From the dull to the dramatic

Róisín Kiberd on a volatile process that can catch companies off guard

There’s a PC game called Papers, Please that was released in 2013, which immerses the player in a bureaucratic, gently-pixelated hell. You play as an immigration officer, working at border control in an imaginary country, ‘Arstotzka’. A succession of immigrants appear at your window; you must process their documents and decide whether or not to let them in, suffering the consequences if you refuse them, or if you take pity and allow in ...