I wanted to draw people's attention to the brilliant Papers Please by Lucas Pope, arguably the greatest game about data policing every designed. You play as a customs agent in a nameless Soviet country, and you must inhabit the eye of the state as you follow regulations which determine who is allowed in and out of the country. The body and its privacy figure heavily into the gameplay, and a money management minigame incentivizes you to follow regulations to the letter, lest you become unable to feed your family. Pretty basic panopticon stuff, but also reminiscent of the readings which discuss how data can only approach the abstract shading of a personage, their measurable type -- in this game's case: patriot, anarchist, immigrant, agitator.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Papers Please: Exercises in Corporeal Fetishism
I wanted to draw people's attention to the brilliant Papers Please by Lucas Pope, arguably the greatest game about data policing every designed. You play as a customs agent in a nameless Soviet country, and you must inhabit the eye of the state as you follow regulations which determine who is allowed in and out of the country. The body and its privacy figure heavily into the gameplay, and a money management minigame incentivizes you to follow regulations to the letter, lest you become unable to feed your family. Pretty basic panopticon stuff, but also reminiscent of the readings which discuss how data can only approach the abstract shading of a personage, their measurable type -- in this game's case: patriot, anarchist, immigrant, agitator.
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