The 2008 KOGIA Plays of the Year

KOGIA, which is the Korean Games Industry Association (founded by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 1999 for the purpose of developing the game industry as the key future strategic industry of the country) has announced the winners of its first Global Online Game Awards for 2008.

It probably comes as no surprise that Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft was voted as the world's best role-playing game, and that Nexon's Kartrider handily got the nod for best racing/casual game.

"Other award winning online games include Valve's Counterstrike Source for best first-person shooting game, NCsoft's City of Heroes/Villains for best adventure/action game, EA Sports' FIFA 09 for best top sports game, and CCP Games' Eve Online for best strategic simulation game."

Read the story from Gamasutra here>>

While I'm on the topic of movers and shakers in the games industry, a reminder that the LOGIN 2009 conference (Seattle, May 11-14) call for speaker submissions goes on for another two weeks.

The Call for Speakers is open to all online game industry experts worldwide, whether for console, PC or mobile platforms. Candidates are asked to review the topics of interest and session submission tips on the LOGIN 2009 website and then submit a completed session proposal form and speaker application.

Details here>>

By the way, I'm still in the midst of conducting interviews with those involved in the Korean Games Industry, so if you're based here in Korea, or making a trip here within the next two months send me a note. It's the home stretch now!

Top 100 Anthropology Blogs

Online Universities.com has posted a list of their "top 100 Anthropology Blogs," with a brief run-down of what they're about.

On the whole, it's a reasonable list of blogs, many of which I myself already keep up on )like Savage Minds, This Blog Sits at the, INCITE... or guested on, as with the case of Terra Nova), and some that are new and interesting.

I just don't know why #39 is on there... (cough)...blimey. heh

Thanks for the props.

Internet Addiction: real or virtual?

A very interesting, well articulated piece on Internet addiction in this Podcast from CBC Radio's show "Search Engine."

Host Jesse Brown talks about how Internet Addiction was initially posed as a 'joke', but then became part of the vernacular that some of us are trying to shake. There's also a really interesting interview he has with Dr. Jerald Block, who's been trying to get the DSM-V to include Internet Addiction.

However, one might see how the argument is very chicken/egg in that to get more research funding to investgate whether or not Internet Addiction really exists, the disorder needs to be officially recognized on the DSM-V. But then, how do we avoid incorrectly including something of this nature that is still so hotly contested and outright rejected by some even in the medical community?

I highly recommend anyone considering the concept of Internet addiction to take a listen. The circularity of logic in the interview quickly becomes apparent... but I leave it up to you to decide, cuz you probably already know my opinion on things. (and if you don't, take a look at some of my pubs on the right-hand side of this blog!)

The console/online game divide and changing business models

From Gamasutra, a focus on the console/online game divide in Korea with commentary from Stephen Lee of Nexon (MapleStory) with reference to interviews done during Korea's G-Star games show.

Related to that is an announcement from EA that it plans to make a major departure from its traditional business model (box sales) and distribute an installment of its hit Battlefield series as a free download on the Internet.

Rather than being sold at retail, the game is meant to generate revenue through advertising and small in-game transactions that allow players to spend a few dollars on new outfits, weapons and other virtual gear.

At a conference in Munich, the company intends to announce that the new game, Battlefield Heroes, will be released for PC this summer. More broadly, E.A. hopes the game can help point the way for Western game publishers looking to diversify beyond appealing to hard-core players with games that can cost $60 or more.

E.A.’s most recent experiment with free online games began two years ago in South Korea, the world’s most fervent gaming culture. In 2006, the company introduced a free version of its FIFA soccer game there, and Gerhard Florin, E.A.’s executive vice president for publishing in the Americas and Europe, said it has signed up more than five million Korean users and generates more than $1 million in monthly in-game sales.

NYT story here>>

Because gaming is indeed a global industry, it is really interesting to see how business models are changing to actually reflect the dynamics of local user cultures. This is illustrated by plans to obtain revenues by bringing micropayments (e.g. buying shoes for one's avatar) to Western players along with other such strategies (that cope with piracy issues) that have been used in Korea for quite some time. Instead of fighting the tide by clamping down on piracy in the name of antiquated business models, there is room to be creative and find new and innovative ways to remain competitive in the industry.

EA establishes development base in Korea

On Thursday, Electronic Arts announced that it plans to set up a development studio in Korea within the year and create three or four new online games.

Famous for hit series such as "FIFA Soccer" and "The Sims", the company's sales stand at US$3.7 billion.

The Chosunilbo reports:

EA aims to secure talented Korean game developers to lay the foundation for a future advance into the Asian market. Senior producer Danny Isaac will head the new studio.

"The size of the studio hasn't been decided yet," a company source said. "First we plan to recruit dozens of workers to develop the 'NBA Street' and 'Battle Field' online games, but if we have more applicants than expected we may increase the size of the studio and develop another game.”

The company estimated that it will invest at least W20 billion (US$1=W938) in the studio.

Start off the New Year right...

...with some reading from Games and Culture: A Journal of Interactive Media, published by SAGE.

Dal Yong Jin and I have an article published in the latest issue of Games and Culture (2008, Vol.3 Issue 1, pp. 38-58) titled, "Age of New Media Empires: A Critical Interpretation of the Korean Online Game Industry."

