Indie game 'Papers, Please' to return full nudity option after initial rejection from Apple
Apple's app review team caused a small fracas this week when it forced award-winning game "Papers, Please" remove pixelated nudity prior to a debut on iPad. But the company changed course on Friday, suggesting the game's developer resubmit the title with a user-selectable full nudity option.
Papers, Please indie developer Lucas Pope informed fans earlier this week that the game's iOS debut would not contain pixelated nudity, a gameplay element many consider essential to the storyline. Following a backlash from the gaming community at large, it seems Apple has reversed its decision and will allow the feature as part of an app update.
"Just talked to Apple. The initial rejection for porn was a misunderstanding on their part. They suggested I resubmit with the nudity option," Pope said in a tweet on Friday. In a follow-up tweet, the developer said he plans to work on an update to restore nudity over the weekend, which should hit the App Store next week.
Apple's App Store review team initially required Pope to remove all instances of nudity, even though they were non-sexual pixelated illustrations, citing App Store rules prohibiting pornography. Critics of the move noted the element is vital to the game's narrative and would lessen the impact of its socio-political commentary.
In Papers, Please, players take on the role of a border control agent working for a fictional totalitarian country called Arstotzka. Players are tasked with performing banal duties associated with processing immigrants into the country, with each correct admission representing a bit more money for their impoverished family back home. Incorrect decisions can hold dire consequences.
Throughout the course of the game, players face increasingly complex moral decisions, including whether to search immigrants for potential weapons or contraband using full-body scans. Without nudity, the feeling of humiliating and degrading incoming citizens as a state actor is all but lost, gamers said.
Papers, Please debuted in the App Store today at a special introductory price of $5.99. An update to restore nudity is expected next week.
Papers, Please indie developer Lucas Pope informed fans earlier this week that the game's iOS debut would not contain pixelated nudity, a gameplay element many consider essential to the storyline. Following a backlash from the gaming community at large, it seems Apple has reversed its decision and will allow the feature as part of an app update.
"Just talked to Apple. The initial rejection for porn was a misunderstanding on their part. They suggested I resubmit with the nudity option," Pope said in a tweet on Friday. In a follow-up tweet, the developer said he plans to work on an update to restore nudity over the weekend, which should hit the App Store next week.
Apple's App Store review team initially required Pope to remove all instances of nudity, even though they were non-sexual pixelated illustrations, citing App Store rules prohibiting pornography. Critics of the move noted the element is vital to the game's narrative and would lessen the impact of its socio-political commentary.
In Papers, Please, players take on the role of a border control agent working for a fictional totalitarian country called Arstotzka. Players are tasked with performing banal duties associated with processing immigrants into the country, with each correct admission representing a bit more money for their impoverished family back home. Incorrect decisions can hold dire consequences.
Throughout the course of the game, players face increasingly complex moral decisions, including whether to search immigrants for potential weapons or contraband using full-body scans. Without nudity, the feeling of humiliating and degrading incoming citizens as a state actor is all but lost, gamers said.
Papers, Please debuted in the App Store today at a special introductory price of $5.99. An update to restore nudity is expected next week.
Comments
I like this game. Presumably, the more immigrants you successfully repel, the better you do. ????
It’s been quite the year at Apple for fiascos, fracas and debacles. Perhaps next year, Apple will enter the eye of the storm, and they will be able to double down on their core.
GLORIOUS ARSTOTSKA! REMOVE KOLECHIANS!
The computer versions let you edit in any graphic you want (new characters, different stamps, etc.); I wonder if iOS games will ever get an extensible “mod” capability.
Like you’d be able to use the “file transfer” system to append them or whatever.
I'm glad to hear that Apple came to their senses on this app approval. It seems like with some extra pushing that they usually do. The nudity in the game is not pornographic and it's definitely relevant to the message that the game contains.
