泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] After attending G-Star 2015

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

After attending G-Star 2015

 

I go to Busan two times every autumn to attend to Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) and G-Star which are annually held in October and November, respectively. Both are the most significant content-related festival in South Korea. In the two events, similarly, there is the announcement of all important affairs of the year in the industry, sales of already-unveiled contents, release of new contents to the public, funding for currently-developing contents, etc.

 

All that aside, there are big differences between the two. BIFF receives numerous media attention during the period before and after the event and not only celebrities but also many people from across the nation go to the metropolitan city to take part in the festival. During the international festival, taxi drivers show visitors into related sites throughout the city and the participants are well supported by hundreds of volunteers. But, on the contrary, G-Star, an over ten-year-old international game show, lacks popularity in Korea. During the show, only areas near Haeundae and Bexco are packed with visitors. G-Star cannot be compared with BIFF in terms of the number of participants -- except game industry experts -- and articles. I'm very uncomfortable because even some people who think of film-festival visitors as those enjoying their hobbies look at game-show participants very pathetic.

 

People in the gaming industry have tried to make good games and create profit. Of course, video game developers are commercial companies which seek profit. I don't mean to cast any aspersion on people making money through the games. Only fifty years ago, the movies also were blamed for spoiling children while considering restrictions on films not to keep the youth from concentrating on. It took dozens of years off a lot of people to improve the image of the films.

 

When I was in elementary school about thirty years before, -- it was called "Kookmin-hakgyo" in the '80s before it changed to "Chodeung-hakgyo" -- most parents unnecessarily showed an attitude of hatred toward children who go to an amusement arcade. I used to go to the video arcade without my teachers' knowledge. But thirty years later, video games are still treated as "harmful to youths". One of the taxi drivers in Busan told me that he cannot understand why people go to the game show. For the last few decades, video games haven't gone much further from the beginning.

 

However, we need to actively face the difficult situation not suffering from much frustration. It's not too late. Video-game industry hasn't have a history as long as the film industry. It still has many chances to be changed. But the perception of the game would not be altered unless workers in the industry don't constantly keep at it. Now, it's time for us to change positively in the perception of video game like the movie industry.

 

 

※ 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] Records of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, and Ninja

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

Records of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, and Ninja

 

Autumn has come with a cool breeze in the morning and at night. In my experience, soon it will be winter when I feel the cool air. However, looking at short-sleeved shirts still hanging in the closet, I'd like to say that summer has just passed. A lot of things happened in the content industry last summer. Assassination (directed by Choi Dong-hoon) and Veteran (directed by Ryoo Seung-wan) recorded over 10 million viewers respectively. Also Friends Pop created a great sensation amongst mobile game users. And I heard the news about the production of the feature-length version of The Flying Superboard, a TV animation series.

 

The most memorable thing for me was Monkey King: Hero Is Back, a Chinese computer-animated film, which drew 20 million viewers in China. It broke all kinds of records showing the huge potential of the Chinese animated-film industry to product animation movies only for the domestic market. Monkey King: Hero Is Back, took in 700 million Chinese yuan (about 1300 billion South Korean won) gaining extreme popularity across China. Let me give you examples for better understanding. Until now, only The Admiral: Roaring Currents and Avatar attracted over 17 million and 13 million viewers nationwide respectively: The Admiral had a big lead over the Hollywood blockbuster in terms of the total number of viewers, however, both had similar box-office profits because of significantly high percentage of 3D-movie audiences for the James Cameron's film.

To be frank with you, I envy China and Japan who own top-class global characters. Both have rich cultural contents which have lots of fans all over the world. Records of the Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West, among countless Chinese contents, are the most recognized traditional ones which are equal to the attractions from The Walt Disney Company. Japan created a world-famous character from an ordinary covert agent in feudal Japan and has consistently made diverse attempts to develop variations.

 

Considering the domestic situation, I'm so disappointed. Sadly, there is no national content or character especially popular in the world. Of course, it doesn't come overnight. The success is only possible based on thorough historical research and various reinterpretation of the content. Many Korean people are not generous to reinterpretation in multiple ways different from the fact. Someone who transforms history into a story to make better content is easily criticized for distorting history.

 

All that aside, The undeniable fact is that South Korea is one of the content powerhouses in the world. Domestic film's market share is higher than most nations and Korea is a big part of the global video-game market. But I'm not sure that I can say proudly to our next generation about the status of Korea in the world content market in a couple of decades. Seeing Monkey King: Hero Is Back, I just think that we should try to make a competitive-advantage character from now on for our children.

 

 

※ 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] Good BM and bad BM

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

Good BM and bad BM

 

People in the gaming industry have heard about "good BM (Business Model)" at least once somewhere. It means that the video game business model with balanced in-app purchases that prompt users to spend adequate money on a game. In other words, a game which won't cost users more money is good.

 

On the contrary to this, there is a word of "devil‘s BM". After an initial free trial, users unwittingly spend small sums very often to level up, win, or advance, which quickly add up and players eventually expend lots of money in the app through pesky in-app purchases. Accordingly, it is universally accepted as the bad business model like the temptation of the devil.

 

Given the fact that the term is generally used in the gaming industry, it seems that we probably recognize that users have a problem with the current gaming business model which make excessive demands on in-app purchases. We have played a game with the in-app purchase model for only ten years. One-time purchase video games had become mainstream before then. If users pay for a game title once, they could enjoy the satisfaction without paying extra money. Also, users used to play monthly paid PC games. But in-app purchase model became the general form in the gaming market at some point.

 

Similarly, let's try to put this into film market; a free audience moves where he/she wants to sit during the movie if he/she pays for it, goes back to a specific scene or does it 2 times faster making others uncomfortable, and orders multiple dishes, which would probably make many viewers feel awkward. Nonetheless, people in the gaming industry have accepted this similar situation as naturally at some point. This is the circumstance where a theater owner doesn't care about free audiences whether they experience inconvenience due to charged ones who hurt their feelings and make them uncomfortable with their undignified behaviors.

 

Recently many mobile games create profit through ad revenue than in-app purchases. It helps non-spenders to reduce their stress more or less since they can easily catch up a minuscule percent of users, who spend lots of money to buy in-game items and points, in the early stages of the game watching rewarded ads—view-to-play. These are games with a good BM.

 

Of course, game developers are commercial companies which seek profit. If they take characteristics of the products as content into consideration, they should not deliberately discriminate against non-spenders although sales revenue is the money that is spent by consumers. Therefore, the view-to-play business model is more meaningful. Developers are satisfied with ads revenue where non-spenders can enjoy the game by spending more time than spenders. This may not be the answer. However, I hope that I can see the optimized game business model someday undergoing many trials and errors.

 

 

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

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

 

Translation by Kim Ki-hui