So….this will be my directed study blog which will function similarly to my Producer notebooks I used to carry around when I worked. Except online. without doodles. or biz cards stuck to pages. and post-its with arcane reference numbers and tasks.

Engagement vs. Reach.

Asynchronous vs. Real-time.

This is the breadth, reach, asynchronous era. The interfaces reflect that. Our interaction with it breaks down the real-time depth of engagement continually.

So our interfaces are horizontal. The menu items short. The animations slide. The response gives you time.

Remember when IM was all the rage? Remember when bidding on something required on-time all the time? Remember when simultaneous multiplayer ruled?

Remember when everyone was afraid of pressure filled information overload?

Now everyone talks about short attention spans. But the truth is? We’re more patient than ever. Twitter conversations, retweets. Facebook posts and social games. We’ve down shifted into a time where lag is welcome. Where lag IS not a glitch but a feature.

But things shift left and right. We are rapidly approaching the swing back to the real. The time limited. The simultaneous multi-tasked now.

Groupon. Foursquare. FaceTime. Cloud.

So our interfaces will grow vertical again. tabbed. time limited share. No push or pull but ported. Where data leaks are a feature not a glitch.

The quiet mouths will start chattering again.

Life is not a continuous line. There is no real progression. But We create fuel for thought when there is nothing.

In a way you have to imagine a future, when you’re in my position, that is a progression. But that’s why most futurists are wrong.

Life goes sideways. It goes at crazy angles which take you by surprise. Even with other people involved. Especially with other people involved.

Your sense of progression and mine are divergent, criss cross, and parallel.

SO the revolution will not be tweeted. or televised. or printed. The echoes of it will. because that’s still not real-time.

The revolution will start with a simple call. Embedded somewhere on a site. and that call will not cause anything to happen.

Except. that call. In the doing of that call. it will be a revolution. It’s already happened. but did not cause the world to wake up yelling or cheering, weeping and angry, laughing and silly.

The echoes of it will.

But not well. Most of the companies wanted to use me for free. This is Korea. Hell for anyone in games consulting.

And honestly it as more or less likely that they had talked to me at GDC or at the KOGIA conferences I would breeze through.But some had seen me ranting. or my snark. and understood it. And I had been focused on the real-time immediate focus. But maybe.

I have to stop letting Seoul. eat. my. soul.

I’m with Touchring now and we just had an amazing but busy time here at DEMO 2010 Fall. and yes there is now footage of me eternally in their archives. I have to do better so its not the last thing I have recorded for posterity.

I love the stage again. I just have to be less of a  herky jerky gurdy man. Oh Donovan your song still haunts me.

Okay this is bad. I have to learn to edit. But I have not been self-censoring for awhile. and this is all stream of blind consciousness. This is what happens when you write something at 5am. I’m not thinking of audience, message or documentation.

so. met some bloggers and especially cool ones at that. and it gets me in the mindset of: I have to stop being so momentary. I have to start documenting. this life. Not that I think anyone else will be interested but because it will give me something besides peace.

Because I lie when I say it’s only because of my eyes I look sad.

But it’s not an active sadness but a serene pool that ripples. Its that heaviness you feel inside sinking but it’s like foam that just softens everything. It’s not loneliness but it’s an ache to just be able to have that joy of the give and take of engaging conversation.

I only really speak simply anymore. But tonight I really talked. Then it was interrupted. and then it was gone.

I told someone that the moment is raw. Now is what focuses you. But if I think about it, it’s been today.  I haven’t danced publicly for many years. I have seen the colors and the shapes and the smells of the music when I danced today. Telling someone else made it even better, like a secret that is more valuable when you share it.

and I know it’s gone when I go back.

Seoul. How ambivalent you make me. How hesitant and respectful. I used to be a warrior and now I am a servant. You have made me a monk where I should have been an adventurer. How I apologize for everything when I should be sharp and polished.

It’s not your fault. It’s mine.

This is neither tech nor Pong. But it’s a meditation on what conversations I did have here at DEMO. It’s what the rush of risking it all evokes and getting the positive press. Knowing you were not the weakest link. Knowing that you were instrumental in making it possible.

It feels good to be me again.

I realized something. Maybe its in tune with the currently growing chorus of taking game elements to other places. The gamification of the web.

Not web 1.0, 2.0, or 3.0 but Online Level Up. Web 1up? or…World of Netcraft?

Networks. Customization. Crafting.Levels. Agile virtual businesses, text->image->video (what’s missing?)

Wait for the patch. It’ll come.

The best laid plans…and all that. The things you do when you wait for things to compile and bug test.

I was accused of whining and ranting. It’s a fair accusation. I was asked why I stayed here so long if it was bad. It’s not. Or at least I think I can make a difference.  But I am happy and excited now. Tired too (just spent an all-nighter). But I am walking the walk or at least trying to; except this is the first time I have tied these shoelaces and am desperately trying not to trip.