I played this 3 times today and my family keeps dying. The third time, I made it to day 7, not receiving one citation and my family still died and the game ended. I don't get it.
Also, this game could break up the monotony by randomizing the characters.
If there was no potential offence in the 'nudity' scenes, the developer wouldn't have had a no nudity option
If the nudity was core to the game play, the developer wouldn't have had a no nudity option
If anyone is really concerned that the lack of nudity neutralises the message about the degradation of the human at immigration, you're much better served seeing the point directly and complaining about the TSA. Bitching about App Store policy rather than government policy is really missing the whole point that you claim is being lost.
I like this game. Presumably, the more immigrants you successfully repel, the better you do. ????
I've never played this game before, but it sounds like it's right up my alley. Maybe I should check it out.
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And also, I'm glad that Apple relented on their initial prudish and embarrassing stance. We are talking about lo-res pixelated nudity here! Anybody who has any problems with that has mental issues that go far beyond any game.
Jesus, talk about mountains and molehills. This has been over the Internet more than Kim Kardashian's arse, haven't we got better things to worry about, like state sanctioned torture? Two things:
If there was no potential offence in the 'nudity' scenes, the developer wouldn't have had a no nudity option
If the nudity was core to the game play, the developer wouldn't have had a no nudity option
If anyone is really concerned that the lack of nudity neutralises the message about the degradation of the human at immigration, you're much better served seeing the point directly and complaining about the TSA. Bitching about App Store policy rather than government policy is really missing the whole point that you claim is being lost.
Immigrants, as in those of the illegal kind should be degraded.
I also support state sanctioned torture, using techniques such as waterboarding, sleep deprivation, musical torture, reverse sex interrogations and various other logical methods against terrorist lowlifes. Not everybody shares the same concerns that you do. Why would anybody complain to the TSA? What does that have to do with this game?
iOS versions of desktop games should not be censored, that is the important issue at hand here, and I'm glad that Apple has shown some common sense in this particular case.
For those in the dark: our Labour government had deliberately let immigration run wild for many years, and, finally, someone is standing up to it and proposing to control it.
Leaving the EU will be the next step.
Immigration has become a hot potato across the pond here in Great Britain, and I'm delighted to say that Nigel Farage slaughtered the cretinous Russell Brand yesterday in Question Time over that issue.
For those in the dark: our Labour government had deliberately let immigration run wild for many years, and, finally, someone is standing up to it and proposing to control it.
Leaving the EU will be the next step.
I've seen a few youtube videos of Nigel Farage before, and he is certainly a much smarter and wiser person that that vile and ignorant person who goes by the name of Russell Brand.
Leaving the EU sounds like a smart idea too. The problem was out of control even more than a decade ago, when I first began looking into the issue.
I like this game. Presumably, the more immigrants you successfully repel, the better you do. ????
It’s been quite the year at Apple for fiascos, fracas and debacles. Perhaps next year, Apple will enter the eye of the storm, and they will be able to double down on their core.
No, the more mistakes and forgery you catch the better, the only way to get more money is process more people through your station. The more you do however means you are going faster and more prone to make mistakes. It sounds horrendously boring as far as mechanics go, you're basically doing paperwork and who like that?, but the tension is very real and it becomes incredibly stressful the farther you get. The game is incredible.
GLORIOUS ARSTOTSKA! REMOVE KOLECHIANS!
The computer versions let you edit in any graphic you want (new characters, different stamps, etc.); I wonder if iOS games will ever get an extensible “mod” capability.
Like you’d be able to use the “file transfer” system to append them or whatever.
Never going to happen. Apple is very set in "our way or the highway" when it comes to iOS and the only way something like that would ever come close to happening is in app purchases. Which probably won't happen either.
Immigrants, as in those of the illegal kind should be degraded.
I don't really see the fuss about this, our government degrades and humiliates people any time they want to travel. Why would anyone protest this any louder than that?
