泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 _ Looking for Ijungballyong

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌
[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]
 
Looking for Ijungballyong
 
Not too long ago, I was asked about my pen name "泥中蟠龍(Ijungballyong)". To put it simply, it's a hidden dragon, a big snake called Imoogi, which tries to turn into a dragon. The full text of the poem is as follows:
 
八九年間始欲衰 (It began to decline in 8-9 years)
至十三年無孑遺 (There is nothing left in 13 years)
到頭天命有所歸 (You did your best and submitted to Heaven's will)
泥中蟠龍向天飛 (The dragon hidden in the mud will ascend)
 
You may find the details from The Records of the Three Kingdoms. It's been a half year since I started to regularly write the columns and I didn't take an opportunity to explain about the pen name. It's not the only reason I want to talk about it. I'd like to clarify the third line "到頭天命有所歸" of the poem. It means that the time has come at last. It expresses that Liu Bei, who survived in a dangerous and difficult time and situation, now get a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a great man. The only survivor can grab an opportunity. 

There is a famous line from a film, "It is not the strong that survive, but the survivor that is strong." Employees now have a hard time due to low performance in the second half of last year. A few companies with their strong performance assume the attitude of winner-takes-all and the majority of developers and publishers face dark time. Yet, a survivor can be stronger and it will ascend to heaven when it catches a golden opportunity. 

Many online game makers from 2012 to about 2013 did not survive because they wanted to make a big-budget game with from 20 to 30 billion won as they used to be. But some firms developed a tiny-budget game like Ganjang-gejang (crab marinated in soy sauce) full of crab roe now are highlighted among newly released online games. 

I believe that it's time for mobile game developers to prepare to be survived. Survivors only can wait for another chance. They should reduce their size and generate steady profits with a small but solidly-built game to survive and grab the chance. It'll sound corny, but it's a blessing in disguise. I hope to see a lot of ascending dragon like Ijungballyong at this time next year.




※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.
   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

    Translation by Kim Ki-hui

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