I want the Korean game industry to do well. But I think we here in Korea need to take a good hard look at things. And to be fair I brought the criticism without providing solutions. Data and evidence was supposed to come later. But I’ll provide solutions first. Then explore the data in later posts.

I posted this earlier in the comments of my first blog post but I will repost in altered form here:

Closest Historical Model/Predictions

The closest and most salient one would be the boom-bust-revival of some of the game/creative industries in Europe; the tech industry in Taiwan. I will probably go into detail in my next blog entry. However, I will also have another unfortunate prediction: China will follow the Korean model and will only be relevant within the Chinese market. But honestly? They don’t need to actually go outside their borders and they will be fine. Korean companies? not so much.

Practical/Cultural Stumbling Blocks
Starting a small and new business is significantly cheaper and easier ( not just legally but in terms of mentorship opps, cheap/open source software & tool usage) in the US, Singapore, Taiwan, and in various other territories than it is in Korea AND Japan.

STUMBLING BLOCK 1: Patent protection is also significantly weaker in Korea which allows large companies to essentially clone any innovations, products, and even superficial aspects that a smaller company has introduced without reprisal from the law.Thus driving them out of business. It can be argued that this is the same anywhere HOWEVER in the US you have more of an acquisition culture which also prizes the personnel behind such innovations wheras there is no similar culture/perception in Korea.

SOLUTION: Stronger IP law slanted towards the new and innovative (lets not become the US but this is the other end of the spectrum). Focus on the teams and not the products as being the competitive advantage. AT least other game industries elsewhere pay lip service to that ideal if not strongly prize that.

STUMBLING BLOCK 2: In most game & web industries in other territories; it is usually the distribution/investment channels that gain size but leverage the outside development and resources available in the industry. Korean companies try to do EVERYTHING inhouse. They try to be the developer, publisher, distributor, marketing all at once. Outsourcing is not the rule here it is the exception. Sounds great until you realize that it damages the industry as a whole and doesn’t make these fat bloated companies that adaptable either.

SOLUTION: OUTSOURCE to outside the companies for more! Focus on specific areas and strive to be efficient in those. Form ecosystems with partners instead of simply one time contracts.

STUMBLING BLOCK 3: Systematic processes are the exception. Example: preproduction in most Korean game companies goes a month, maybe 2 months. Toolsets are not the norm. Source and milestone management is done through an excel spreadsheet. Pipelines? Make it up as you go. China, Singapore, Taiwan (and to some extent) India have benefited immensely from partnerships/outsourcing with foreign companies in establishing, understanding best practices and the logic behind systems used in development, publishing, etc. Korea never had this mix of outside and inside cultures.

SOLUTION: Korea needs to have more companies doing more work outside Korea; and not as the lead partner. Korean companies have to swallow their pride and do alot more of the outsourcing work that they used to mock the Chinese for. Just sending people to conferences ( where more often than not they do not engage in casual networking outside) is not enough. Sustained commercial activity in a subordinate role is needed for an industry to get the foundations necessary. And for god’s sake, take care of your source code. Use project management tools and not excel.

Korean Corporate Issues

Many of the larger game companies have to stop aping corporate structures/cultures of the large conglomerates like Samsung. It starts with something as simple as your title/rank. You may be a lead artist but only be a “daeri” (associate) in the corporate structure. A lead producer may be only a “chajang” and be lower than his engineer. This muddies up roles, accountability and responsibilities. It extends to certain departments which may be necessary when dealing with manufacturing (like a central planning office) but are not only unecessary but detrimental to game and web development and even online publishing/distribution.

SOLUTION: Simplify Simplify simplify. Your rank and role should be the same. Corporate structure on the whole should be as horizontal as possible not vertical in the software space.

Korean Inspiration (or I need to own a media empire)

Korean popular media is essentially retelling of the mundane. We live in what is essentially a perfect setting for a ‘Fringe’ or ’24’ or even ‘Chuck’ but we get ‘General Hospital’ and ‘Celebrity Squares’ 100% of the time. There is no comparable ‘Star Wars’ or ‘Doctor Who’ touchstone of inspiration of the fantastic, futuristic, or bizarre.

Parody is non-existent. Comedy is usually on the level of slapstick. Even Russia had political satire for awhile…but Korea? It’s not there. Music is one genre: boyband/girlband all the time. No Company from a garage myth (since the 1950’s at least). No famous dropouts. Everything has to be Seoul National University or else.

There is no counter culture. There is no niche culture. There is no technocratic geek culture. The lack of the left field. The lack of the fantastic. This then leads to the inability to dream. The inability to critically think.

It affects our storytelling and narratives. When did you understand the background story of any Korean game? It affects our UI’s; when did any Korean site,gadget or tech have innovative interfaces? It affects our daring; there is no cheering on the underdog here. More or less cynical acceptance and criticism for even trying.