I also support state sanctioned torture, using techniques such as waterboarding, sleep deprivation, musical torture, reverse sex interrogations and various other logical methods against terrorist lowlifes. Not everybody shares the same concerns that you do. Why would anybody complain to the TSA? What does that have to do with this game?
If that is posted in jest then I apologize for the following. If you do actually support all of those things then you can't possible support anything following this statement. All of those things have been proven throughout human history to never work. Not at all.
Torture works.
I've known that since I was a little boy.
If that is posted in jest then I apologize for the following. If you do actually support all of those things then you can't possible support anything following this statement. All of those things have been proven throughout human history to never work. Not at all.
I don't buy into the liberal myth that torture or harsh interrogation techniques are always unsuccessful.
I favor harsh interrogation techniques (some liberals like to call it torture) against terrorists, when necessary.
Congratulations on the waterboarding and sleep deprivation of prisoners!
You agree with Comrade Stalin!
What's that crazy civil liberties stuff all about, anyway?
After all, very few people got into East Germany! Many of them were killed while attempting to cross!
It is torture. We defined it that way in an International Treaty, which was passed by the US Senate and signed by President Reagan. Yes. Reagan.
Guess he wasn't conservative enough for you.
I like this game. Presumably, the more immigrants you successfully repel, the better you do. ????
It’s been quite the year at Apple for fiascos, fracas and debacles. Perhaps next year, Apple will enter the eye of the storm, and they will be able to double down on their core.
It's also been quite the year for frothing-at-the-mouth, vile trolls like you, who have taken every opportunity possible to categorize everything as a "fiasco" or a "debacle", no matter how unsubstantiated, ridiculous, inaccurate, or downright idiotic the claims were. Falling over yourself to fan the flames, spam the comments with fake outrage, and demanding heads-regardless of the context- and always assuming Apple is the one at fault. For you, all it takes is a few whiners on twitter to define a "fiasco", and the very thought of which makes you orgasm. Case in point, how anyone can categorize this particular story as such. The fact that people were upset about not being able to view pixelized nudes in the first place -as if that had any negative effect on gameplay- is pretty pitiful in itself.
So yeah, it's been quite the year for bullshit, fake fiascos. But in terms of real metrics and success, it's been an even more incredible, record-smashing year for Apple. No thanks to liars like you, who have vilified literally every move they have made, and every product they have released.
You haven't used any Google service "for years", you despise Microsoft, and you've vilified almost everything about Apple. You must have quite the mountain of accomplishments, to view all these companies in such contempt and mockery, and have such lofty standards. We all look forward to hearing about these incredible accomplishments, that puts the combined work of Apple, Google, and Microsoft to shame.
I don't buy into the liberal myth that torture or harsh interrogation techniques are always unsuccessful.
I favor harsh interrogation techniques (some liberals like to call it torture) against terrorists, when necessary.
You don't have to buy any fucking liberal "myth", as you define it. The CIA themselves admitted that they didn't work, in incredible detail, and these techniques provided near zilch intelligence. Of course, you won't accept that basic fact, as it goes against your love of torture and world view. You would favor it no matter what, regardless of any kind of effectiveness. Because that's the kind of person you are, wishing death and suffering to minorities, arabs, muslims, mexicans, liberals, gays, and anyone even slightly different from you.
You don't have to buy any fucking liberal "myth", as you define it. The CIA themselves admitted that they didn't work, in incredible detail, and these techniques provided near zilch intelligence. Of course, you won't accept that basic fact, as it goes against your love of torture and world view. You would favor it no matter what, regardless of any kind of effectiveness. Because that's the kind of vile person you are, wishing death and suffering to minorities, arabs, muslims, mexicans, liberals, gays, and anyone even slightly different from you.
The CIA admitted no such thing. You are ignorant.
The interrogation program did produce useful results, Brennan said, including information leading to the raid that killed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/12/11/cia-director-brennan-torture-defense/20245991/