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

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] ChinaJoy or SaunaJoy

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

 

ChinaJoy or SaunaJoy

Recently, I went to China to attend ChinaJoy, China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference, held in Shanghai. The digital entertainment expo, which is comparable to the world's top three game shows, was an unforgettable large-scale international event. It was far different from others in exhibition spaces and audience figures.

 

Participation in the event was not that pleasant for me. I suffered from unusual heatwaves and muggy air as it is nicknamed "SaunaJoy", which made me lose weight of 2 Kilograms during the game show. In addition, I had to be the butt of joke among my company when I was mistaken for a Chinese by a flight attendant on the plane to Shanghai, someone in Shanghai Airport asked me if he could borrow my lighter in Chinese, and a stranger on the street of the largest city of China asked me the way in Chinese. Their deeds completely broke my hearts. (It seems that I need to seriously consider next visit.) Just cut the small talk and let's talk about ChinaJoy itself.

 

I think there are three key points in the game show.

To begin with, in spite of heavy opposition, when it comes to game-development ability, China has almost caught up with South Korea, its competitor. Some say that China is already more advanced than Korea, however, as I mentioned in the 37th column, I think that Korea is still better than China in terms of overall game development including resource optimization, screen direction, quality, etc. But it is obvious that the gap between the two countries has decreased.

 

Besides, contrary to my expectations, console games received greater focus. Instead of following the latest game-show trends where mobile games have taken the lead in the gaming industry worldwide, China has significantly expanded the release of console games. I guess that it's from the uniqueness of Chinese console-game market which was just opened last year. I expect that it would be sharply decreased if it doesn't gain popularity with internal players.

 

Lastly, there were many Virtual Reality (VR) games in the expo. VR-game development of South Korea is in its early stage. Nobody doubts that it would be the next hot thing in the gaming world, however, there hasn't been distinguished accomplishments yet. Participating ChinaJoy, I knew that Chinese gaming companies are getting more active in making VR games, which would lead it No.1 in the global VR gaming industry. It would seem to comparable to South Korea who stood at the top as the leader in a relatively short period time in the PC-gaming industry at the end of the 20th century based on its strong online infrastructure.

 

Of course, the three above doesn't explain all about ChinaJoy. But Korea would be beaten by China who is rapidly growing in the gaming industry unless we must strive to overcome this unstable situation. No time for domestic game makers to mull whether we should enter the Chinese market. We need to seriously ponder how we can handle Chinese gaming firms which will likely be available soon in Korea. After I visited Shanghai, I'm so sad since my sunburnt skin made me look from Chinese to Filipino.

 

 

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

(http://www.khgames.co.kr)

 

Translation by Kim Ki-hui

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 _ Key to the success of Netmarble

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

 

Key to the success of Netmarble

Netmarble Together with Press (NTP) took place not long ago. The gist of what Bang Jun-Hyuk, the chairman of Netmarble, said in the event is as follows.

Firstly, a solid organizational power of Netmarble is the critical success factor and human resource is the most important part of the gaming company. Secondly, Bang hopes that the company's strategy on his speech would be a great help to other domestic mobile-game developers and publishers in the era of unlimited global competition with foreign mobile games. Thirdly, he is ready to accelerate the company's entry into the global mobile-game market and using the brand awareness, the popularity of globally major intellectual properties (IPs), and Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) would be covered under the core strategy. Fourthly, he will implement a key strategy based upon accurate data with numerical statistics which he only believes in. Fifthly, he would grow its subsidiaries stably in turn and their efforts would pay off. Lastly, he has the big four management philosophy: strategic management; innovation and thinking ahead, people-centered management; fostering talented individuals, data-driven management; recognizing the importance of numerical data, participative management; empowering employees of the company.

Bang is the man whom I've never met and I've never damaged by the large publisher. But, as one person working in the video-game-related field, I'd like to dispute his claims made in the speech.

To begin with, let's talk about organizing ability and people-centered management. Probably lots of employees of Netmarble in the Guro Industrial Complex do not leave the office working very hard while I'm writing this column in the middle of the night. I don't want to disparage them. But I've heard rumors several times that high levels of staff turnover of the company is due to a heavy workload. It's not based on the accurate data, however, I cannot find any currently working-level staff as far as I know among employees who had worked in the firm two years ago. The basis of organizational power is teamwork. I doubt whether frequent changes of a member is helpful for fine teamwork.

Besides, he contradicted himself saying that he only believes in numerical data, meanwhile, he admitted that it's hard to predict the exact numerical results of a video game included in show business. And, at least, man - one of the most important parts of his management philosophy - is a creature of impulse who cannot be measured only by a numerical value. I am not fully convinced by the opinion of the leading businessman who develops and distributes content. If a movie can be precisely expected to be a good show before it comes out only by numerical data, the success of the film necessarily depends on a director and staffs who have enough experience for making box-office hits. But we have seen many instances of that combination of factors was disastrous.

Finally, he said that Netmarble holding critical data would be helpful for the local gaming industry. But it seemed like 'follow me' top-down leadership style. I doubt whether the exclusive publishing service of the big publisher would help boost the domestic video-game industry.

I was uncomfortable because he showed confidence-looking defensive attitude in his speech mentioning past successes and optimistic future of the company although Netmarble also has many problems. No one is denying that Netmarble is No.1 mobile-game company in South Korea. Still, if you look closely enough, it relies mostly on sales of the small number of games developed by its subsidiaries for revenue. Many Netmarble-published games have disappeared from the market due to the low probability of success based on its data-driven management and not a few of the subsidiaries have lost quite a bit of money. It's not possible to succeed in every game it releases. It's hard to show dedicated teamwork due to a high turnover of the staff. Some imported games which paid a heavy price to have showed poor outcomes. Of course, Netmarble has brought great achievements. But, it is quite unpleasant to ask small developers to follow its style as it guides because it's obvious that they cannot independently survive in the maturing industry. A video game is a part of the show business and creativity is very important in making it. Numerical data-driven management far from the creativity means that it prefers to uses a method which has already been tried and tested. To create something new always starts at challenging authority. I'm worried about Korea's largest video-game maker who seems a frightening champion because it is afraid of accepting the challenge.

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

    Translation by Kim Ki-hui