SOLUTION: Give me a media company. Nevermind. I’ll just build one later

So when the buzzword was “virtual items”, I used to politely nod and then yawn.I have lived, played and worked virtual item economies for about as long as I have been here. There is nothing controversial or demeaning about the business model to me.

When the buzzword was “mobile applications”, I used to smile and cough appreciatively.I had played games on handsets since the start of the century, utilized mobile video capture technology and infrastructure in work and play in my career on the web side of things.

When the buzzword was “social networks”, I used to pretend to listen and try not to be bored. After all Cyworld was the grandaddy of it all. I had worked on a video based “social network” Freechal’s Q. Getting ready to roll out a “widget market” when Myspace was aborning.

I was so full of it, that if you pricked me the hot air and manure methane would have made me the Human Torch.

and I am a reflection of the Korean game/web industry.

Because none of these concepts and structures that can be argued was executed on a large scale in Korea first, was iterated upon, refined, and systematically analyzed/ripped apart. No. We were so proud we had built all this up ourselves. We were so proud that we suddenly got rich and important. We were proud to be mentioned.

We forgot that much of what we made was born out of desperation. We forgot to look and analyze the unique environment from which these things were born. We focused on the superficial elements of the products/services and ignored the processes that needed to be changed.

The Korean game industry got complacent. Then we started to falter. Now ursurped.

There are very few Korean game studios/companies involved in social gaming. Think about it. From the country that had Cyworld. That had these giant companies like NCSoft, Nexon, and Webzen that were expertly weaving the virtual item business model into game mechanics. No. Korean. Zynga.

I will examine this more closely in my next few blog posts but here will be my big points:

1) Korea has followed the Japanese model for too long and will fade into decline like the Japanese industry is doing in slow motion.

2) Korea has a tendency to foster a few giants but utterly grind the new and small into dust. In these giants, the operational processes are haphazard and insular.

3) Corporate structures in place and aped across the Korean industry are not fit for the fast paced and lean adaptation required. We are Microsoft zombies here. and finally:

4) The local media/popular culture does not breed the cultural imagination, thematic complexity, and the championing of daring that gives that spark. or “Sci-fi, spies and Silicon Valley is good for games”.

It was a rough past couple of months. I chased a dream. Now, it’s just a bad taste that comes from swallowing broken bricks.

But, things change. When they change, they don’t change in single one-after-another progression. Things get clumped up and roll over all at once.

I’ll be expanding what I have been talking about and I may reprint a couple posts I have done elsewhere here. But those are the remains of what was.

I’m going to be talking about what will be.

I go to these conferences and hear executives throw out numbers and supposed rankings of those numbers, I hear “no. 1 global vision”, “first food based global entertainment leader” (wuh?…) and it just starts to get ridiculous with how out of touch their nice little corporate statements are with the reality of what these companies really are.

My first rule is: if you have to state it…you ain’t it. EA doesn’t have to say they are global. Everyone already assumes it. And are shocked when EA talks about the lack of presence they have in Asia. Everyone already assumes Google is global and when their lack of strength is shown in the Asian markets…people are surprised. Microsoft and Intel never have to say that they are global technology companies, even when they were busy conquering, because the point was not to be seen as global but to simply do it. little by little. partnership by partnership.

But I look at these Korean companies in the entertainment and IT space, I listen to their presentations….and after doing some due diligence, you realize that they are after a PR victory, a bragging right rather than a sober business strategy. Some of them have an office with one person in Vietnam (and there is nothing wrong with that in fact Vietnam is a growth opp)…and then proclaim that they are global. Some of them are no.1 in uh….data load…but only because their systems are so heavy that packets have to be continually resent. Some of them have CEO’s who have no idea about the details of any international dealings they have but are featured as leading lights of Korean business abroad. And even then inevitably you hear within 6 months that these deals have fallen through because of the ignorance/ cavalier attitude towards agreements/proper business communication. Or hear about how they have these wonderful subsidiaries around the world ( I mean a few actually do really have actual local companies in more than uh 3 countries) but then when you really closely look into the chatter and the actual operations of these subsidiaries…you realize that these subsidaires too will die within a few years because of the same inability of these companies to work serially locally.

But most don’t really even have any global presence, distribution, or even knowledge of the different markets but still maintain that they are global.

They may argue that this is an anticipatory vision. The something that they are striving for. But as Yoda says, ” There is no try…only do.”

So we need viewpoints that show how ridiculous some of these companies are. We need the poop in the grass that reminds us to be careful of where and how we walk across that lawn of opportunity. We need the satirical insight and cruel parodies that serve as QA for the online consumer oriented industries that we are involved in.

We need the watchful eye that is more effective than any regulation or policy in keeping the misbehavin’ down. People are interestingly more scared of humiliation than any other punishment or pain.

That’s what Valleywag does. Thats what SNL used to do. That’s what’s lacking in Korea. No one really makes fun of each other and snarkiness is a completely alien concept.

Plus who would you rather spend your time with? Michael Arrington? or Nick Denton?