泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] Video game, copyright, bitcoin, and law

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

Video game, copyright, bitcoin, and law

February. 01. 2018.

 

I read an interesting article yesterday. To sum up, Suwon District Court has overturned the original trial on the second appeal to seize bitcoin of a pornographic site owner, identified by his surname An, because the court regarded the cryptocurrency as the criminal proceeds. The ruling of the appellate trial holds significant meaning as bitcoin is included in criminal proceeds as a legally recognizable asset reversing the lower court's decision that the cryptocurrency should be exempted from confiscation because it is a non-physical object.

 

I want to leave various political debates and investment or speculation out of the topic here. I don't like to deal with the cryptocurrency powered by blockchain technology because I'm not a technocrat; notably, what does this technology mean in the content industry? In the era of the fourth industrial revolution, the difference between original digital content and replicated ones are not officially recognized. Regardless of copy, digital music files or image files maintain the same quality of the content. However, the characteristics of the digital content can be changed by blockchain because it enables users to tell the difference between original works and digital replica. Recently Kodak, a company well-known for its analog film with its historic basis on photography, announced that it will apply this technology to KodakCoin, a photographer-oriented blockchain cryptocurrency. It seems to intend to secure a copyright helping photographers with their creative endeavors.

 

Video games are linked with various fields in the content industry. For example, there are game character designs, video game soundtracks, and copyright protection for video games, etc. If game companies are supported by copyright law based on blockchain technology, they could attempt to develop new business models to generate revenue.

 

Just three years ago, I wrote an article criticizing an out-of-date court ruling; Seoul Administration Court stood for Korea Customs imposed a tax on an external hard disk drive stored video clips which were filmed in overseas locations. The world is changing faster than ever before. Of course, the pace of change in the legal field, which has to prioritize social stability, cannot catch up with the pace in the Industrial world rapidly responding to the changing times. But legal professionals, at least, should try to meet the demand of the times not to be gradually alienated from reality. So, in that respect, I give loud applause to Suwon District Court that ruled bitcoin is an asset because it can be of great help to content-based enterprises for protecting copyright.

 

 

※ 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] Byulbram and Pearl Abyss

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

Byulbram and Pearl Abyss

January. 11. 2018.

 

Kim Gwangsam, a professor of Chungkang College of Cultural Industries, who is better known as his nickname "Byulbram", has recently joined Pearl Abyss, the nation's famous video game developer, which is well known for the hit MMORPG Black Desert. The news was very impressive for me because Byulbram is one of my favorite acquaintances and Black Desert is the video game that, unfortunately, I couldn't invest in due to complicated circumstances. I talk about Byulbram and Pearl Abyss today.

 

Professor Kim is well known for a one-person developer who is responsible for all things related to game development including video game designer, programmer, graphic designer, and composer, etc. Byulbram attempted many experimental things as a single developer or a small number of a development team creating Geunyeo-ui Gisadan - Her Knights, a side-scrolling action game Her Knights: All for the Princess, a fighting game Bloody Cross, an infiltration action game Silver Bullet, a creative-settings RPG Matterhorn. He has launched a game on various platforms such as PC, GP32 (Game Park 32bit)—a handheld game console—, smartphones, and Steam, etc. and served as the president of Korea Game Development Association. The former professor of the Chungkang College of Cultural Industries till quite recently is well known for his unique dressing style with a leather jacket and a red tie.

 

Pearl Abyss, a video game developer of the open-world MMORPG Black Desert, went into open beta in 2014 and now is developing a mobile version since its official release in 2015. The MMORPG is currently launched in more than 100 countries with sales of over 100 billion won and net profit of tens of billion won. Based on its results, the game developer went public on the KOSDAQ in 2015 and increased the value of its assets to 3 trillion won by now. The game is doing so well in North America a Europe peaking at No. 1 on the various game charts in those regions as well.

 

I've ever taught college students about the difference between "work" and "product". To sum up, a piece of work is an artist's message, whereas a product is a manufacturer's output for some potential economic benefits. Therefore, without the intention of generating revenue, the artist should make the piece only based on not an investor's resources but their own or patron's. Of course, I reckon that the two sometimes can successfully coexist. A piece of work having both characteristics in a coordinated manner is called by different names, for example, a masterpiece, a fine piece of work, or classic, etc.

 

Pearl Abyss is one of the country's representative video game developers showing good performance. And Byulbram is a representative single-person game developer of the country. I have high hopes of the two who bring together an amazing synergy, which will produce a good game that comes to be called a masterpiece or a fine piece of work.

 

※ 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] No one can leave the island on foot

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

No one can leave the island on foot

December. 28. 2017.

 

I heard a heartbreaking story from an acquaintance in the gaming industry a while ago. Investors are reluctant to invest in mobile games, despite currently ongoing boom for the local gaming sector thanks in part to a couple of successful game makers. In particular, some start-ups are said to be cash-strapped. Even an investor who is interested in a big publisher's game project that a famous developer involves doesn't want to consider to commit capital to a game with a low success rate due to astronomical cost for marketing, user or marketing data tracking, and a global strategy, etc. I strongly argued that not every venture capital firm isn't like that and I actively examine details of the small start-ups, however, it is true that he pointed out that I don't represent the whole venture capitalists and most investors currently aren't interested in mobile games much. I also sympathize with him in his point of view about the reason why investment firms are passive in spending money.

 

There is no riskless investment, not to mention the cliché that 'Never let a good crisis go to waste.' The more you take the risk, the more you can expect high profit. Venture capital is high-risk, high-return investing in support of business creation and growth. VCs may turn the currently hostile environment by investing in a handful of prospective companies with good conditions. The latest cases that created huge investment returns were born from courage in the face of danger. A developer should persuade an investor to stress its strength. It's probably as unlikely that a game without a very distinctive concept, design, or gameplay will be a huge success, as it is unlikely that a classic arcade game Galaga will make a comeback thanks to the recent retro fad in the whole content industry. Game makers must have a point to encourage users to distinguish themselves from other ordinary game developers and use it when they make investors believe that their product is well worth investing in. Despite in case the project failed, they need to highlight the games' strengths that their return on investment will be pretty high if they succeed.

 

A market that is not open to business from companies in other countries is called 'Galápagos islands'. The recluse islands are often cited as explaining Darwin's theory of evolution. Galápagos each have their unique flora and fauna because of out-of-the-way places with the uncommon natural environment. On the contrary, it is difficult for those animals and plants that adapted well to the out-of-the-ordinary setting to survive in a normal environment. The local gaming industry has adapted to a peculiar circumstance for a long time may lose survival ability in the global market place. Now developers should try to leave the island. The effort is subject to take many risks and more challenges ahead. Challenges at great risks don't guarantee success. But I'd like to say that no one can leave the island on foot.

 

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

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

 

Translation by Kim Ki-hui