Moral Issues In Arstotzka's Papers, Please

Papers, Please is a game that addresses significant issues of border control and immigration. These issues are demonstrated as challenges in the game and allows the player to think about the consequences of their actions as they live day to day as a border control inspector for Arstotzka. The player is given limited choices that are immediate and emotionally charged, and these choices contribute to the patterns of moral dilemmas that complicate the entire game, and opens their eyes to bigger issues involving immigration. Either the player’s own life will become difficult to manage and affect both the player and their family, or the immigrant’s life will. Sometimes, these difficult choices even become a matter of life and death. How one handles
The man is respectful and delighted to enter the country, and luckily for him, he has all of the right documentation to enter the country. As the player gives back the passport to the man, he then mentions that his wife is behind him and pleads to let her through. The wife appears afterwards, and unfortunately, does not have all of the documents to legally enter the country. She also mentions to the player that if she were to go back to her country, she will most likely be killed. The player is then presented with a moral dilemma, and must make a decision at that exact moment. If the player lets her in, he or she will receive a citation and could possibly affect the amount of money they could bring back to their family. This money determines the health of the entire family; food, rent, medicine, etc. are used to provide for the player and their family as they barely scrape through poverty. The player also risks letting in a terrorist and risking the lives of citizens as well as getting in trouble with the law and being thrown in jail. However, the player will also feel content for letting the wife in and keeping a family together, as well as maybe even saving her life and keeping them safe. If the player does not let her through, the exact opposite happens. The player receives personal gain but will most likely feel guilt for sending a woman possibly to her
Perhaps one player decides that after playing the game, border control must be more strict and strenuous in letting foreigners in. Based on the moral choices they made, one could have possibly encountered many terrorist attacks and decide it is best to protect the citizens inside the country. On the other hand, another player could decide that after playing Papers Please, border control should take in account personal situations that immigrants face – poverty, persecution, illness, tyranny, etc. are some of the reasons why people immigrate. The player could have possibly been more lenient on immigration rules and let some of them in, despite citations and financial loss. After everything the player encounters in the game, they are still an inspector and these moral choices they face are just ways to challenge them. From the player’s perspective, immigrants are just another face that they must deal with in the game in order to reach their goal, but each and every one of them affect the player’s morality. This was a way to show immigrants in a different light and demonstrate that their border control job should not be a way to take advantage of immigrants in order to gain personal wealth, but to also consider the consequences of their choices and to remind the player that immigrants are human beings