South Korean gamers mobilize offline to make their voices heard 

Angered by what they deem to be an unfair rewards system and poor customer service, South Korean players of Kakao Games Corp.’s Japan-created Uma Musume Pretty Derby mobile game have joined forces to make their voices heard.

Some 200 players of the mobile game pooled money to hire a horse-drawn carriage in Pangyo city, Gyeonggi Province on Monday to proclaim their messages of outrage.  

“Irresponsible announcements,” “continuous user deception,” and “disregard for South Korean users,” were some of the complaints displayed on the carriage that roamed the streets around the Kakao Games headquarters.

Kakao Games Corp. is a South Korean video game publisher and a subsidiary of tech giant Kakao Corp., which specializes in developing and publishing games on computer, mobile and VR platforms. 

The gamers raised some 9.5 million won ($7,049) just 29 minutes into the online fundraising, three times the target amount.

Meaning “horse girl” in Japanese, Uma Musume was created by Tokyo-based game developer Cygames Inc. 

The plan for the game version, in addition to the manga and animation, was announced back in 2016. While it was set to be released within two years, the plan was delayed and finally released on Feb. 24, 2021.

DISCRIMINATION CONCERNS

All in all, the horsey event carried on for 1.5 km in front of Kakao Games' headquarters. 

The upset players submitted a letter containing their list of demands and pledge to boycott the game unless their requests are reflected going forward.

The players demanded that the operator have a consistent rewards system regardless of whether a player is using a Japanese or a Korean server.

They also asked for announcements in the Korean language to be made as promptly as in Japanese and to improve on localization efforts, such as by investing in better translation services into Korean. 

In Uma Musume, a player nurtures a character to win a horse race. The chances of winning in a game increase when a character is equipped with paid items. 

South Korean players found that fewer coins are given to players using the South Korean server than those using the Japanese one; and that an item that can be used for a year on the Japanese server is only useful for a month on the Korean one. 

Further, special events important to the competition are announced later in Korean than in Japanese and riddled with translation errors. 

“We are taking to the street because game operators are only focused on generating short-term revenue without a thorough understanding of the game,” Park Dae-sung, one of the protestors, told The Korea Economic Daily. 

GUARANTEED FUN

Meanwhile, also in Pangyo city, a protest has been going on for a month in front of the NCSOFT Corp. headquarters.

Players are objecting to the fact that the South Korean game developer has paid fees to a number of YouTubers to promote its Lineage2M title, one of its best-known massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs).

The protestors claim it is unfair for a game developer to give monetary compensation to certain players, including influencers, when much of the game outcome is dependent on how much money is spent on the platform. 

Experts say what the players are essentially asking for is a guarantee of fun from spending money while playing games. 

In other words, if a game's outcome is heavily dependent on the amount of money spent by players, fairness must be guaranteed. 

“Such a business model is dependent on players consistently purchasing items,” an industry insider said. “As more online communities are invigorated, users are strengthening their voices and mobilizing offline.”

Write to Han-gyeol Seon at always@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.