Amanda Lee

ENG 2150

Professor Lisa Blankenship

March 8, 2016

Paper 1: Rhetorical Analysis of Cultural Artifact

 

Dear Dr. Blankenship and Writing Group:

I’m analyzing the purpose of a game made in South Korea, a fantasy 3DMMORPG called Dragon Nest that was made to escape from reality. Instead, the game is very similar to the reality it was designed for. The title of my draft is “The Wall That Became a Mirror”. I chose this topic because I played this game for about 3 years, excluding the times I went on hiatus. It’s a game that I enjoyed and slowly came to dislike. As I thought about the different topics that I wanted to do, this was one of the first ones. This is my second draft and it took me about 3.5 hours to finish. My thesis is “games are like a mirror that reflect society”.

I supported the thesis using my personal experience with the game. Other evidence includes blog posts, news articles, and the forum on the game’s website. Organization was done by first providing background to the subjects and then drawing parallels between the subjects. The audience I have in mind is somebody who doesn’t know much about the game and the situation of bullying in South Korea. The biggest challenge has been to find which perspective to analyze the game from and to find a good way to present the perspective.

I think I found a good way to analyze the game in parallel to bullying in South Korea. It shows that it is impossible to escape from the effects of society in our inventions. I think I need a better, more detailed way to connect the two subjects. The background between the two subjects were much longer while the analysis was shorter. It feels as if the analysis became secondary to the background.

Questions that I have in mind for the reader is how good is the introduction in serving to attract the reader’s attention? Is the thesis good? Is there a need for more or less background information? How good is the analysis in terms of connecting the two subjects and providing insight? How do I incorporate two references from readings in class?

 

 

 

The Wall That Became a Mirror

     Games are a product of human imagination, and the settings are typically fantasized to contain elements that diverge from reality such as magic, physical abilities unimaginable for a human, designs catered towards satisfying desires, etc. If in need to take a break from a mundane life, games offer a brief vacation without having to depart. The player can meet new people or travel a different world without having to physically depart. All one needs is stable internet connection and a medium to play on. However, by closely looking at the various interactions between players and the game, it can tell us just how reality is inseparable despite the intentions to do so. As a result, games are like a mirror that reflect society.

     Dragon Nest is a free-to-play, fantasy 3D MMORPG developed in South Korea. Celebrated as having one of the most fast-paced, enjoyable combat system, many popular game reviewers gave high ratings to the original developers. As a result, the game expanded to various regions: Japan, China, North America, SEA, Europe, and Russia, collecting funds along the way; the funds, in return, allowed the developers to expand the game’s content. Today, the player can choose from ten different character classes to fight in player vs. enemy (PvE) setting, raiding dungeons (special areas that allow a party with a certain amount of people to enter and fight for loot), or player vs. player (PvP) setting, where players in the arena can battle to raise their ranks or titles that may offer special stats (mostly, the ranks or titles are a basic form of differentiation between veteran players and rookie players). Designed to be character balanced, all players in PvP mode, with the exception of the game masters, are reset to base stats (nullify the effects of equipment) to ensure fair fight and to allow the possibility of an experienced lower level player to defeat a higher level player.

Like most games, Dragon Nest is a game designed to primarily cater towards males. Once past the opening scene, the player is offered the option to select a character from various class selections. There are six female classes and four male classes; by looking at the ratio and character designs, it is quite evident that the female classes are designed to cater towards various male desires, ranging from voluptuous females to “lolis” (young girls that are typically small and cute). The male classes are seemingly charismatic that appeal to the desire of men to become the powerful hero in the storyline. Generally, the male players are young because the game requires long hours that would be demanding on a working adult that has to balance work-life. However, there are female players attracted by the vibrant design of the game compared to typically dull, monochromatic MMORPGs. In addition, female players are treated more favorably for no apparent reason other than being female.

Although it is possible to be a solo player, there are more favorable terms to be in a party such as higher drop-rates on rare items in dungeons. Even more so, a party offers higher survival rates that is even more important when entering raid dungeons such as a cap dungeon (a dungeon only permitted to enter once a level is reached, drops rare items, and four-member party maximum) or a dragon raid (the most dangerous and difficult form of dungeon that drops legendary items, requiring a six-member party entrance). That is where the problem begins—the game practically forces the player to interact with others if the player wants to obtain higher grade loot.

