泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] The grief of a sequel

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

The grief of a sequel

 

I'm looking forward to Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, the upcoming epic space-opera film. Probably it would be released when this column is published. Distinguished and successful movie series commonly draw attention before its release of sequels. So filmmakers prefer to make sequels of the box office hits and often come up with a plan of series from the beginning. Star Wars: The Force Awakens especially is widely anticipated because it is a derivative of the original film series which was over.

 

However, some people advise not to have excessive expectations saying "Follow-up is never going to be better than its superior predecessor". sequels are rarely well-received by audiences and critics. Aside from reviews of a cinematic quality or artistry, Alien and The Terminator yielded higher box-office profits in the second films and, taking inflation into account, Star Wars Series is another example. Plus, there are The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and Marrying the Mafia among domestic films. The fact that it takes some time to recall several examples supports for the slim chance of success of the sequels.

Why are box-office hit sequels uncommon? Probably it is because they hardly meet viewers' increasing expectations. Refreshing or disturbing scenes look boring after so many repeats. Various attempts to show too many things more often backfire. High expectations of fans and a failure of attempts can lead to disappointment, which makes viewers are not favorable to the sequels.

 

What about a video game which is considered under the same category? It's not also free from this contradiction. Game making process, of course, is working on the well-ordered game-development system and it can be adjusted through the improved system before its release based on user feedback. Plus, game graphics can be made to look better than the previous one as hardware-technology advances. However, nobody can expect the game to do so well if there is no attraction to the product itself. A lot of games' success didn't always equal the sequels' victory. Only a small number of sequels such as Warcraft, Biohazard (Resident Evil), and Diablo were exceptionally applauded by users.

 

Nevertheless, a sequel is attractive enough. The commercially successful original game generally guarantees above-average sales and allows its marketing and advertising campaigns much easier. However, certain challenges must be overcome coming up with clear improvements to develop better sequel beyond the original work. Recently, I've been asked to invest in some sequels. Investees should remember that poorly-made second sequel would blow their chance to create its third one. So, I expect them to make a challenge after thorough consideration. I hope to see a successful domestic game series with more than ten sequels like Star Trek.

 

 

※ 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] Vitamin and painkiller

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

Vitamin and painkiller

 

As I mentioned several times before, I am a venture capitalist who specializes in investment in the content industry. In the area of investment, as much as anywhere else, there are lots of proverbs or sayings. One of the most well-known maxims is probably "Don't put all your eggs in one basket". This is a piece of advice which means that an investor should not concentrate all resources in one area, no matter how attractive it is, as one could lose everything—in other words it means that the investor should reduce risk factors, which may be left out on review, through diversified investment. It also means that a low loss rate is more important than a high rate of return in the long term and focusing on a specific area is little short of gambling. For example, if you invest 100 won in a company A and take 150 won making 50% profit, however, if you lose 50% from B which you invested 150 won, the total amount of money is 75 won. On the other hand, if you invest 50 won in A and B each and make 50% earnings and loss 50% respectively, the total amount of money is 100 won. It seems like it might be simple, however, it's not easy to keep the principle. Another saying is "An investment is a marriage which involves divorce". It means that investor and investee work together after investment to achieve better results, however, they have to go separate ways once the investor retrieves its investment for realization of revenue.

 

I'd like to talk about a saying "It's better to invest in a company building a painkiller, not vitamin" among many other ones. Not everybody takes vitamins every day although they know that vitamins are good for their health. Most of them think that it doesn't matter even if they don't take them regularly. However, people cannot help taking a painkiller when they have severe pain. It would be better, as it were, to invest in living necessaries. The reason why I mention some investment sayings is to think whether the game content is a vitamin or painkiller. The game content, in an intuitive manner, is seen more like vitamins. People who are not good at video games don't put their life on hold or feel their lives are being threatened. They may not need games a lot fewer than vitamins. It seems that whole contents including video games, in the grand scheme of things, look like vitamins.

 

I have a different opinion on that. We have more leisure time as civilization progresses and our lives are getting easier. Most people today live and work in the close confines in the cities of artificial environments, while we have much free time. Now content is essential to modern people as entertainment to spend their spare time due to constraints of space. Video game, in common with much other content such as literature, film, music, is a simple entertainment for people in the society with a highly developed civilization. Competition between painkillers intense, so we have to focus on making games on a selective basis.

 

 

※ 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] 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