[New Wave] Can We Open the Metaverse Era by Reforming Old Game Regulations?

The metaverse, a blend of virtual and real worlds, has recently become one of the hottest keywords worldwide. The sudden shift to a contactless society triggered by COVID-19 has completely transformed our daily lives, including schools, workplaces, travel, and gatherings. The number of people attending concerts and movies, celebrating birthday parties, participating in school entrance and graduation ceremonies, as well as taking classes, working, and shopping within games like Fortnite, Roblox, and Zepeto is rapidly increasing. Games are evolving beyond the entertainment genre into spaces for economic activities.

Our government also launched a public-private organization called the “Metaverse Alliance” last month to lead this trend. It is a very timely and welcome move. However, the strange thing is that major Korean game companies are not participating in this initiative. Despite the metaverse being realized through games, the game industry seems to have no place in it. I believe this is because outdated regulations that do not fit the metaverse era are holding it back.

A prime example is the Game Industry Promotion Act. The metaverse integrates economic activities in both reality and virtual spaces. In other words, money earned in the virtual world can be transferred to the real world. However, the Game Industry Promotion Act, hastily enacted after the Bada Story incident, strictly prohibits this. As a result, the Korean-developed metaverse platform Zepeto, although in the form of a game, does not officially identify itself as a game. The moment it is labeled as a game, it must undergo rating classification, which severs the connection between reality and virtual space, isolating it solely in the virtual world.

Innovative cases in the metaverse show that children have a higher chance of success than adults. For example, Alex Balfanz, born in 1999, created one of Roblox’s most popular games, “Jailbreak.” He started developing games with friends he met on Roblox at the age of nine and released this game in 2017 when he was a high school senior. The cumulative number of users for “Jailbreak” is 4.8 billion, and the annual revenue from in-game item sales is estimated to be in the billions of Korean won. While foreign youths are soaring in the metaverse, Korean youths under 16 are subjected to a forced curfew known as the “Game Shutdown Policy.”

What about gaming addiction, which is on the verge of being registered as a disease code under the name “gaming disorder”? The core is “a pattern of behavior where gaming is prioritized over daily life despite negative consequences.” But since daily life is happening within the game, the idea of prioritizing gaming over daily life is incomprehensible no matter how positively one tries to interpret it. There is no interest in what is done inside the game, at least according to the diagnostic criteria. It is based on the assumption that gaming is not part of daily life. Furthermore, gaming is viewed as something that must be controlled for the sake of daily life. Calling gaming behavior a disease in the metaverse era opened by games sounds as hollow as saying one should not be addicted to the world.

If someone said they would operate the metaverse with a 386 computer and Windows 95, they would be ridiculed. Yet, few seem to take seriously the culture of still applying game regulations created with the mindset of the 386 computer and Windows 95 era. Innovation also means breaking away from the past. I hope for bold innovation regarding outdated customs and practices that do not fit the metaverse era. That is, if we truly intend to open the metaverse era.

Lee Jang-ju, Director of Irak Digital Culture Research Institute