Games, the Contents and the Economy in Korea

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...