泥中蟠龍‘s Game愛歌 The Bechdel test and righteous games

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泥中蟠龍‘s Game愛歌

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

The Bechdel test and righteous games

The Bechdel test

 

There is the Bechdel test which is a method of evaluating the portrayal of women in fiction. It is first appeared in comic strip of the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel in 1985. And it just needs to satisfy the following requirements:

 

1. The movie has to have at least two women in it,

2. who talk to each other,

3. about something besides a man.

 

It's not easy to find films which meet these simple-looking standards. Recently released Korean movies generally fail to meet the requirements. All movies meeting the above criteria don't portray gender equality. However, the fact that just less than half of the movies pass the simple test means that film industry is a largely male-dominated filed. It's more clear when applying the requirements to men and women in reverse.

 

In recent times, the question about 'Political correctness' is gradually raised in the cultural world. Gender equality, one of the problems, is the most talked-about question. A female character in the recent trailer of 'Battlefield V' wearing a prosthetic arm and using a cricket bat to kill someone is being debated. Battlefield, which is well-known for its good historical research, now is said to be not desirable because it degrades gameplay and has an historically unrealistic character appear for excessive 'Political correctness'. The controversy over 'Political correctness' and gameplay seems to be going on. Someone will try to reflect recent changes for 'Political correctness', while others will criticize them for degrading gameplay.

 

I'm not talking about right and wrong. I don't want to force my own idea on readers or be attacked by the opposition in the newspaper column where the writer cannot rebut their arguments. I mean that these arguments themselves have a beneficial effect on games industry. Game is one area of cultural contents and progress in the field is based on diversity. Contents will lose some of the individuality and will not improve without acknowledging diversity. So, in that respect, these disputes may be advisable. Heated dispute over the righteous games and game content will help a continual improvement in the quality of games. I hope to see someone learned literature and philosophy through game like someone studied history and literature through comic book and film.

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

    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 nuclear power generation industry and the video gaming industry

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

The nuclear power generation industry and the video gaming industry

 

The Shin Kori Nuclear Power Plant Units 5&6 construction is scheduled to begin again soon. Last July, the Moon administration launched an ad-hoc committee to gather public opinion on whether to permanently halt the building of the nuclear reactors while temporarily called off constructing power plants. The committee offered a variety of sources to about 500 "citizen jurors", conducted surveys, hold public hearings over about four months and submitted the final recommendations to the Government. According to the recommendations, 59.5 percent supported a reconstruction with 40.5 percent objecting to the current policy. Also, 53.2 percent recommended to gradually lower reliance on nuclear power from now on.

 

I believe that stop building the 5&6 plants is desirable. Nuclear fission energy, which is commonly called nuclear power, is not simply a matter of economic logic. Some people concerned that South Korea will fall behind in the over ￦400 trillion nuclear reactor construction market, however, more than half of it is the needs of China and India. And both of the countries already have their original techniques. Of course, Korea cannot easily have the other half percent market share without fierce competition in the global market. As I noted earlier, it's hard to be perfectly recovered from a nuclear accident such as Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster or Chernobyl disaster even on a national level. The latter is one of the reasons why the Soviet Union collapsed, which means that the nuclear accident can lead a country to go bankrupt. Therefore, I'm opposed to increasing the number of nuclear power plants on economic grounds taking high risks.

 

I don't think that the decision of the committee is wrong. And this column is not to let the readers know that I'm an anti-unclear power. Despite the final recommendations that I disagree with, I envy the 500 citizen jurors who couldn't help but accept the results thanks to the rational and fair negotiation process.

 

The local gaming industry has given legal sanctions from many organizations concerned. Many parent-related groups have claimed that video game is very addictive and distracting students causing poor grades and health problems from insufficient sleep. However, despite countless criticisms and restrictions, there was no impartial and transparent process of sufficient discussions about the video game-related problems or appropriateness of the present government's policies through an ad-hoc committee. The video gaming industry is emerging as a globally promising business, unlike unclear power that some European countries are phasing-out. Besides, it's not an inherently dangerous industry that could kill tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands in an industrial accident. I hope that the government will listen to public opinions to regulate the video game 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] A break for South Korea's gaming industry

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

A break for South Korea's gaming industry

 

Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) will be held soon. I have kept writing for a newspaper for four years since around the 18th film festival in 2013. But it seems like just yesterday. I'm not trying to show off although I'm somewhat overwhelmed by the long-period time and there were many pleasant memories. Frankly speaking, the opening sentence of the column is nothing short of a struggle to escape from finding a new subject because I simply can't decide what to write about today. This quite often happened for the past four years as the deadline drew near. I used to sit in front of a computer looking at the monitor for a good while with no definite idea.

 

In this case, I usually try to have my attention drawn away running through a book or playing a video game. I used to find myself begging a subject from me without thinking outside of the box because I was so lost in thought that I couldn't come up with the idea. But I hit upon a good concept for writing all of a sudden as if I find effective strategy or tactics for a task in a video game. Therefore, I let me get distracted for a while until a good idea just popped into my head.

 

Recently I heard from several game developers that they have to close down their businesses for good. It's not only very sad for me but also will have a bad effect on the domestic gaming industry. The recent business environment for national video game makers is considerably deteriorating. The costs of development have moved up as big publishers release large-budget video games, whereas the number of newly-published games is declining. Developers are gradually losing their chance to introduce a brand-new game against increased production costs. Increasing losses from unpopular or unloved content have also led investors to cut back on their investment. Self-publishing puts a big financial burden on small game studios owing to the formidable marketing cost. Also, imported games have taken over the domestic market and the government has constantly tightened the rules on local video games over the past few years. It's comparable to a college student who struggles with higher tuition, difficult job-hunting, and parent's hard living conditions.

 

I can't provide a definite solution to the increasingly fierce industry situation. But I believe that the national gaming industry will keep growing overcoming all crises at present. There were a lot of difficulties in the past and will be in the future as well. We will find a better solution if we are looking forward to the future with a positive attitude, like clearing your head for a while sometimes helps you to strike upon an idea easily. I do no doubt that it's time for Korea's gaming industry to get some rest.

 

 

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

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

 

Translation by Kim Ki-hui