First Reader – Farah

Pac Man is, according to Raph Koster, a “visit every location game.” If the player does not touch every space, they do not advance to the next level, which is the goal of the game. Flow is an advancement of Pac Man in that the object of the game is to eat objects and go through all the levels. But it is more modernized for contemporary life in that different elements have been added. In Pac Man there is only the option of moving up, down, left, and right and you are constricted to the maze-like space provided. In Flow you can move up and down in space, which can be considered as different levels, and you have 360° movement. These changes were made to adapt to modern life, since we now have more technology, better graphics, and better computer programs, which change the way games can be made and played.

By Roger Caillois’ definition of play, Flow is missing a major component: to be “governed by rules.” There are no rules, no ways to win, and no ways to lose, making me lose interest very quickly from the lack of a defined goal. There is no real competition in the game as there is in Pac Man from the lack of these limits, which can all be found in Pac Man: the number of lives you are given, your enemies, speed, and a score. I think that the lack of competition and the lack of learning caused me to not like the game as much as I liked playing Pac Man. I got bored while playing Flow because it got very repetitive – I needed new information, some other element to make the game harder and more interesting.

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