泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] Between something new and familiar

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

Between something new and familiar

 

There is a constant struggle between something new and familiar. We are often at the crossroads as we are forced to choose between two things, for instance, today's style and my favorite costume, a new job and the present job, or a newly-built fancy apartment and cozy old house because of the gap between expectations for something fresh and sense of familiarity with something old.

 

Recently I had dinner with the CEO of a film studio. We talked a lot about a new cinema in the planning stage including a business model to make a connection between a movie storyline and webcomics or video game in particular. I concluded the biggest difference between the motion picture and the video game is that they take different forms to show something "novel" and "accustomed" while we were discussing the planning. I'd like to deal with the difference between the two content - the narrative-based film and the interaction-oriented video game - in the planning stage.

 

Let me introduce a story which I heard before. A busy moviemaker asked a screenplay writer to summarize his scenario in a single sentence and the scriptwriter replied that it's a story about a terminally ill woman and a man who loves her. Readers may recall quite a few films or TV series which are associated with the summing-up. There are probably Love Story (1970 American film) or The letter (1997 South Korean film); the roles of the man and woman in the local movie are reversed unlike the first, etc. The basic attribute of storytelling-centered content is based on its familiarity. Nevertheless, no one would want to watch an unexceptionable motion picture or a predictable television series all the time. So something unconventional is needed in the processing of delivering despite its familiar structure. The narrative-focused content is equal to a house. A bedroom, living room, and restroom are considered necessary spaces on its solid foundations, however, the house can be designed differently for its flow of residents, outer wall or interior decoration, and furniture, etc. No one would like the house which is uniform in its interior and exterior structure and where there are no rooms for bathroom or kitchen, etc.

 

Meanwhile, communication-oriented content is equivalent to a car. Many Korean tourists to Japan may have been troubled when they drive on the left side of the road for the first time. It may be harder for drivers to control gear of a car with their feet and brake and accelerator with their hands. Let's put this into a newly released video game of totally different gameplay with other existing game rules. Users may want to stop playing the game if they can't become accustomed to the new specific way no matter what they do. On the other hand, users will get tired of enjoying the game with a predictable result.

 

A film needs to show a new form of familiarity, but a video game should guide players to the familiar-seeming new world. While you can easily guess the owner of a house where you visit once, it's hard to notice who owns the car with only an automobile-interior photo. Of course, it wouldn't be used in all content. But I reckon that a content product manager needs to think more carefully about this issue.

 

 

※ 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] What a game interest expects to the new government

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

What a game interest expects to the new government

 

The biggest recent issue in South Korea was that president-elect Moon was sworn in as President on Wednesday. Inauguration of the new president means that the leader of the country has been replaced at the micro-level, besides, not only cabinet ministers under the head of the administrative branch of the government but also many of the government policies would be changed in a broad perspective. The latest election was the nation's first presidential by-election. Therefore, it seems that there will be a radical change in government more than ever.

 

A new team leader in most companies often causes a lot of changes. Even a firm got a new CEO can be drastically transformed without any changes in the organization. I also was very confused by the new manager as if I was working for another corporate at one time in the past. Under these circumstances in Korea, a big change driven by the new government seems inevitable.

 

In recent years, the local gaming industry has been regulated in many ways. The government has considered enforcing Cooling-off Law and Game Addiction Law and has implemented Shutdown Law (Cinderella Law) to limit young online gamers for their right to learn and enough sleep. The idea of stricter regulations on playing a video game is absolute nonsense while there are lots of discussions to develop the creativity of young people because the game is the most innovative content among many to help teenagers to enhance their creativity and one of Korea's biggest industries.

 

The existing regulation-driven policies will clearly hinder the domestic gaming industry development. There are approximately 100,000 employees in the gaming sector and the video game industry is a major contributor as it accounts for a big part of the local content exports. Gaming industry workers who have been poorly treated are frustrated with this. We can't laugh off an employee's self-deprecating joke calling themselves as "an illegal drug manufacturer" when the video game was criticized unfavorably by national news outlets and media outlets. Both serialized articles about a way of starting a firm in foreign countries and Korean game maker-targeted business information sessions in the video game trade show on shifting the companies overseas are shreds of evidence that the Korean government has looked down on the gaming sector.

 

The new game-related policy direction is still unclear. But the Moon administration should at least not follow in the wake of the former government. Only a few people-involved expect the administration's full support such as huge tax incentives and large-scale funding for the local gaming industry. Those within the field are just hoping for not being fell through the cracks as the narcotic distributor and be treated fairly so that we are no longer mention the local gaming sector in crisis. I eagerly anticipate the new government promoting the depressed gaming 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] The Tooth and the Nail

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

The Tooth and the Nail

 

Recently, I attended the preview of a film named The Tooth and the Nail which would be released the moment you are reading this. It's a suspense thriller film. The word "thriller" appears to be used interchangeably with the word "suspense", however, the two terms precisely have different meanings. "Suspense" is a feeling of tension or anxiety when an audience has more information than a character in the movie, on the other hand, the viewer has less information than the character in terms of "thriller". For instance, if a detective tries to find a murder suspect whom no one knows where he is hiding, it's a "thriller", whereas if the policeman is approaching the criminal when both the cop and the audience don't realize that the suspect is hiding behind a wall holding a knife, it's "suspense". A well-made suspense thriller movie is from a good combination of the two factors.

 

The film is based on a 1955 novel of the same name by famous mystery writer Bill S. Billinger. The publisher, that was confident about the interesting and unexpected ending, promised the people who bought this book to refund their money back only if the readers didn't open the last part of the book which was sealed. The new movie makes people exclaim with admiration over the display of revenge play of a man who lost loved one and legal thriller about the body of the man who mysteriously disappeared through cross-cutting and inescapable links of two events at the end of the film. I think that more details may reduce the audiences' interest.

 

The reason I explained the suspense thriller movie in detail is to talk about the power of storytelling. Recently many web-serial comics and fictions make the readers more curious about what will happen next and induce people to make payments for the next stories in a similar way of the brilliant marketing success story of the original book I've just mentioned. I've often heard about amateurs turned full-time writers or creators after they hit the jackpot with their web fictions or comics which they wrote or drew as a hobby working full time. I reckon that the power of the stories broke new ground.

 

Numerous video games paying the creator for the rights have been released. It appears to be from only a brand-name content, but it's fundamentally based on a good narrative. In spite of the big differences between the game and the other content, it is an extension of storytelling content. It is really important for not only plot-centered role-playing game (RPG) but also the other genres because it helps a user to absorb in a round character thanks to realistic backgrounds and detailed worldview of the game. In Korea recently there has been an increasing tendency that many game developers pay no attention to the storyline. This enables a vicious cycle where fill-in back-stories are shunned by consumers since game makers regard the plot as of secondary importance and many users also think the narrative description is not critically important. But considering various over-the-seas audiovisual content based on originals, it's no better than giving up additional revenue from successful video games. Also, the immersive storyline that fully surrounds users has the effect of enhancing profitability by increasing the retention rate. I hope that lots of deeply engaging video games based upon good storytelling will be released in the market.

 

 

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

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

 

Translation by Kim Ki-hui