Pac-Man attacks veiled women and more in the Turkish government campaign against offensive video games

To most gamers, Pac-Man tries his best to avoid ghosts in the classic arcade game or eventually getting a power up to devour them. To the Turkish Ministry of Youth and Sports, those ‘ghosts’ are actually veiled Muslim women and the game is a method of spreading Islamophobia around the world.

The latest development has come from the Turkish Ministry of Youth and Sports, which earlier this month launched a website claiming that video games “play a significant role in the spread of Islamophobia.” The website urges visitors to stop playing such games, and report them to the ministry in order to spread the word.

One example is the website’s page for Pac-Man, which declares that Pac-Man, rather than do his best to avoid ghosts, “is a game of collecting veiled Muslim women. The Muslim women are figured as the virgins to be attacked.” The website also says there’s another example of Islamophobia in Guitar Hero 3 (2007). Illustrations on the stage floor where the game’s characters perform songs appear similar to the Arabic spelling of Allah. The characters repeatedly step on these illustrations while songs are being performed, something that many would consider an insult.

Not all of the choices for these banned games are controversial, however. One is called Muslim Massacre: The Game of Modern Religious Genocide. Released independently in 2008 by a single amateur developer, it was eventually taken down.

The video game campaign, originally reported in Turkey’s state-run press agency, and confirmed by the Minister of Youth and Sports, is the latest initiative by the Turkish government to take on Islamophobia. In June Ankara launched a fund that would pay non-governmental organizations and universities around the world to tackle discrimination against Turks and Muslims. In April, the government established an international “Islamophobia Research Center.”