Digital Underground - uXu - Underground eXperts United #uxu-385

### ### ### ### ### #### ### ### ### #### ### ### ##### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ##### ### ### ########## ### ### ########## ### ### ### ### Underground eXperts United Presents... ####### ## ## ####### # # ####### ####### ####### ## ## ## ## ##### # ## ## ## ## #### ## ## #### # # #### ####### ####### ## ## ## ## ##### # ## ## ## ## ## ## ####### ####### # # ####### ####### ####### [ The Life Of Pac-Man ] [ By Intoxicating ] ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ The Life of Pac-Man By Intoxicating Pac-Man came out around the time I was a kid, and I have to admit, I was hooked. The game was something different, and maybe simple by today's standards, but a technological wonder. I recently download a Pac-Man game to relive the good old days. That's when I realized the social implications of Pac-Man, things I wouldn't notice when I was eight. The concept of Pac-Man is simple. Your goal is to eat up all the little dots on the screen, and use the power pills to send those evil ghosts back in the box. They came back for you, of course, and the more levels you pass the quicker they come at you. They're not very smart, their AI not much higher then a light-bulb, but as they randomly move across the screen they get lucky. The social implications of this game didn't hit me until I realized that the background music is almost like a police siren. Why would they choose that music, and what do the little dots represent? The struggle for life, of course, and the need to be more successful, have more money. The cops are on your tail, the sirens are ringing, while you try to collect what's yours. The ghosts never actually die. It's always the same four. When you eat them, they just lose their cloaks, but they come back. It's a no-win situation, where you might delay death long enough, but at the end they'll get quicker and quicker until you can't outrun them anymore. Sure, being the PacMan you have some tools at hand to help you on your struggle, but you can never win the game. This is a strong preparation for life, setting a society to understand that they might want to play the game, but at the end they'll be dead. The government, police, tax collectors, and regulations might be easy to outsmart, they're combined IQ not much above 20, but the game gets harder the longer you play. Odds are, whatever your pleasure is, you'll be caught for it. The power-pill is your main great form of defense. You can distract the government institutions, send them running through lawsuits and ID changes, but it doesn't mean anything. It will allow you to collect more points, but the bugeyed organizations will just go back to their nest, regroup, and come back after you. The more you collect, the less powerful the power-pill is, and the faster they come at you. They're not smarter, of course, just faster. While they get the advantage of speed, you get no advantage, with the exception of maybe another life or a power-up. The sirens scream as you get closer to death, they come at you from all directions, and then there's the point where you have nowhere to go and you have them coming at you from both directions. You know you're dead, that's almost guaranteed, and so the terror only lasts moments before you get nabbed. Yes, this is our life, the life of a PacMan game. The funny part is, try finding a corner somewhere and don't move. They'll likely never get you, but then your desires in life will never be fulfilled. Everything comes with consequence in the system of the World. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- uXu #385 Underground eXperts United 1997 uXu #385 Call ETERNAL DREAMS -> +46-18-245607 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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