Versus the gameplay so how does the game play is gameplay art versus our games art and how do those 2 separate and we discussed. The other arguments that Myers provides regarding these topics from other professors researchers art historians accept and how there's a don't delineation between intent and the oppositional nature of games and additionally games of sports so covered a lot last week this week we'll also be talking about another researcher or another academic of games that being the research horse or. Horse h h j o r t h I'm not sure if that h. Is silent or if it's fully pronounced not exactly sure but that's her name and we're going to be discussing her arguments regarding games as unique cultural entities determined by the specific place and time in which gaming cultures originate from. It's it's a very nuanced argument and very much differs from the way in which we have discussed games up until this point given that I have always discussed games within a global context so when I am when I talk about games I've talked about games the history of games the development of games all within a global context not necessarily focused on particular countries or particular. Subsets of gaming culture which develop in particular countries and how that dominates and differs from other countries based on the unique culture economy government except per each country I've always discussed it in a global sense. The one exception being when we talk about the specific laws governing games and the politics of games but that is something we talked about earlier and that doesn't really dive into or never really elucidated to me at least how games and the way that people interact with games differ and are uniquely defined by their this society in which they exist and if that makes sense so where you are in the world can definitely defer the way in which you interact with video games I mean on the surface the concept itself is not very complex a given that different civilizations across the world interact with all things differently so it shouldn't come as much of a stock to hear that individual come countries and cultures interact with videogames in their own unique ways. Yet games themselves have always been a global phenomenon especially in recent decades given the technological advancements and. Made in regards to computers computing processing graphics exciter a and how those technological developments impact games and the inherent tying of the development of games to technological for the Elegy is a very obvious point but when we talk about. Games specifically in various countries it may have never fully elucidated that so we'll be talking about the risks is or Professor horse argument and specifically as it relates to 2 countries which. Have become basically the global paragons of games if you will it's a very grandiose imagery very grandiose terminology to describe these countries but in many ways gaming as a socially acceptable activity or as an activity that is widely supported by the culture and has been integrated into the society itself has not really been replicated yet but except by these 2 countries I think that we America are on our way to getting closer to the ways in which these countries interact within view games so in many ways when me talk about the culture of these 2 countries we might be looking at the future of America and how we as Americans will interact with games in the future. And the 2 countries in question which we're going to be discussing are South Korea and Japan and the various ways in which they differ in their relations in their relation to games so how they differ and how that relates to their relation to games and then simultaneously talking about which one I think the United States is closer to and which one I think we're going to develop into or the way in which we interact with game culture will develop into or the 3rd option of course being that the United States is culture in relation to games will be completely unique and independent of these 2 countries will see so the main argument that Professor horse Jorth scribes is online gaming. Versus electronic individual ism. So she delineates. South Korea as being a society which involves games in a. Co-operative public way whereas Japan and their interactions with games are more closely focused or more closely associated with the individual and the personal and her argument discusses. How the these 2 kind of conceptions came about and why we see them in these particular societies so what I'm going to do is kind of give us side by side the way she describes it in the text because this argument comes from her book I guess I should mention that from the start it's called games and gaming is just games and gaming a discussion and look into new media so this argument comes from her text which I've read the way she lays out her argument is she 1st talks about Japan and then Korea what I'm going to do is do it simultaneously so I'll bring up a point for Japan and then tell you how that is different from Korea or vice versa Korea and to Japan and. Hopefully to to elucidate or allow you to understand the argument in the same way that I have understood it and give you this awareness that the professor really brought brought to me to my attention regarding vocal populations and their relation to games and how they differ Ok so when we talk about the history of games in Japan we have to understand that Japan itself has always been a leader in technological and industrial development following the 2nd World War So following the 2nd World War Japan was a country very much focused on technological development and increasing the. Technological abilities of computers processors t.v. Xix cetera phones whatever whatever aspect of life that existed Japan passed the World War 2 following World War 21950 s. And onward maybe even 1000 sixty's and seventy's 167 is going to really picks up but following World War 2 We see this period and which depend as a country as a nation devotes itself to the technological development of all aspects of its life or the lives of its citizens now along with that comes the development of games and games technology now given that Japan and now you know with this national spirit Japan of course becomes a leading developer of technologies globally and as such becomes a leading export or of technology globally and as a you know refers to us as people who are interested in studying games Japan became a major exporter of both hardware and software regarding games major export or this differs from the history as it relates to Korea and then for Korea their