Paranormal Psychology

This post is part of the Pac-Man Risk Management series.
1. Introduction :: 2. You are Not Pac-Man :: 3. Paranormal Psychology

Those pesky ghosts just won't go away. Much like our risks on projects, huh? Yes, the ghosts in the Pac-Man game represent risks in this analogy, forever stalking us through the maze. Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde...the dastardly limbs of the overall risk quadruped which hunts Pac-Man until he clears the maze or they get him!

It is a quite scary scenario when you think about it. Here is poor Pac-Man, dropped into a maze, starving. He's blind and without limbs! He's a circle, for Christ's sake!! And these ghosts are after him from the get-go and they never explain why! They just chase him as soon as the music starts while Pac-Man, poor Pac-Man, hustles to eat while he still lives. The plot is not only horrifying, it has a subtle, yet important, underlying theme of the challenges of famine that face the world.

This made me wonder about the motive of the ghosts - what is their particular psychological incentive to get Pac-Man? The man's gotta eat, right? Why mess with him in the first place. After doing (very little) research, I've been able to prove conclusively that as with most psychos, it is impossible to understand their motivations - rather, they just exist and there is nothing we can do about their existence in the scope of the game. Much like slasher movies that were born to popularity at the same time, in the late 70's and early 80's, we must remain content with "it is what it is" and deal with it.

(Major Digression: This got me totally on a tangent, as my mind jumped to 80's horror flicks. I went back to Wikipedia and looked up Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kruger, and Michael Myers just for kicks and wondered how these series could still be alive after so many years now. I realized two things and one question. Realization #1: I'm really starting to love Wikipedia. Realization #2: These three bad guys will go down in history in a entirely new category of all-time-greatest-villain because I caught myself grinning as I read through their profiles, reminded about how much fun these psychos brought me. And, Question: As they continue to squeeze films out of these franchises, they intersected with Freddy v. Jason, a movie I was unfortunate enough to catch very late at night about a year ago or so. Pac-Man has similar derivatives (Ms. Pac-Man, Super Pac-Man, tons of variations for game systems, etc.). Isn't it time for a version of Pac-Man that sets the ghosts against each other? Think about it. The game starts and Pac-Man starts eating dots as the ghosts set out to rip each other apart. Your goal is to eat the dots without getting caught in the cross-fire. I think it is would be a blast. I reserve all rights, license, copyright, etc., to this idea. )

So regardless of the project, much like Pac-Man, risks exist independent of our decisions. We can rest assured that no matter the project, some level of risk management is beneficial. Further, the nature of the risks external and internal changes based on our planning and execution. You see this in slasher flicks, too. Factors outside of our control. Think we know, things we know that we don't know, and things that we don't know that we don't know. In the books, these risk categories represent the Known, the Known-Unknown, and the Unknown-Unknown and these do represent the broad sets of things with which we deal.

Let's look at scenario's for each.


The Cornered Animal

As much a function of the maze as anything, you find yourself trapped as those crafty ghosts come around opposite corners and put you in a pinch. If you are luck, you've done this in one of the four corners of the maze and you haven't yet eaten that big dot (which I have since learned is called an "energizer" from my extensive research on the subject). If you've got a dot, then you'll make it out alive. If you don't, then slather on some butter 'cause you are toast.

You know this risk very well (if you've played Pac-Man before). This is a Known risk. Something that can happen in a number of places throughout the maze. That's one of the basic tenants of the game - don't get trapped by the ghosts. When we talk about known risks, this example is a great one because, no matter how much we play, it can still happen. No matter how much we plan, no matter how much of the board you cover visually, it is an ever-present danger. And we know this going in and we're aware of throughout the life of the effort.


The Lone Dot

You make decisions throughout execution. Left or Right? Up or Down? Go after these dots in the lower left-hand corner or do I go after that appetizing long-run of dots up the left side? At times you find your plans thwarted by the ghosts and you have to abandon your consumption for awhile. Sometimes you leave only a few dots. Sometimes you just leave one. And that one dot, the Lone Dot, is the most irritating one on the board.

The reason it is irritating is that you don't have a choice about whether to go back and get it. You cannot complete the project without eating that last dot. And the risks are so high for it. It requires great tactics and planning. It requires supreme patience. Because you don't know what those ghosts are going to do. You know they exist, but you don't know how quickly they will get to you when you go for it. The ghosts are known, but how they will react to you going after the dot sitting all alone is completely unknown. This represents that even given the facts of our risks, the precise nature of these risks in this scenario remain unknown. Which makes it both frightening and exciting.


The Will Smith

My kids love that Will Smith song, Switch. Pretty good tune, not one I would buy, but it's groovy enough - my wife has it on her iPod and the kids go nuts. Lots of fun for the kids and I'm okay the first time they play it. By the third go in a row, I could not care less if they ever make MIB III.

When the ghosts switch direction in the game, though, you care a great deal. It is a behavior that is completely unpredictable. When the ghosts switch direction for no apparent reason, it will freak you out. You don't know what they are up to. In this way, the ghosts are a lot like the weather - you don't know it's raining until you are wet. I would argue that it is much like Will Smith in another aspect as well - you don't know whether the movie or song is going to be good until you are in the middle of it. Sorry Will, but it is true. You had a nice run in the late 90's but after that you branched out and I'm not sure I'm jiggy with it.

Regardless, we know they (like Will Smith) are going to do something but what they are going to do we do not know. What are the variables that affect their direction, speed, decisions, etc.? We simply don't know - and can't know. Our mitigation is simple enough: avoid them. But that is not always possible. Much like a Will Smith song or movie.