Consumerist Pac-Man and Socialist Tetris (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog)
“Pac-Man” is a game about gathering resources while fleeing from predators. It gives pleasure to those areas of our brain that remember what it was like being a tiny but clever mammal, surrounded by threats that are deadly but not too bright. Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde pass over the Power Pills without triggering them; Power Pills are resources, like sticks or chips of flint, whose secrets were beyond the grasp of the beasts that preyed on our ancestors. The Power Pills are tools. But the dots Pac Man eats are just stand-ins for the quarters consumed by the arcade game. It’s the ultimate consumerist game, coming out of Japan and becoming popular in America — two centers of capitalism.
Compare it with a different sort of game, one that emphasizes sorting and organizing resources, where having too much without distributing it efficiently leads to a loss. Is it any wonder that Tetris emerged from communist Russia?
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"...the dots Pac Man eats are just stand-ins for the quarters consumed by the arcade game." Yes! I'd say it's more symbolic of CONSUMERISM than capitalism, per se, but it's definitely as social allegory. The Pac Man character might be a "man" (and it's mate a "Mrs.") but neither one really has sexual traits; the pie-piece figure is simply the embodiment of an ever-chewing mouth. Moreover, it is always SOLITARY, evading-then-attacking the zombie/ghost like MASSES. Pac Man is a Marxist horror story.
Jerz -
I think the military useage concept came from the book "Phoenix: The Fall and Rise of Video Games," by Leonard Herman- I have that book at home, I'll let you know what I find - otherwise, it is in a different geek book which I should own.
Arnzen -
Sigh. Everytime I feel like a smart little Marxist, you come along with such analogy- I am nowhere near Jedi material yet, LOL.
Interesting analysis. It's funny how we don't think of what we are watching (or playing) and what effect it has on us. This raises an issue of the impact of choosing what we want to whatch, play, hear.
I think every economic system in history has been vastly abused, and the fact that we can and often do close our minds to minority opinions of where a country should go is sad, but evident in every aspect of every culture.
As consumers, we want to be fed information. Rarely do you see an average person deconstructing a TV show or watching a news station that is fair or whose opinions we don't agree with.
And I think that's why we are so narrow-minded as people. It's because we are being fed information we want and often choose to hear, and not thinking enough about respecting other people's informed opinions.
What's your source for that military claim? I've never heard that before, and a Google search only turns up a poster's claim on an open bulletin board.
Tetris was originally created as a psychological test for Soviet troops - I love your description though, of "having too much without distributing it efficiently leads to a loss."
Tetris WAS the reason to own the first GB, though - and enabled that little handheld with the horrible green/yellow screen to become the largest selling system in history.
Ever play the "Tengen" version, on the old NES? It is far superior to the Official Nintendo Release.. Tengen, as you most likely know, was an Atari subsidary, but lost their case in court and had to pull the remaining copies from the shelves.