I accept this criticism. I misspoke slightly when I said fun. Entertaining is closer. A game should know what it wants to invoke in the player, and the entire game should be built around that.

In a game like Paper's Please, your moment to moment gameplay might not be fun, but the tedium is deliberate and a part of the experience.

Cutting down trees for a half an hour straight so that you can later be creative and decorate your house, much less so.