Pac-Man Is NP-Hard

Most game players don't just play the game once (start game, yay, play, win a little, die, never play this game again).

I'd have to disagree, as both a Game Player and Game Developer. Gone are the days when Sonic or MegaMan sat in your console for weeks while you tried endlessly to beat it. Today's game players are EXACTLY like what you describe. That's why we have to baby them & lead them into playing the game -- They have many other options, a virtually endless supply of games to Try and fail at until one lets them win.

I sit "average" gamers of all age ranges in front of the games from yesteryears and the majority do exactly what you describe when given a choice to switch between any classic game on the shelf. They play the longest on familiar or easy to play titles.

PacMan is HARD. Rarely will you find a decent arcade with 5 lives instead of 3, and longer power-up periods (selectable via dip switches or.conf files). However, people don't play games to beat them, now they play to be entertained, and an unforgiving game that eats your quarters or $50 at once can't compete with the free casual games of today.

I think some balance can be found -- A short introduction to get you interested in the mechanics and/or story, followed by an increasingly engaging experience, but there's a fine line between too steep a learning curve and too boring of a game.

As for whether or not PacMan is NP Hard, I'd say that since it's 100% fully deterministic it's actually not. It's easy as hell to map out then play perfectly every single time afterwards, especially if you have the source code "running" through your brain and can can predict exactly what the Ghosts will do. Also, the same damn level over and over again is quite boring... That's why when I was required to learn JavaScript I created my own rendition [memebot.com] that was non deterministic (pseudorandomly so) as well as had many differing levels.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/3nfltwimYbE/pac-man-is-np-hard

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