The table of contents along with access to the text can be found here at the Sage Journals Online website: http://gac.sagepub.com/content/vol3/issue1/

Alongside articles that take up games in the Asia-Pacific, our paper is a combination of political economy and ethnography from our research on Korean online games.

Abstract: In this article, the authors attempt to ascertain the factors involved in the swift growth of online games in the context of broader sociocultural elements. Through political economy and ethnographic analysis, they show that online games, like other forms of technology, are sociocultural products that have been historically constituted by certain forms of knowledge and social practice. First, they map out the forces driving their development by examining government policies and competition among online games companies in Korea. They then explore capital flow to investigate the major players in the market. Finally, they explore the sociocultural elements contributing to the diffusion of online games in the cultural milieu specific to Korea.

Key Words: ethnography • Korea • online games • policy • political economy

Happy New Year all, and happy reading! All accusations of geeking out apply.

Today on the Christy Clark Show CKNW 980

I'll be on the Christy Clark Show today from 1pm-1:40pm PST, talking about addiction to online games. The need for commentary on this issue arises from yesterday's story about a person in China dying after a 'binge' of Web activity at an Internet Cafe.

You can tune in to AM980 if you're in the area, or listen live via the Web on the CKNW site.

Updated: The audio archive version of the shows can be found at http://www.christyclark.ca/audio/

Gene Endrody, CEO of Maid Marian Entertainment (makers of ~free~ web-based MMORPGS) was an awesome co-panelist. His information and games(!) can be found here: http://www.maidmarian.com/

The land of the soundbyte is indeed filled with its own set of challenges, and kudos to anyone who navigates within it from industry, academia, and/or government. Actually, we had perspectives from all three sectors: Christy, as many may know, was a provincial MLA and Cabinet Minister, Gene makes games in the games industry, and well... I guess you might call me an academic.I thoroughly enjoyed the banter Christy, Gene, and I had on the show--so much, we actually went ten minutes overtime! The host said that rarely happens. :)

Terra Nova post: Local contexts of addiction to online games

I’ve been a reader and friend of those on TerraNova since its beginning in 2003. Being a person who loves games, gaming, and games research, it is an absolute pleasure to be an invited guest blogger for TN this month.

I thought this would be a great time to share my plans for (dramatic epic music //) the dissertation (// dramatic epic music) so that TN readers may get a cursory idea of what I'm 'about.' My research involves taking a critical look at dominant discourses surrounding the phenomenon of “online games addiction” as it is understood in a colloquial sense, primarily the concept is presented in the mass media. More specifically, I’m questioning the meanings of definition, regulation, and cultural value of excessive game playing in the context of Korean online game culture. My goal is to build an increased understanding of cultural factors in the evaluation and implementation of technology and the social fallouts that may coincide with that.

The widespread international concern of addiction to online games in particular, with which many TN blog readers are familiar, provides an excellent context in which to situate an examination of the interaction between Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) and users in their lived realities. I'm especially interested in how games are a part of that inquiry, increasingly acting as a medium by which users communicate and often facilitate meaningful relationships. By thinking of games as a form of meaningful communication, it problematizes how concepts like 'addiction' to such activities are operationalized and measured (such as 'time spent online' or 'anxiety level when not logged on'). Should we think about games in their myriad forms differently?

>>Continue reading post at TN

The war against obsessive game play

I didn't come up with that phrase, this Korea Times article did, linked from Hanna's blog Seoul Digital City. It was only a matter of time. The story is about a Korean venture start-up that has developed an inaudible sound sequence that will tell game players to 'stop playing' at a subliminal level.
(blink)
Too freaky. Who knows what else they could tell me to do while I'm playing (methinks I gotta stop this recent habit of clucking like a chicken at red lights though). This, in my post Cory Doctorow talk mindset...the implications are numerous for what exactly one may consent to when logging on.
In her informative post, Hanna touched upon some of the complex societal pressures Korean youth face, hinting at various school/family imperatives to excel in studies, along with mandates to increase online education and e-textbooks. The situation seems part and parcel with fallouts of people's modern fetishization of 'E-ness,' including 'obsessive game play' by which some Korean youth have exhibited self-destructive behaviour. So naturally the games are an issue, because unlike their North American counterparts, Korean youth find it really tough to self-destruct with other things like meth because the access just isn't there.
But now I'm being facetious. But there is a point.
Perhaps I could be clearer. Put simply and admittedly generally, why are we targeting the games, or the device when it is abundantly clear to everyone that things like excessive game play are indicators of what is probably a much broader complex societal ill? Is it because in 'treating' something we can put one finger on, we're convincing ourselves that we're fixing things?
I think of the situation as similar to what we often see in Western medicine--treating the symptom rather than the cause. Addiction itself is often diagnosed in in these terms. We can't fix unemployment, the nastiness of Capitalism writ large, kids being abused in their homes, our fragmenting communities, the repercussions of globalization and so on.... so, banning a drug is naturally much more within our reach. So we do that and pat ourselves on the back while spewing 80s war on drugs rhetoric.
The problems are devastating. The behaviour that people engage in to deal with those problems have devastating results. But, the problems are still there.
In the Korean context, we see youth dealing with the world they've been dealt, creating within what has been created. The problems found there or anywhere else, won't be solved with one-variable solutions. I've got my work cut out for me in trying to convince people of that, eh?