Online game, speculative controversy… Game Industry “Collection of user complaints, system improvement”

[이뉴스투데이 전한울 기자] With the controversy over the manipulation of’probability-type items’ in the game, while Nexon announced its improvement plan, voices of criticism are rising that it is necessary to innovate the profit structure itself. The controversy over the probability-type item is also invading public opinion that domestic online games are speculative games.

The controversy over the manipulation of probability-type items arose on the 18th of last month when Nexon announced that it will modify all additional options that can be granted to the Maple Story’Fire of Reincarnation’ item with the same probability. Users raised suspicion of probability manipulation, saying, “Does it mean that the additional options were not determined with the same probability in the past?”

The option of good performance is that it is manipulated so that it can be obtained with a low probability and an option of unnecessary performance with a high probability. The probability of acquiring the existing’Fire of Rebirth’ additional option was known at random.

After the controversy, users have been protesting with actions such as carrying out a boycott of the’limit 0 won challenge’ and breaking out to games of other similar genres such as’Lost Arc’. There was also a truck demonstration calling for the disclosure of transparent probability.

As the controversy over the manipulation of probability grew to a storm, Nexon internally apologized on the 5th.

Nexon CEO Lee Jeong-hyun admitted to the executives and staff members in the company’s letter system that day, “This controversy is entirely up to the management, and it has not been able to meet the level of our society’s dealings with games.” Next, Lee said, “We will seek forgiveness and understanding from users with detailed explanations and rewards, along with a step-by-step probability disclosure for all paid items.”

Nexon is planning to disclose information on the probability of overall paid items, including item enhancements (paid enhancements and synthetics). It also introduces a’probability monitoring system’ that allows users to verify this.

The reaction of users is cold. Under the current self-regulation, the probability of’Complete Gacha’ (drawing), which mixes paid items and free items, is not included in the situation where the probability of capsule-type paid items is already disclosed.

An official from Nexon said, “The amount of related data is vast and we are constantly reviewing it.” “We plan to proceed step by step after the full disclosure of the probability related to paid items.”

In the compensation plan prepared by Nexon, only users who have invested in the author’s capital are provided items that are harsh and include items for a period of 90 days, which induces users to hear additional payments.

Users are compared to the’sea story’ that hit Korea with controversy over manipulating odds and promoting speculative behavior. In order to prevent the recurrence of the controversy over probabilistic manipulation, it is necessary to improve the overall profit structure of the industry.

An official from the Korea Creative Content Agency said, “It will be too difficult for the industry to suddenly change its main profit structure,” and said, “However, the content announced by Nexon should be viewed as one of the solutions.”
He also emphasized that “this measure cannot eradicate the probability-type item problem,” and “it is necessary to improve the system step by step through dialogue, and this opportunity for improvement should not be missed.”

Joon-mo Jung, a lawyer specializing in the field of game industry law (Da Vinci, a law firm), said, “It is determined whether or not a speculative game is mainly based on the scale of consumption. I think there will be a problem,” he explained. “If it is the current situation, the revised bill of the game law is expected to pass smoothly.”

The current game system is considered to be speculative.

He said, “It is not only coincidence, but also the core requirement for determining whether there is a’money-money’ that can be sold and converted into cash.

Many domestic online games do not meet the speculative game criteria for the reason that they do not provide a system for monetizing paid probability items. Currently, it is difficult to determine the cash value of game items, and the criteria for evaluating users’ property damage are not clear.

However, outside the game, users openly exchange paid items for high prices. In the case of high-performance items in Lineage, it costs tens of thousands of won.

This does not apply to the speculative game right now, but it is a proof that there is no significant difference from the’currency’ of the specular game.

This situation has emerged as a hot potato in the ruling and opposition politics.

Rep. Lee Sang-heon (Democratic Party) of the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee has proposed the’Amendment of the Act on the Promotion of the Game Industry’, including the content of’transparent disclosure of probability of probability-type items’. Following this, both Rep. Dong-soo Dong (Deo-eo Democratic Party) and Rep. Yoo Jeong-ju (Deo-eo Democratic Party) have proposed similar bills.

Rep. Ha Tae-kyung (the power of the people) said, “We should investigate the ‘5 major evil gems’, which are probabilistic businesses with low transparency,” and have requested an investigation to the Fair Trade Commission.

Lee Sang-heon, an official in the office of Congressman Lee Sang-heon, who first initiated amendments to the game law, said, “The industry is mistaken about this situation.” “The key is the decline in the industry’s credibility. Instead of simply revealing the probability, we need to broadly view and respond in terms of restoring trust with users.”

He added, “An internal apology that does not contain a clear explanation cannot eradicate the situation and can be seen as a way to extinguish an urgent fire. We need to get closer to the root of the problem and improve the overall system, such as improving the profit structure.” did.

He expressed skepticism about the phenomenon compared to the story of the sea.

He said, “While the sea story was an arcade-type gambling game with no room for improvement, this situation has room for improvement by cutting out the affected area with the genre element of MMORPG.” “Now, we need to move toward improving with the willingness of the industry as a whole.”

An official from the Korea Game Industry Association said, “There is no separate position on the policy of individual companies in relation to this situation,” and “There is no additional countermeasure for the amendment to the Game Act.”

Meanwhile, due to this incident, the two pillars of 3N, Netmarble and NCsoft, plan to actively collect complaints from users and consider system improvement.

An official from Netmarble said, “We have been steadily revealing the main probabilities in some major games. We will carefully review the opinions of users in the future and reflect them in other games sequentially.”

An NC official said, “We will continue to review and review user opinions.”

An official in the same industry who requested anonymity said, “With the spread of non-face-to-face culture such as Zipcock after Corona 19, the number of game users has increased significantly. It is necessary to achieve structural diversification.”

Copyright © Enews Today Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution are prohibited.