Pac-Man: A Game with Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings
Pac-Man is one of the most well-known and lucrative video and console games ever created. Pac-Man, which was first made available in October 1980, holds the Guinness World Record for being the most popular and well-known coin-operated video game ever created. An estimated 10 billion times have been played it worldwide. While Pac-Man has received a lot of attention in the gaming world as a model for how to design, release, and market a successful game, not much information about the game's philosophical and ideological underpinnings has been made accessible to the public. Understanding these salient aspects of the game will help us grasp the reasons why Pac-Man became such a sensation during its heydays, and continues to hold an almost fanatical appeal to many people around the world.
The Historical and Cultural Background of Pac-Man
Before delving into the philosophical and ideological connotations in Pac-Man, it is essential that we elucidate and contextualize the game by examining its historical, social, cultural, and economic background. Namco, is the Japanese Computer software company which created and launched the game. Masaya Nakamura founded it in 1955. He died earlier this year at the age of 91, having succeeded in creating one of Japans most acclaimed video-game companies.
The Creator and Design of Pac-Man
Toru Iwatani is the video game designer who is credited for creating Pac-Man. He joined Namco in 1977, having had no formal training in computers, graphic designs or visual arts. He taught himself the fundamentals of gaming creation, with many former classmates remembering how he used to fill his textbook with Japanese comic book characters commonly referred to as Manga, which ultimately influenced his video game creation style.
Collaboration and Music in Pac-Man
After immediately after joining Namco, he came up with the idea of creating Pakku-Man, and teamed up with fellow programmers Shigeo Funaki, Toshio Kai, a cabinet designer and a hardware specialist, to fine-tune the game. Toshio Kai is credited for composing the music used in the original Pac-Man. While a game's sound and musical components are an important feature and contribute immensely to the user's experience, very little is known about Toshio. Users through the years have come to appreciate the game's sound, as the lead character gobbles down the dots in the maze.
Toshio Kai's Contributions and Pac-Man's Legacy
Toshio Kai has been credited for creating other games like Pole Position and Libble Ramble, but neither of them achieved the kind of meteoric success that Pac-Man received. In 2007, Toshio modernized the game by creating the Pac-Man Championship edition for the X-box 360 game console, in order to cement the game's future into the 21st Century. In an interview with Mail and Guardian's writer Niall Firth in June 2010, Toshio revealed sketches of his first designs for the game, which shows just how similar the actual designs on paper are to the first electronic version, which was released in 1980. Figure 1 below indicates the Japanese authorities' stamp in red which meant that the designs were top secret at the time, underlying how highly Namco and the government regarded Toshio's intellectual property. At first glance, one is struck by the simplicity of the game's design, and is left wondering just how Pac-Man became such a sensation.
The Design Philosophy of Pac-Man
Perhaps one of the most striking revelations and less-known design inspirations that Toshio had when creating the game was the fact that he had a female audience in mind when developing Pac-Man. At the time, the gaming space was overly dominated by the male gender. The late 70s and 80s was a boom time for arcade gaming. Arcade games are game machines usually located in public spaces like restaurants and malls. Toshio was convinced that he could help change that through his new game. The design team sort to develop a 'cute' character, which would move around the maze to the tune of chirping and engaging music, while trying to avoid four protagonists out to devour it. The concept was based on a Japanese slang word Paku-Paku, which mimics the sound one makes when one opens and closes the mouth when eating.
Breaking Traditions and Introducing Colorful Designs
The design team sort to depart from the convention at the time, where the gaming space was dominated by black-and-white arcade gaming titles like Pong and Asteroids. As Christine Champagne describes one twelve-year old's experience at the time when he first saw Pac-Man;
"At the time, I was twelve years old and living in Flushing, New York. I grew up next to a book and accessories store which was on my daily route to school. On this particular day when my gaze fell upon the game for the first time, I was mesmerized. It was unlike anything we had seen. Its colors and speed took us by utter amazement. It was more sophisticated and engaging than any game we had seen or played at home."
Philosophical and Ideological Connotations in Pac-Man
It is here that we discuss the first philosophical underpinning that inspired the creator. At the time, most arcade games were inspired by world war themes or revolved around maiming or destroying your enemy. Pac-Man broke from tradition by creating an alternative plot, where all one had to do was run away as fast as you could from the four ghosts which were following you; 'Inky' the blue ghost, "Blinky" the red and shadowy one, Clyde the orange one, and 'Pinky', the fastest one in the pack. Breaking away from the war-themed plot sought to bring-in the feminine gender in the gaming scene.
Darwin's Theory of Survival and the Capitalist Ideology
Many observers of the game see Pac-Man's storyline as having a direct philosophical underpinning in life, as well as Darwin's theory of survival for the fittest. Pac-Man's seemingly insatiable thirst for the power pill dots that fill the maze depict man's real-life ambitions which would go on depleting resources were it not for the checks and balances of nature, represented by the four ghosts. Darwin's theory of survival for the fittest and natural selection saw the selfish nature in all creatures which if left unchecked would overrun the earth.
Karl Marx's Bourgeoisie and the Working Class
Another ideological understanding of the game is taken from Karl Marx's description of the ever expanding market, where the Bourgeoisie represent Pac-Man's lead character, and the four protagonists represent the working class, who are seeking to stop the over exploitation and selfish use of global resources by the rich. Pac-Man takes the role of a typical capitalist, seeking to accumulate as much wealth as possible, at the expense of the rest of society.