journey with games doesn't really began in till the late 1990 s. Because in the 1950 s. You has the Korean War And then long into the 1980 s. Seventy's seventy's and then eighty's Korea does not and by the way when I say Korea I mean South Korea none of this applies to North Korea not at all just South Korea just to be clear when I refer to Korea South Korea or Korea. After the 1980 s. Is still very much considered a developing nation it is not the technological giant that we see today very much existing within the shadow of Japan in regards to games and were in regards to technological development as were most nations within the. Oil as I guess the Indochinese region Korea Vietnam Laos Cambodia Thailand very much in that same region all developing nations at the time very much in the shadow of Japan at this point it only really begins in the 1990 s. After a financial crash that Korea and the Korean government devotes itself to technological development investment as being the method by which they could jump start the crumbling economy and. The infrastructure of their nation as a whole so a big delineation here and that Japan's journey with games and technology really begins in 1970 s. In the 1970 s. And they stand out as an innovator on the cutting edge of games and as a result become an export or Korea really experiences games in the 1990 s. Where much technological change and growth regarding games has already been achieved by Japan by America. In this particular field and. Korea itself doesn't but it was interesting mostly is that it doesn't invest in hardware and software because why would you ever this is like economics here a little bit of economics why would you ever start or attempt to produce a good in which you are already at a disadvantage. So from the Korean expected perfect perspective why would we ever try to compete with Japan when they already have so much of an edge on us what they did instead was focus on something new in the late 1990 s. That being the Internet and Internet connectivity so by the early 2000 Korea had one of the most robust wireless networks in the world within its country so another big point. Of delineation that begins to shape everything is Japan's focus on hardware and software and Korea's focus on Internet and connectivity between computers from this. We really begin to see the burgeoning of online gaming focus on online gaming and Internet connectivity versus the electronic individual isn't exemplified by Japan beginning here with an investment in Internet resident investment in hardware and software this these developments change the way in which the regular citizen of the particular countries interact with games given that the people we're going start with Japan the people in Japan the citizens of Japan being at the cutting edge of technological development were always had this expression of themselves as a technologically advanced nation always at the cutting edge always having the best in games technology given that there is a wide adoption of mobile technologies so mobile phones p.s.p. S d s intended e s. . Various consuls which lend themselves to mobility now you would think that mobile games lending themselves to mobility would mean that the Japanese would be more inclined to a public perception or a public acceptance or Republican veiling of games themselves a an expression of games within the public sphere with outside of the home not in a domestic space but in a public space but actually 10 and had the opposite effect whereby the only way to express oneself was through a personalized experience. How does this make any sense so if everybody is gaming and has the best technology and how do you delineate yourself from as someone who enjoys games and plays games from somebody else who has the exact same technologies and things that you have let's say a new technology or a new phone is coming out it would be expected within Japan that you would have such a technology within a certain timeframe this was mostly seen with the development of the mobile phone. By the time the mobile phone came out or you know i Phones things like that a form of technology which could sustain games on a mobile level allowing games to be played publicly and openly over 80 percent of Japanese citizens were subscribed to and owned a cell or a mobile phone with n years of its production. Because as a country that the find itself as being a leader in technology and exporter of hardware and software. Owning the most technologically advanced items was a matter of civic and national pride or understanding of oneself you do as a Japanese citizen would define yourself by the technology that you won't and the way in which you interact with it given that how do you delineate yourself now from other people who also have all the best new technologies how do you as an individual. Not within the collective express your own individuality and your sense of self given this alteration or change that we see within games in gaming within Japan and the way that they did this was reaching towards personalized experiences so mobile yet personalized most mobile games the Japanese people engaged with were actually done or actually engaged with inside a domestic sphere so most people would play mobile games so games that you could play on your phone or on a mobile consul that you could hold in your hands most people would engage with those items in their own home in a domestic sphere reaching for a personalized individual experience that does not exist inside of the collective Professor horse explains this argument again by discussing the or reiterate his argument or even fully leans into it when she discusses the idea of reclamation of games so in Japan being this exporter of games this technologically advanced nation. Giving out as technology is hardware and software is games to the world how do you take ownership of the things in which your country produces so she says that the retreat of games into the domestic sphere is a way of individual denizens of Japan reclaiming games as belonging to them as being personal and individual to them and here we have the existence or the expression of electronic individual ism despite the capacity to connect with or express games openly in a public sphere the reclamation of games to the Japanese citizen the individual creates the conception of electric individual as an electronic individual as I'm whereby individuals seek to engage with games primarily within the domestic sphere so let some summarize quick summary of everything we just went over regarding Japan as a export or and as a technologically advanced