[A Sip of Books] "Is Gaming Really Culture?"

Choi Daeseop 'A Game Manual for Everyone'

Some sentences encapsulate the entire content of the book itself, while others instantly reach the reader's heart, creating a connection with the book. We introduce such meaningful sentences excerpted from the book. - Editor's note

Perspectives on games are divided. The government has supported the industry while regulating games according to parents' demands. On one side, gamers are seen as potential violent criminals or addicts, while on the other, people shout, "Games are culture." The author clearly unravels the discourse on games, which is split by interests and positions. He explains from the public's viewpoint what elements make up games, who gamers are, and how to view social debates about games.

"To argue that censorship of games is wrong, one must be able to distinguish between unjust censorship that suppresses freedom of expression and discussions worth having. Through debates within that distinction, creating rational standards is necessary for both the industry and fans. However, the current response in the gaming world tends to lump both simply as 'censorship.' One ironic thing happening here is that when gamers shout for their 'right to play games as they wish' and get angry at censorship, it does little damage to those in power but does affect minorities. Thus, although gamers resist the same censorship, the result is that they end up participating in social discrimination against minorities."

"The 'Games are Culture' campaign becomes diminished because of this situation. What can we confidently introduce as 'game culture'? Is it the message boards and chat rooms always filled with abusive language, the male-centered gaming community's collective trolling, or sexual violence against female gamers? Does a game become culture just because a lawyer or doctor plays it?

It is actually backwards to say all this is the fault of games. Rather, the world is reflected in games. Hatred against women and minorities in reality, real-world stress and anger, meritocracy and the cruelty of the weak versus the strong?all these deeply rooted issues take hold even in the cyber world where one can freely fly beyond their limits.

However, one thing is certain. Today, games and gamers are not contributing much to making the world a better place. Even though games have the potential to do so, and many games have already demonstrated such potential."

(Written by Choi Taeseop / Published by Hankyoreh Publishing)

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.