Solip Park
Solip Park
Born and raised in Korea and now in Finland, Solip’s current research interest focused on immigrant and expatriates in the video game industry and game development cultures around the world. She is also the author and artist of "Game Expats Story" comic series. www.parksolip.com
While some critics pointed out similarities between Kart Rider and Nintendo’s Mario Kart series, this controversy did not concern its players, especially the young kids already enjoying the game—myself included. Kart Rider marked a pivotal moment in Nexon’s history, peaking at 200,000 concurrent players (in a country of 50 million people), dominating the PC-bang market, and reaching 10 million registered accounts in 2005, within just a year of its release. In 2023, after 18 years of service, Kart Rider was replaced by its sequel, Kart Rider: Drift, though the reception to this successor has been mixed and is still unable to surpass the legacy of its predecessor.
If we were to choose two of the most talked-about RPG games in 2023, many would agree to pick <Starfield> (Bethesda Game Studios, 2023) and <Baldur’s Gate 3> (Larian Studios, 2023). It appears that gamers generally favor <Baldur’s Gate 3> over <Starfield> due to disappointing elements in its game design, despite it still managing to achieve good sales records thanks to the developers’ publicity. The game seems to have demonstrated the limitations of the so-called Bethesda-style RPG games, whereas <Baldur’s Gate 3> was praised for its rich interactivity and engaging role-playing elements. Some claim that this Belgium-made game has made a new mark in the RPG genre, listing it as one of the most critically acclaimed RPGs of 2023 alongside The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo, 2023).
Constraints can become stepping stones to innovation. The disproportionate market attention towards integrating blockchain technology into games is perhaps stemming from people’s desire to overcome the current constraints. Here, the idea of combining blockchains and games can be examined from two perspectives: First, exploring the intention behind advocating for this change, and second, discussing why such a change is deemed necessary at this time. Combining the findings from these two would allow us to acquire a comprehensive view of this matter and thus enable critical reflections on what the innovation could bring to our future.