Johan Huizinga opens his essay Nature and Significance of Play as a Cultural Phenomenon by saying “[Play] is a significant function… there is some sense to it,” (Huizinga, 97). In saying this, he is establishing that play is not purely instinctive, nor is it an activity of paramount biological import. This principle can be seen throughout the game Papers, Please, which is an exhaustingly mindless simulator in which you play as an immigration inspector in the fictional country of Arstotzka. Each day in-game, you must check passports and ID cards and work passes and ensure that everything across all the documents matches up correctly. Additionally, each night you must balance your expenses and make sure you budget enough for your family to survive. This game is clearly not instinctive- we need some higher order drive in order to want to play it, but there is also something cathartic about going to your fictional job and taking care of your digital family. Mistakes have consequences (your pay could get docked, your family members may go hungry), but you are allowed to make mistakes here- it’s only a game. Additionally, as the pile of documents you must sift through adds up, each discrepancy you find or valid passport you accept comes with a rush of accomplishment.
Later in his essay, Huizinga defines play as “the direct opposite of seriousness,” (Huizinga, 101). At first glance, this definition may seem incongruous with Papers, Please as your digital son is cold, sick, and hungry, and you witness a series of terrorist attacks from your desk. But these events are actually “the direct opposite of seriousness,” as you are able to see them from the safety of your computer screen instead of being forced to confront them in your day-to-day life.
Huizinga also identifies an important aspect of play as “its limitedness,” or the fact that periods of play have a definite end. At any time, the player can exit Papers, Please and go back to their regular obligations. The game saves at the beginning of each day and, as each day is relatively short, there is no real consequence to ending the game at any time. If any progress is lost, it won’t be much. Papers, Please provides you with temporary escapism, and you get to decide when it’s over.
Huizinga, Johan. “Nature and Significance of Play as a Cultural Phenomenon.” The Game Design Reader: a Rules of Play Anthology, by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, MIT Press, 2009, pp. 96–120.
Play Journal 