泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] The fourth industrial revolution and the gaming industry (Part1)

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

The fourth industrial revolution and the gaming industry (Part1)

April. 12. 2018.

 The inaugural Gyeonggi Global Game Forum, which was supervised by Gyeonggi Content Agency, was held recently under the theme "Past, Present, and future of South Korea's Gaming Industry". I delivered a keynote address in the forum. Thanks to this column series that I have written for about five years, I assume that I played an important role as the opening keynote speaker. Taking this opportunity, I'd like to convey my sincere appreciation to The Kyunghyang Games.

 In my introductory statement, I needed to elaborate on past and current situations of the gaming sector and prospects for the industry in the era of the fourth industrial revolution. I kept talking about the past and present of the gaming industry through previous columns and I dealt with the future of the sector couple of times. On the other hand, I've never focused on a specific topic of the relation between the fourth industrial revolution and the gaming industry.

 Video game-related technologies typically include: digital reality—augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality—; artificial intelligence (AI)—intelligence demonstrated by machines—; big data technologies; and blockchain—cryptocurrency is how it became known to the public. They are applied in a variety of content as well as a video game. People can easily experience VR images or videos and access AR characters. And the Internet of Things (IoT) devices connected to the AI can offer various content for users. Also, big data technologies help purchasers to find specific content, which they would like, by analyzing consumer spending patterns, and blockchain is applied to protect the intellectual property rights of diverse content. These technologies are contributed to increasing the value of digital content by and large.

 The game sector is the leader within the digital content industry. Now multiple game developers are made VR games and not a few new generations of games with virtual reality technology are released in the market. VR games give players a truly immersive experience more than any other existing game genre although this technology still leaves much room for improvement. This applied science is in its beginning stages, however, with so many platforms offering virtual reality games, VR amusement parks or VR theme parks have sprung up here and there. Increasingly affordable prices of VR hardware and improved usability also help the related market expand. Only a few years later, we may reminisce of players—who put themselves in a heroic character's shoes—on the computer fighting an evil king off or having a gun battle using a keyboard and a computer mouse in a first-person shooter (FPS). AR games—Pokémon Go is a prime example—bringing digital characters into reality offers a brand-new experience for anyone who plays the game. Many Pokémon Go fans, who took their time to look at their smartphone screens on the roadside at this time last year, made me think of the monsters living together in this world.

※ 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] Golden boy and availability bias

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

Golden boy and availability bias

March. 29. 2018.

As I mentioned many times, I meet various chief executive officers because of my job. Leadership positions must weigh heavily on everybody. A boss of a firm needs to set a direction for the future of the corporation, make decisions, and pay employees' salaries every month. Envying the head's authority, staff members don't consider the leader's authority. Compare to the power which is easily seen, workers cannot feel responsible for something until they experience it. Even if there are no big consequences, I cannot help respecting countless representatives who have run a business for several years. Because I went out of business long ago.

  On the other hand, a great number of leaders tend to make the wrong decision. It's a natural behavior of risk avoidance because they don't want to take upon themselves for anything. The availability bias is a miscalculation that the chief executive officers often make in such a situation. The availability heuristic occurs when evaluating a specific topic or conclusion relying on not inaccurate data but immediate examples that come to a given person's mind. Media outlets seem to reinforce this tendency. The mass media, by the nature of the people they serve, is apt to write an article about something unusual. For instance, a newspaper doesn't print the story of a person who loses millions of won or tens of millions of won on the stock market on contrary to a man who made tens of billions of won. While repeatedly reading biased articles, people are apt to mistake talent for luck thinking that anyone can easily make tens of billions of won if they want to. Numerous mothers are reluctant to speak ill of their sons and daughters although they devote so much time to brag about their children. A legend about a golden boy—it's called "Eom-chin-a (literally mother's friends' son or daughter)" in South Korea—is credited like this.

  Recently, I spoke with the head of video game development. The CEO, a former talented programmer, was very proud of a self-made game that he had developed in person for several years. I thought that the game was technically mature. However, despite the high-quality work, unfortunately, programming perfection doesn't guarantee fun of the game. The company had to terminate its service due to a high-maintenance fee long after its launch. I cannot say for certain, but I believe that there are problems with game design. But the leader put the project failure down to lack of marketing budget for an hour in the meeting.

  Many game developers talk about how much they spent a promotional budget for profit. And they want to suppose that a specific sum of money would ensure some level of expected return. Without leaders' objective perspective on things, the matters would not be solved based on what they want to believe. If mothers don't stop nagging mentioning a golden boy, it would just make their children feel annoyed or less confident. I sincerely expect game developers not to make a wrong decision under the delusion about Eomchina.

※ 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] Airbnb and Lezhin Comics

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

Airbnb and Lezhin Comics 

March. 15. 2018.

I visit lots of startups because of my line of work. As the name suggests, start-up companies face myriad problems until they reach the goal. The matters may include a corporate member, an investor, a product, or a customer. The success or failure of a small business is heavily dependent on how it deals with the difficulties that all start-ups have without exception.

 

It's an unsavory incident of an on-demand food delivery service company which is now very famous for its platform in South Korea. A restaurant owner blackmailed an app-ordered customer by using the personal data that the user registered. Consumers have no choice but to disclose their contact-details including a telephone number and address to access the service. The fact that they can be intimidated by someone makes app users reluctant to order food on the platform. The company terminated the contract immediately and made an apology to the victim promising to provide the all needed support such as a new cell phone and moving costs, and so on. Coping with this situation wisely can pave the way for start-ups. Airbnb, a global online marketplace company offering arrangements for lodging, also suffered from similar troubles in the very beginning. Media coverage of a guest who messed up a house hurt its credibility. With presenting a plan to pay a maximum of one-million-dollar compensation to potential victims, the company deeply apologized to the host and immediately opened a 24/7 customer center.

 

Lezhin Comics, a South Korean webtoons platform for mature audiences, recently has been at odds with some webcomic artists. The writers argued that people on the blacklist were excluded from various events after they raised questions on the company's policy. I cannot ascertain whether it is true or not, however, the webtoon firm's handling of the issue went against what the other in both cases have done. The corporation announced that it would file a lawsuit against the artists arguing that the blacklist, which was personally made by an employee, has nothing to do with the company. It's a typical case of what Koreans call "Gap-Jil"; an arrogant and bossy attitude or actions of the party who has positions of power over others. In most cases, a subcontractor ends up losing in a legal battle against a contractor. Because the usable amount of capital and power between the two is far from equal. If this pattern persists, there can be little hope for the services provider in seeking the wholesome development of healthy relationships between Lezhin Comics and its artists. Also, more than a few webtoonists and users would leave the platform.

 

It's the same in the gaming industry; lots of people start their businesses and face various obstacles while they are developing a game or offering game services. Without coming up with a fundamental solution, the start-ups would lose their staff and users. I hope to see many game developers will solve complications wisely and be on a roll as good companies.

 

 

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

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

 

Translation by Kim Ki-hui