In Dragon Nest there is a very long path from rookie to a high-ranked player. Firstly, the player needs to select a class that is desirable, a class that is welcomed into parties as a contributor, not a leech. Or else, they face the possibility of being unwelcomed to any party. To become a high-ranked player in a PvE setting, it will require good equipment which is only available through cap dungeons or dragon raids. Forming these parties aren’t easy; the player needs to have good equipment (available in the dungeon they are trying to enter) in order to be accepted as able to contribute to the effort or have bad equipment and face the reality of being kicked from the party. Or, the player needs to know people that will join. However, a rookie player wouldn’t have the same network compared to a player that has played longer. It is even more tough in a PvP setting where it is necessary for a rookie player to have a mentor, an experienced PvPer, to teach tips, requiring networking. The Dragon Nest PvP setting holds an aggressive community where rookie players, “noobs”, are farmed (killed repeatedly) by veteran players in order to raise a rank or obtain a title. Generally, the “noobs” are attacked simply for fun. Game masters rarely monitor the gaming community. Even if they do, as they tried, the efforts are restrained as the veteran players receive favorable treatment because they had interactions with the game masters. As a result, there is a huge imbalance between veteran players and rookie players in terms of powerful equipment, wealth, and expertise.

Being a game originally developed by South Koreans, Dragon Nest is a South Korean game. In South Korea, high schools generally have very long hours that can stretch from 7AM-11PM for six days a week, having Sunday off. The high schools become a second home for students, and the students generally stay in their homeroom for most subjects. Like any school system, bullying is a grave issue only intensified by the long hours that force the bully and the bullied to be in the same area. The bullied may have personal belongings vandalized or receive silent bullying, become a social outcast in the class. Most South Korean schools do not have a guidance counselor to provide assistance for the bullied. Furthermore, teachers generally do no intervene in these situations because of the fear that reprimandation can further provoke the bully[1].

By drawing a parallel between Dragon Nest, a South Korean game, to the South Korean high school system, one can see how the dark side of South Korean society is brought into the game through the various players’ interactions. Both requires long hours whether it is to level up or to complete assignments respectively. By enforcing the mixture of people, whether it is through implications in benefits in Dragon Nest or through long hours in one place, those who cannot adapt into the society is forced to face repercussions as a result. Those who have chosen the right character become accepted into parties and are able to climb the ladder to become a high-ranked player is identical to the people accepted into social groups that are able to climb the social ladder. They are the people free from the repercussions of society. In PvP, the “noob” faces aggressive bullying by being repeatedly killed by veteran players in comparison to the bullied in a South Korean system that faces vandalization. Or, the player unaccepted into any party in a PvE setting can become an outcast receiving the silent bullying similar to the South Korean high school system. Likewise, there is no authoritative figure to intervene in both situations. The game masters and the school staffs face restrictions whether it is due to interactions or fear of provoking more severe actions respectively.

While games are intended to serve as a vacation from society, it is impossible to separate from the clutches of society. The social elements between the bully and the bullied are brought into games in different forms. These social elements are only further developed as a result of the design of their respective systems. Games are the products that tried to become a wall, a tool of separation, that ultimately ended up as a mirror, a tool that reflects society.

Works Cited

“Bullying in South Korea – Eat Your Kimchi.” Eat Your Kimchi. 2012. Web. 05 Mar. 2016.

“Dragon Nest.” Dragon Nest. Nexon. Web. 05 Mar. 2016.

Hancocks, Paula. “South Korea Teenagers Bullied to Death.” CNN. Cable News Network, 26 July 2012. Web. 05 Mar. 2016.

[1] “Bullying in South Korea – Eat Your Kimchi.” Eat Your Kimchi. 2012. Web. 05 Mar. 2016.

The bloggers are former teachers that have taught in the South Korean school systems and gathered their information from fellow colleagues.