nation Japan's citizens then interact with games in a private personalized domestic. Interactive games in a personal domestic individual fashion despite having the capacity to do so publicly and openly those in Japan as a means of reclaiming games from the world as well as individually expressing their interests or likes in games would do so through interacting with. With the private sphere as expressing electronic individual ism. That's made mainly how we're going to or how the professor lays out and defines their argument moving to South Korea South Korea is known for having these massive rooms or structures filled with computers P.C.'s many now in the modern day well I guess it's a many of these rooms designed for people to play games openly and publicly. Together in a large public settings but many of these. That's how they existed by the early 2000 and now many of these also. Public p.c. Rooms are in for in the Korean translation of the term is called a bang b b a n g s plural bangs are Abang p.c. Bangs I guess you'd call them but the Korean term is not stated within the book they use the Roman eyes during which version so these p.c. Bangs are p.c. Rooms p.c. Floors really exist for the production and. Public play of games together collectively which is also interesting given that. We have discussed. The way in which Korea itself developed was primarily focused on Internet capacity broadband. Multiple computers being able to connect and talk to each other at the same time. Yet again ironically. Despite the ability to now to. The easier ability to express games within a domestic sphere yet still cooperatively So you know me and my friend were playing games at home we can still talk to interact with each other in game given that our internet is strong you know in this hypothetical analogy me and my friend are both in Korea but in the early 2000 and. Yet they chose. To express games interactive games and a public manner differing from electronic individual isn't very much the opposite of it expressing the idea of online games or online interaction through the open and explicit play of games I've said many times on the show that at this point Starcraft 2 is the official national sport of South Korea. And it didn't just get there by happenstance. The adoption of the wide or the wide use of this powerful Internet. Pull proliferated the dawning of these p.c. Rooms or p.c. Bangs in which multiple people can play games together openly and publicly became the norm within Korean society. In a way one of the reasons for this besides the technological aspects being the development of games prior to their own creation so by by there the 2000 is what I'm saying that technology and hardware produced by countries like the United States like Japan already existed and the way in which the Koreans adopted this is through their own use of Internet. Unlike Japan Korea never existed as an export or of games they existed at the at as a beneficiary as an as an importer of games from Japan from America not an end of a or but an adopter an adoption that is whole that has now at this point has been wholeheartedly accepted to the point in which Koreans a sigh can be considered one of the most technologically advanced societies on the planet especially given their interactions with games games being their national sport these p.c. Bangs evolving into d.v.d. Bangs or various other. Public and open expressions of technology people watching movies together publicly people playing games together publicly video games together publicly all these expressions of. Technology as an Enter cool part of their society is something that the book defines as techno nationalism Korean society wanted to remove the label that their country had been given as a developing nation. You know from the destruction of the Korean War internal political instability the economic crash that the country suffered in 1907 they wanted to remove this stigma. And move into the modern world being understood as a technologically advanced nation as someone who provides the best for its citizens and one which is on the cutting edge of modernity. Like on the at the same scale of the United States urge upin or you know in England in Germany things like that and today they have realized that goal and they did it through. The the adoption as I said as importing these technologies these ideas these concepts from a Japan from a Korea or from a from an America. By becoming just taking a quick note here by becoming this nation that prioritizes modernization and technology techno nationalism technology as nationalism our adoption of technology defines us as Koreans sets us apart from other peoples from other nations we are the country of technology we are the country of modernity we are at the cutting edge this is who we are. Very much the opposite of what we discussed when we talked about Japan and we talked about Japan that was a reclamation of games being an export or being one who gives to the world existing on that cutting edge made it hard for one to define or delineate. Oneself as an individual from other individuals within Japanese society. Hence the turning inward not outward the turning inward of oneself towards a private personalized domestic experience which is different which wholly differs from the Korean approach to games which is focused on this public expression of technological development and technological fidelity playing games together in a social setting openly and publicly expressing our advanced Mint our technological strengths as a nation our whole hearted option as a people of what it means to be modern and what it means to be on the cutting edge of technology and what it means to be a developed quote unquote 1st world nation. And these are the main ways in which the 2 nations delineated from each other online gaming versus electronic individual ism and how the 2 differed from each other. Given that how do we. Perceive ourselves now as Americans and as moving on towards the American understanding of games and how does it differ from. The arguments presented in this book whereby Korean and Japanese societies differed so vastly from each other where it is our own personal destiny I guess you could say regarding games. Why or how it developed over time or how has it scuse me how has had developed a been till this point it's a difficult difficult question to answer or at least looking at where we stand now are we more inclined towards online gaming are we more moving towards a South Korea or are we as a nation more intrinsic Lee focused on or drifting towards electronic individual isn't as se