泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] Content and System

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌
[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]
 
Content and System
 

“Video game is content."
 
The reason why I started with the topic is that so-called game experts have considered a video game as a system for some time. Frankly speaking, I was not much different from them.
 
If someone asks me about the differences between the content and system, many parts of them would not be explained exactly. But one clear difference between the two is that both have causation. A video game offers a variety of experiences for users based on creativity which is the characteristic of the game as the content. On the other hand, the system presents specific experiences based on algorism where there are a set of rules specifying how to solve some problems. This difference can be explained by the clarity of input and output. Moviegoers who watch the same movie probably don't feel the same way and they can have very different reactions to the film. But people who operate calculators certainly take the same results as long as they put some formulas into calculators. This is one of the differences between the content and the system.
 
Talking about video games, people often use terms like "output against input" or "cost-effectiveness" these days. Although they must be expressed as "rate of return on investment" and "operating profit to sales" as an investor's point of view, it's a bit of a nonsense when it comes to video games.
 
Recently, I went to Busan to attend BIC (Busan Indie Connect) Festival. It is an indie- game expo which was begun in 2015. Despite its short history, it gave me a good chance to reflect on myself who have seen games with inertia. I have regarded a video game as a system focusing on managerial aspects such as expected investment returns and sales and operating profit against its advertising costs etc. to reduce risks, which makes me harder to see its basic and most important characteristic of the game as a content. Many indie games on display with novel ideas, distinctive stories, and unique interface and concept which are differentiated from the existing games of commercial video-game studios have broadened my thought.
 
It costs less than making commercial-purpose video games and adventurous challenging does not matter when it comes to indie games, while game companies realistically have no choice but to consider production cost from hundreds of millions of won to billions of won. But it cannot be denied that the essentials of the game are not different between the two. Now is the time for the gaming industry to break the frame in the current market where there are numerous video games with similar game characters and gameplay.
 
 
※ 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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