giving out trusted, powerful positions in a lottery is decidedly un-command economy, and even un-authoritarian of any sort. You have power over people's lives in "Papers, Please", that's the game's point. But in an authoritarian state, that sort of power is jealously guarded!

And then there's the part about keeping your family from starving, freezing or dying from lack of healthcare, by your 100% performance pay wages. That is decidedly not very command economy. What kind of weird country is this??

The human drama also feels rather misplaced sometimes. There's an early storyline about a pimp and human trafficking. Sex trafficking is another of those things that, if it is a problem in the sort of country that has internal passports, feels like it would take very different forms than flashy private pimps and victims appealing to the border guard for help.

So in short, it's a mishmash of oppressive tropes. If Lucas Pope had wanted to make profound commentary on totalitarian states, he would probably have been a lot more bothered about these inconsistencies. So I'm assuming that wasn't his goal. Which is fine. It IS a great game, mechanically and mood wise.

https://archive.org/details/msdos_Hidden_Agenda_1988

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papers,_Please