A Three-Dimensional Experience and the Need for Respite
Perhaps a more subtle yet important philosophical and design aspect of Pac-Man, was the inclusion of a tunnel, in both the left and right of the game console, through which Pac-Man would disappear momentarily, and re-appear on the other side. This had two fundamental points, which the gamers seemed to convey. Firstly, the creators seemed to communicate a three-dimensional (3D) aspect to the game, which was technologically difficult to develop on-screen at the time. Secondly, it seemed to try to communicate that there is always a need for a break or respite in the world we live in. When the Pac-Man disappeared into the tunnel. There was always a one to two second lag, before it reappeared on the other side. For the first time, the creators of a game were inviting the players to imaging a world beyond the visible rectangular screen.
Pac-Man: Revolutionizing the Gaming World
Pac-Man revolutionized the way gamers, game developers, and society as a whole looked at video and arcade games. It inspired designers to experiment and design hitherto undeveloped themes and storylines in their gaming plots, as well as diversifying the narratives away from war themes. Other characters from dolphins, land animals, abstract images, were now being incorporated into gaming designs, thanks to Pac-Man's success in appealing to a large audience without having a war connotation or theme. To this day, Pac-Man's design and technological influence can be felt, from mobile games that still embody the linear structure of Pac-Man, to the abstract nature of a large proportion of games, which has now become a common feature.
The Phenomenal Success and Impact of Pac-Man
Another symbol of Pac-Man's groundbreaking success was the release of the song "Pac-Man Fever" by the musicians Buckner and Garcia, which went on to make it to the top 40 hit list. This was the first time that a game or its title was the theme of a song, and better still, making it to be counted amongst the top hits of the time. This was a huge statement as to the game's arrival into the hearts and minds of popular culture enthusiasts of the time.
Even more compelling is the gaming world's realization that there aren't as many games as Pac-Man, which transcend generations and continue to hold people's attention through the years. The game will soon be 40 years since it was created; yet it still continues to hold a global and generational appeal. It requires very little familiarity and pre-game orientation for first timers, while still maintaining an almost cult-like addiction once the player starts the game. The game's handling features are perhaps one of the simplest mechanical and computational instructions created for a game; one simply goes up, or down, left, or right! With these simple instructions, it is a gaming wonder as to how Pac-Man still manages to maintain a high level of appeal, sophistication, and complexity to millions of gamers since its inception 37 years ago.
The Design and Launch Process of Pac-Man
An analysis of Pac-Man would be incomplete without looking into the design and launch process which led to its overwhelming success. Product design and launching is a process that can either spell doom or gloom for a particular product. Internally, the President of Namco was initially skeptical about Toshio's team determination to create a game that deviated from the shooting and war-themed games that were in the market at the time. Secondly, in an internal memo, she insisted that the color of the ghosts should be red, and not the four different colors. The company president was concerned that the different colors would confuse the players into thinking that the other ghosts were Pac-Man's allies. Toshio was not convinced, and he proceeded to test the game with a sample group of gamers. In a questionnaire, they were asked whether they would want the ghosts in one color, or that they should be different. None of the members in the sample groups wanted the ghosts to be in one color.
When Pac-Man was launched in Japan in May 1980, it received a less than lukewarm reception, due to the fact that other games such as Space Invaders were more appealing at the time. However, it is its overwhelming success in North America, which caught industry watchers and gaming analysts completely by surprise. A story is often told of how gaming executives and industry watchers completely overlooked the Pac-Man arcade console in an industry promotion event, concentrating all their attention on another game – Rally-X. When Pac-Man hit the American market in October of 1980, it surpassed anything that had been seen in the market up to that moment. It out-competed Asteroids in sales and as the most sought after arcade game in the world. In the same year, it also surpassed the Star Wars film in terms of income, grossing over $1 billion in a year. Over 350,000 Pac-Man arcade units were sold within a year of its release.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, we can clearly see that the ideological and philosophical foundations of Pac-Man, as captured by the intentions of the design team, ultimately led to its phenomenal global success. From the outset, Toshio sought to appeal to a broader audience, particularly the feminine gender. In the process, he developed a game with universal appeal, which has transcended a generation. The Marxist-Capitalist undertones in the game, infused by the Darwinian theory of survival for the fittest, are also evident in the game as one plays through the levels, seeking to evade the Ghosts.
Works Cited
Bandai Namco. http://pacman.com/en/pac-man-history Accessed 30 Nov. 2017
Firth, Niall. “Japanese inventor of Pac-Man reveals his original Sketches”. Daily Mail. London. 2004. Accessed 30 Nov. 2017
Iwatanu, Toru. “Pacman – Programers at Work”. https://programmersatwork.wordpress.com/toru-iwatani-1986-pacman-designer. Accessed 30 Nov. 2017
Kageyama, Yuri. “Japanese Arcade Pioneer and 'Father of Pac-Man' Has Died”. US News https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2017-01-30/japanese-arcade-pioneer-father-of-pac-man-has-died . Accessed 30 Nov. 2017
Kohler, Chris. Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life. Aug 2016. Accessed 30 Nov. 2017
