The thesis statement of the game Papers, Please can be summarized as such: “What should you value more: the lives of the few people you know of the lives of the many you don’t know?” In the game, this statement takes the form of helping certain people at a country’s border checkpoint, even at the cost of the money you can use to help your family live a more comfortable lifestyle. When viewing this question from the hedonistic perspective, which, according to Andrew Alwood, involves any pleasure that is “enjoyed in a tranquil state with no pain or distress,” the best course of action would be to do whatever it takes to ensure yourself and your family can live comfortably, not having to worry about getting sick or freezing to death. This, however, does not consider any uncomfortableness the player character may feel having to separate families or let in criminals for fear of getting punished for their actions, though hedonism does tend to focus more on physical pleasure, such as one’s comfortability, rather than attitudinal pleasure (Schrier, Hedonism). …show more content…
This leads to consequences later, as your neighbors will report you for having so much money, which leads to a possible ending where you are detained for your crimes; however, this is still fine from the hedonistic point of view, as it focuses more on great short-term satisfaction with little-to-no regard for the consequences. When viewing the question from the utilitarian perspective, which Russ Shafer-Landau characterizes as the idea that “well-being is the only thing that is intrinsically valuable,” the best course of action that one could take while playing Papers, Please is to take into account the plight of those who wait at the border before making a decision