Story

Unique Content,
Speed and Competition are
Featured in Korean Games

Video games have contributed greatly to the modern Korean economy. The first Korean
video game was “Fox Ranger,” a first-person shooter (FPS) released in 1987 on the Apple II.
Ten years later, Korea had to undergo the hardships of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
In the efforts to overcome the crisis, Korean video games industry emerged as the key factor,
leading toward recovery. Since 2000, Korean video game have been exported all around the
world, even launching what the media has dubbed the “K-game wave.” Today, Korea has
gained a reputation as a top video game producing country. The success of Korean video
games, whether on desktop, console or smartphone, is driven largely by their unique content,
which reflects the characteristics of the Korean people. The stories are infused with people’s
sentiment, fierce competition, and fast-paced action.

Written by Lee Duck-Kyu, <Gameabout> Editor-in-chief & Journalist, Korea Game Media Association

Stories That Move the Heart

In the early days, Korean video games tried to emulate video games produced in Japan or the U.S. However, they weren’t merely imitations. Foreign-made games were used as a benchmark and Korean sentiments were integrated into them. Korea’s most famous computer role-playing game (RPG) is “The War of Genesis,” launched in 1995. Most video games centered on the growth of the main characters and told a story of good triumphing over evil. The War of Genesis, however, added more depth, with the unfolding of episodes tied to different characters. The episodes are emotionally descriptive and strike a chord with gamers. Incorporating elements of revenge and tragedy into the video games is derived from the traditional Korean psychological concept of han, a feeling of oppression and isolation in the face of adversity. There are three parts to the series, and the game was widely popular in Japan. The storytelling style in Korean video games is similar to that in Korean TV soap operas. Both Korean video games and TV soap operas feature delicate emotions, a conflict between characters, and an element of romance. This explains how Korean video games have repeated the success of Korean TV soap operas among consumers all around the world.

Korean Video Games,
Turning Crisis into Opportunity

The 1997 Asian financial crisis had a huge impact on Korean society. The restructuring of companies left many people jobless, and the country saw a spike in youth unemployment. Suicides increased, and some families were destroyed. All of society was in despair. Meanwhile, for the Korean video game industry, the crisis was an opportunity. The government attempted to overcome the financial crisis by boosting the tech industry. It concentrated its resources on improving internet access and supported video game startups.
Companies founded at that time include major video game developers like NCsoft and NEXON. Video game infrastructure was built, and *PC rooms popped up across the country. PC rooms, which evolved from video arcades of the 1980s, would be packed with the newest 486 or Pentium desktops. People who were forced to quit their jobs because of the financial crisis would open PC rooms.
Professional gaming became an actual career. Professional gamers, such as Lim Yo-hwan and Lee Yun-yeol, became popular like star athletes. Children those days dreamed of becoming professional gamers. As Korea recovered from the 1997 Asian financial crisis, it naturally developed the optimal environment for gaming. With the video game industry acting as an engine of economic growth, and with processing power and internet access growing in tandem, the new genre of online games, or connected video games, was born.

User-Created Game World

Korean online games, where players are connected through the internet and generally played on desktops or consoles, are different from non-Korean online games in that they are serviced completely online. Users download the software instead of purchasing an installation CD. Content in non-Korean video games is created by developers and consumed by the players. For Korean online games, however, the players themselves determine the direction of the content. That is, they have the power to create a new world within the game.
Nobody knows how the story will unfold, just as we don’t know what will happen in the future. Players can communicate with others inside the video game, and participate in economic activities, as well as politics. They can form guilds and compete with others while creating their own story. This so-called “groupism” is also a key characteristic of today’s Korean video games. This is difficult to find in non-Korean games, which tend to be more individualistic. Korean online games are consistent with the Korean people’s collective intelligence, as demonstrated in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Candlelight Revolution. The game “Kingdom of the Winds,” based on a Korean graphic novel, is a game set during the Three Kingdoms of Korea (57 B.C.-A.D. 668). The game is not confined to the original plot, however, and players can join forces to build an entirely new history. “Lineage,” developed by NCsoft, is another online game that is representative of the Korean people’s groupism.

Cyber Civil Revolution:
Changing History Through
Storytelling in Video Games

This groupist aspect of Korean online games gave birth to a new style of storytelling. In 2004, a “cyber civil revolution” took place within the video game world of “Lineage 2,” a well-known massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Inside the video game, people of a higher level enjoy greater power. This led to high-level players, people who played the game a lot, dominating weaker players. They took over so-called “hunting zones” and imposed excessively high “taxes” in the video game world. Other players soon heard about this, considered it to be abuse, and created their own video game profiles to participate in a video game protest. The high-level players tried to disperse the thousands of online protestors, but in the end acknowledged defeat. This unprecedented event, perceived to be an accurate mirror of society, created a paradigm shift in the domestic video gaming world. It is referred to as a “cyber civil revolution” by many media outlets, and even scholars have approached the episode as a case of “storytelling in a digital society.”

Fast-Paced Games Appeal to Koreans

Korean video and online games tend to be fast-paced, as slow-paced games are not popular. Thanks to the fast-paced nature of Korean online games, users experience a thrill like no other. “Sudden Attack,” one of the most successful online games in Korea, is a speed-oriented first-person shooter.
Users have to strike within seconds of starting a match, and walk a very fine line between life and death. The fast pace of Korean online games has appealed to users around the world. “CrossFire,” a hit in mainland China, is popular for its fast-paced sniper action. NEXON’s “Dungeon & Fighter,” with its simple graphics and quick combat, took the No. 1 spot in the East Asian market. “Black Desert,” an MMORPG developed by Pearl Abyss, was a huge success in Europe due to its high degree of freedom and frequent updates. The speed-oriented habits of the Korean people, which is a result of the country’s rapid economic development, are evident in the popularity of fast-paced video games in Korea.

The Thrill of Extreme Competition

Competition is fun and exciting. Korean people love games that have intense competition. So far, popular games in Korea have been highly competitive. Indeed, competition is what laid the foundation for the development of the video-game-as-sport industry in Korea. With more players longing to compete, game competitions were organized. At first, small game competitions were hosted by PC rooms, and this soon led to a new aspect of the video game industry, namely, viewers watching professionals play video games, so-called “e-Sports.” The top players took up video gaming as a career and became professional gamers, some even stars.
Competitive elements were also integrated in puzzle games like “Anipang.” In Anipang, users are ranked according to how fast they solve a puzzle within a one-minute limit. PlayerUnknown’s “Battlegrounds,” which took the world by storm, is a battle royal video game based on extreme competition. The game pits 100 players against each other on an island, and the sole survivor is the winner. With more than 50 million copies downloaded, the game boosted the global reputation of Korean video games. Throughout its brief history, popular video games have been indicators of the competitive dynamics of Korean society. The rise of e-Sports and the country’s quick recovery from the 1997 Asian financial crisis can be seen as having contributed to competitive video gaming in Korea.

Another Beginning for Mobile Games

With the advent of smartphones, players can now enjoy video games at any place and time. Many Korean video games have been re-released as apps for smartphone platforms. The boom of puzzle games was followed by more complex games that come close to the quality of console games. Similar to online games in their early days, Korean mobile games are now attracting new players to the market. The key features of Korean video games in general should be re-assessed to accommodate the mobile environment. “Lineage Mobile,” the smartphone version of Lineage, is doing well outside of Korea. The game “Seven Knights” is being developed for the Nintendo Switch. However, there is still some way to go before Korean smartphone games enjoy the same success as Korean online games did in their golden age. The challenge ahead is to preserve the characteristics unique to Korean video and online games while adapting them to mobile platforms.