게임심의제 전환의 조건과 문화정책적 의의에 대한 고찰

Abstract

In Korea, the game industry has continued to lead the growth of the contents industry as a whole. Computer games have become big business, an industry of both commercial and cultural concerns. Playing games requires literacy with the game contents, thus necessitating that such contents become the subject of discussions over the appropriateness of which classifications of users playing which games. The games rating system aims to bridge this gap by balancing user and game contents. As such, the rating system exerts influence on the game market and thus sits at the heart of cultural policy. Hitherto, the game rating system has been executed prior to the distribution of a game. By contrast, in many foreign countries, the rating system is operated on a self-regulation basis. With the market for smartphone games growing, self-regulation has increasingly become suggested as an alternative for Korea. The cultural policy debate has since December 2011 focused on a change in the games rating system, with, from July, 2012, self-regulation beginning. The change in the games rating system is a significant step in the maturation of the industry and users' attitudes for games, and the emergence of a developed game culture within cultural policy.