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[Update] iPad Version Of Papers, Please Will Get Back 'Controversial' Content
Update: Papers, Please developer Lucas Pope has stated via Twitter that he will be adding nudity back into the iOS version of the game next week.
Pope revealed the information in the following tweet:
I'll make an update to restore the nudity over the weekend (default to off) and it should be available next week.
— Lucas Pope (@dukope) December 12, 2014
There's no indication if Pope received clearance from Apple to patch the content back into the game, but making it optional and censored by default should hopefully be enough to settle the matter. This news is clearly a win for indie fans who want to experience the game as its author intended and are mature enough to handle a little pixelated nudity.
Original Story:
Lucas Pope, sole developer of Papers, Please, has announced that his game will debut on the iPad after undergoing some changes to align with the App Store's content restrictions.
Pope tweeted the announcement, adding that the game had faced opposition from the App Store for containing depictions of nude emigrants through a full-body scanner at the in-game border checkpoint, with the distributor considering the depictions "pornographic content." After removing the full-nudity option, Pope stated that the game has been cleared for release on iPad and claims that he may appeal the ruling at a later date. Polygon reports that the game will be available for $7.99 with a limited-time launch discount of $5.99.
Papers, Please is an award-winning simulator that tasks players with guarding the border of a fictional country implied to be under totalitarian rule. The game's simple and tedious repetition intentionally set the stage for an emotional undercurrent – along with controlling the border, players must manage their time and efforts wisely to support their in-game family or risk illness, starvation, and death.
Papers, Please is currently available on PC and will be available on iPad tomorrow, December 12. To find out what Game Informer's Tim Turi thought of the thought-provoking game, read his review of the PC version.
[Sources: Lucas Pope on Twitter (1), (2), Polygon]
Our Take
Anyone who's actually played Papers, Please knows that the crude depictions of nude caricatures in the game serve no titillating purpose. A core principle of pornography is that it's intended to cause sexual excitement or arousal, and this game's pixelated privates intend to do no such thing. I hope Pope does indeed appeal the App Store's censorship, as his original depictions are a part of the game's emotional pull: the nudity in the game serves to highlight the degrading nature and discomfort of some intimate full-body scanners. Apple should spend their time cracking down on copyright infringement and the shovelware that plagues the App Store instead of suppressing an artistic choice like Pope's.
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