Ever loved a game but were too scared to admit to it in public? Maybe you’ve denounced an EA Sports annual title as a blatant marketing ploy only to go home and try to win the World Cup? Perhaps you’ve joined in on the bashing of a title on a forum only to quietly go about collecting every hidden item?
Do you have a guilty gaming pleasure?
Wikipedia defines a guilty pleasure as: “Something one enjoys and considers pleasurable despite feeling guilt for enjoying it. The ‘guilt’ involved is sometimes simply fear of others discovering one’s lowbrow or otherwise embarrassing tastes, such as campy styles of entertainment. Fashion, video games, bachata, music, animated series, anime, television series, films, and junk food can be examples of guilty pleasures.”
In this month’s series of articles, the 1001-Up.com team talks about their gaming guilty pleasures and why they can’t get enough of their secret shame. Today Tim discusses why a certain yellow circle eating white circles makes him hungry for more.
The game: Pac-Man
Pac-Man started life in 1980 and is arguably one of the earliest successful games ever made. By the 1990s, it had amassed more than $2.5 billion worth of quarters! To think a title reportedly inspired by pizza would be as successful as it was is testament to how good of a game it is.
It didn’t really hit the ground running until it found its way in America. The rest is now history and in terms of gaming, Pac-Man is a granddaddy and is still a stronger franchise than some of those of today.
It came about during the time of the golden age of video arcade games and the character Pac-Man appears in more and more media – even today! With copies and clones galore of the title still being made, it’s no wonder someone like me can enjoy the series still.
Public perception
When Pac-Man was initially released in Japan it was not really here nor there; it was just a game. At the time it was releases such as Space Invaders that were taking up most peoples’ time. However, once Pac-Man came away from Japan and into North America, it really picked up interest!
Once it hit the North American audience, the game became huge. Arcades everywhere had to get in on the action and if you hadn’t played Pac-Man you were considered uncool! It helped gaming in such a way that even industry legends such as John Romero of id software fame has been cited as saying that Pac-Man has been the biggest influence on his career.
Why do I love it?
Arguably the most successful game of its time, Pac-Man became not just a fun little title – to some it became obsession. Thankfully, I never hit the full time obsession that many others did, but without it I probably would not be the gamer I am today.
My guilt for loving this classic is simple: I love the nuances of Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde – the ghosts! I love their personalities so much that I can tell you about some of the technical terms of Pac-Man such as Scatter Mode, and which ghost does what (Inky seems to rely on Blinky being around, Blinky wants to get to you in the shortest route possible, Pinky will try and get behind you and Clyde is simply just Clyde!).
The ghosts have home corners too. Yes – this affects gameplay big time, especially during Scatter Mode when they will go back to their homes before pursuing Pac-Man once more. I’m not particularly good at the game but each time I pick it up I look to improve upon my previous best. I once had around 110,000 as my score and I’ve never beaten that since. There are whole websites dedicated to the strategy behind playing Pac-Man!
The franchise itself is also an important aspect for my love for Pac-Man. The game is not hated at all; it’s not really got any bad reputation nor did it receive negative press. Instead it’s one of these titles that people like me just gravitate towards. Why do I do this? Because it’s simple and it plays well; there are little nuances within the mechanics that I absolutely adore and honestly it’s just jolly. Plus once I’ve got my own place settled, I’ve decided on building me a Pac-Man arcade table. It will happen!
Games have become too realistic and sometimes too depressing. It’s nice to pretend you’re a yellow pizza with a slice missing who wants nothing more than to eat power pellets.
As well as some scrumptious ghosts… mmm, ectoplasm.
So what did you think of Tim’s sordid little secret? And do you have any of your own that you’re willing to share? Let us know in the comments below, and join us next week for the first instalment in our new series – this time on easter eggs!
1001-Up.com 
pac man is awesome and a huge part of gaming history. feel no shame, you’re awesome.
Haha many thanks for the vote of confidence! Just enjoying the game is fine, to play it daily and scream at Clyde as he is too much of a Clyde whilst he comes away from scatter mode is quite another! :p
Thanks for the comment 🙂
Pac-Man is a great game, no need to be ashamed about that! 🙂
Personally I can’t come up with any “guilty gaming pleasures” right now, but I’d like to share something similar. Many years ago I was playing Fallout 1 and Fallout 2, two of my all-time favourite RPG’s. I was also discussing these games on forums etc. This was before Fallout 3 got out. Time passed and Bethesda eventually announced the coming of Fallout 3. Who was among the guys screaming in panic, raising their fists? It was me. I was angry at Bethesda for making “Oblivion with guns” and destroying the whole Fallout-universe.. The game got out on the shelves and I got it from my wife for Christmas. I installed it and tried it out… one hour later I was hooked! Such a great game! Now I find myself here, in 2014, still enjoying both Fallout 3 and New Vegas. 😉 “Oblivion with guns”? Well, we can call it what we want, but Fallout in 3D is epic. 😀
There’s a small part of me that feels ashamed not just for my general geekyness towards it, nor the amount of times I’ve played it in the past week alone… Pac-Man was released a decade prior to me gracing the earth with my presence!
Wonderful story you shared, thanks for that! 😀
I know what you mean, sometimes it can feel almost like a form of “Blasphemy” (For lack of better word) when a franchise decides to move a series from something into something else (I.E genre changing).
For me, that was Warcraft… But I was backwards with this franchise! I played World of Warcraft first then I heard it was actually based off a Real Time Strategy, I decided “Bah, that’s not right. Not for WoW! Not for the world… of Warcraft!”
And then I played Warcraft 3 and was sold on how it worked as a game 🙂 Grr, now I’m somewhat tempted to play WC3 + TFT again.