“Annyeonghaseyo” Suzanna Samstag Oh with blond hair and blue eyes, a branch manager in Korea, Games For Change, says hello to our reporter in Korean.Last March, Suzanna Samstag Oh made a impressive speech at the conference named Breaking Down Bias on games conference. There is an odd phenomenon that people attribute all bad problems to games happening in society. But she suggests it is not an absolute solution. She is one of figures who criticizes game restriction in Korea.She said games in Korea is just like a inferior culture, meanwhile, Video games in western countries are recognized as an art, it is sometimes displayed in the art museum.
[why Korean government is only focusing on negative effects]The bill of game regulation says that violence and addictive features has spoiled our children. However, each member of community like parents, teachers and etc hasn’t played his or her own role in the society. Suzanna said, the reason why Korean government is only focusing on negative effects of game is not because of problems of game itself but because of Korean government’s fault. Korean community tends to avoid uncomfortable situations rather than set specific standards on specific issues. These issues including sex violence, school violence petered out for this tendency of Korean community. It doesn’t make sense that games cause harsh violence for children and make our children become addicts.There would be no biased perspectives on games if parents and teachers had a long and sincere conversation with their children and set clear criteria. I cannot help wondering why there are lots of negative reports in Korea, even though there are lots of reports including positive effects of game in foreign countries. She thinks the press in Korea saying that internet addicts have a low level grasp and poor judgment due to developmental disorder of front lobe seems to depreciate its professionalism. She cannot but think that would be a serious mistake making the public think that games have only negative effects. She said the press worsens the situation with unprofessional knowledge of games and distorted facts rather than points out the older generation’s misunderstanding or don’t emphasize proper function of games. “Korea should change its negative recognition toward games. Korea will miss the great chance to be a hub of contents industry of itself if Korea doesn’t change itself.”She said many countries excluding Korea have regarded the game affecting brain development and its accessibility as favorable contents and have kept trying to create a synergy effect with education.However, Korea is stopping itself from developing, without knowing that Korea could seize the initiative in the game contents industry all over the world. What’s the most important is right recognition on games of Korea to be the leading country in the contents export business.
[Lineage game could be a functional game.]People tend to think functional game should focus on only educational effects, actually it’s not true. MMORPG like Lineage and Aion could be a functional game. She explained there would be a system that job seekers could get additional points in foreign countries. A person who has ever played MMORPG would have more cooperation,problem-solving ability and negotiating power. It’s like employers give an employee who finished his military service additional points in civil service examination. She denies negative problems of Korean MMORPG, explaining educational effects of MMORPG.She said, a player could have a strong sense of community that people can’t learn from real life and learn problem-solving abilities and the way of communication through many processes of hunting animals, enjoying raid, managing items and selling items. It means it could be a functional game as it is now.“Korea should continuously invest money and be patient to be a leading country in the functional game industry. Korea shouldn’t expect to pass with flying colors if Korea stops it due to current low profitability”. She said haste of Korean company has had functional games fail over and over in Korea.The Competition between 10billion won’s development expense and less than 100million won’s investment doesn’t make sense. There are untapped opportunities in the functional games. Failures would be inevitable only if someone wants to get instant success in the market.She said the role of Game Culture Foundation or KOCCA(Korea Creative Contents Agency) would be very important. These organizations need to signpost for game industry the various points Korean game is going to step forward in the long term.She said although game industry in Korea is having difficulty fighting against its negative effects of game like violence and excessive immersion in game, it could be a necessary catalyst in the near future to solve all problems rooted in our society by trying to our best. Additionally, Korea should find a proper answer not only in terms of technologies and contents but in terms of systems and trends for bright future.
