"Games, the Contents and the Economy" written by Acean D Park]

泥中蟠龍 's Game 愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]   Imitation precedes creation but the two are not identical   Recently various rumors are abroad about trademark registration of a British video game developer King in the gaming industry. The U.K. giant King.com has "trademarked" the word "Candy" for Candy Crush Saga, the most successful social game. It seems that a wider range of discussion about whether it can obtain trademark registration for the particular word which is widely used. Plus, a recently released mobile game Anipang 2 by SundayToz is pretty hot in the Korean market these days. But adding on to the trademark issue, Candy Crush Saga has naturally become an issue again after the launch of the sequel because its basic structure is very similar to the puzzle video game of King. I don't want to argue about whether it is plagiarism or not by law. We should respect the court's judgment if King...

泥中蟠龍 's Game 愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]   Business ethics in the gaming industry   January.16.2014 There are many people probably heard about House of Medici in the Renaissance. The Medici family, the Italian political dynasty in Florence, Italy, is well known for sponsoring many artists of its time with a great fortune. Famous artists including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Sandro Botticelli etc. were supported by the Medici. The reason why I mentioned the family is to talk about investment in the gaming industry. I heard a silly story recently. Summing up, the story is this. A company named XXXX (hereafter called 'A') invested in a game company named OOOO (hereafter called 'B') for a mobile game development project, however, B launched a game with a new program on the Google play store without A's consent and insisted that the deal had been closed. I don't want to place the b...

泥中蟠龍 's Game 愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]   Are video games art?   December.26.2013 Recently I read an article about why video game is not an art. Summarizing the critical review, video game must reflect its artistic side to become part of a culture, however, game graphic is just a skill which lacks elements of art and video game story doesn't have literary value on the lower level of collect and edit without any meaningful factors. In fact, I never knew the game critic who wrote the story. He is a total stranger and it's nothing personal against him. Both as a gaming industry employee and as a person who loves games, I just want to say a few thing about it which is, I guess, being ignored. To begin with, I don't agree with a proposition which states that artistic aspect is essential for defining as a culture. Should a culture reflect artistic side? A culture embraces an art and a culture is not a s...

泥中蟠龍 's Game 愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]   If Kakao market is opened   December.12.2013 Recent news about KakaoTalk's acquisition of T store has become a hot issue in the gaming industry. KaTalk and SK Communications both stated that there was no foundation for the report, however, where there's smoke, there is fire. I carefully guess that there should have been general ideas about it. I don't want to discuss whether it is true or not here. As the old saying goes, "You hold the memorial service at a chance to see the rice cake", I just pictured what it would be like if Kakao market is actually opened. In fact, people have already talked about the possibility since summer that KaTalk would manage the store itself. But it's not easy choice. The reason why it's hard to directly operate it is very simple. Because there is a possibility of failure of the market like T store or Olleh Market w...

泥中蟠龍 's Game 愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]   The Exodus in the gaming industry   November.26.2013 It was at this time two years ago. Nexon, the best video game publisher in Korea, went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on December 14, 2011 and Nexon Korea Corporation became one of its subsidiaries. Now Nexon is seen as a Japanese company rather than a Korean company. 'The stroke of genius' of Kim Jung-ju, the chairman and CEO of NXC Corporation, is much talked about nowadays, and the atmosphere in the gaming industry is self-deprecation. I've got a chance to visit "G-STAR 2013" recently. It's not merely the biggest game exhibition in Korea but the international trade show for computer and video games industry which a lot of famous foreign game makers take part in. The event has become bigger every year, but it was looked be less splendid this year. As a lot of large-scale gaming firms gave u...

泥中蟠龍 's Game 愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]   Hunger for new challenge   November.12.2013 Recently I received an investment offer for, what is called, a 'run style' game. I found nothing special except just a little bit of differences from another running games while I was playing game. I suddenly felt hunger for new challenge at that time. Looking at lots of mobile games newly released, there are too many running games and TCG (Trading card game) or CCG (Collectible card game). Is good to place too much disproportionate emphasis on the specific genres? I'd like to talk about it this time. The future of the mobile gaming industry is uncertain. There are not only the external factors but also internal factors. Where is the unclear future coming from? It has many different causes. Some of reasons are quantitative and the others are qualitative. I can list the factors as many as I write a thesis on. But the re...

泥中蟠龍 's Game 愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]   My frank advice to lazy government is honesty   October.25.2013 Recently controversy rages in the gaming industry when a member of the National Assembly, who I don't even want to know the name of him, labeled game as one of big four addictions and insisted that it should be gotten rid of with drug and gambling. There also has been a policy on restricting hours of use for teens over recent years. Official purposes of the impolicy are said to guarantee teens' sleeping hours, study hours, and prevent bullying at school. I'd like to ask them pushing the bill before bringing up theoretical problems like that a close correlation between gaming and school violence or video game addiction has not been clearly verified. Can we anticipate the results of significantly reduced gaming addicts and increased sleeping hours and study hours if the government's drive is backe...