A written interview with Yoon Seok-yeol, a presidential candidate for the People’s Strength, conducted by Inven, a domestic game media outlet, was written by a working-level executive without the candidate’s consent, causing controversy. The candidate interview is going out under the name of ‘Yun Seok-yeol’ without even being reported to the candidate.
On the 2nd, Representative Ha Tae-kyung of People’s Strength shared an interview with Inven that Yoon had conducted the day before and said, “I confirmed that there was no report from Candidate Yoon for a game policy interview in the name of Candidate Yoon.” He pointed out the problems with the evening (Inven, a game policy-themed) interview, and posted an article criticizing that the interview lowered the youth approval rating. Shortly thereafter, the interview confirmed that it had not even been reported to the candidate. The interview answers without the candidate’s consent are being issued in the name of the candidate,” he insisted.
Assemblyman Ha said, “The people’s power election committee is passing not only the party representatives but also the candidates. “There is a serious problem with the current election campaign, which raises such a big problem in the name of a candidate without even consulting with the party’s game-specialist legislator,” he pointed out. He also insisted, “We need to find out the person who passed the candidate and give them back punishment.”
In this regard, according to the Hankyoreh on the 2nd, Lee Yang-soo, senior spokesperson for People’s Strength, said, “There was a written interview request from a game magazine, but the candidate handed it over to the policy headquarters, and the policy headquarters sent it directly to the magazine. There is something,” he explained.
Chief Spokesperson Lee said, “The candidates could not confirm all the written interviews, but gatekeeping was not successful.
Previously, Candidate Yoon’s interview with Inven provoked controversy among game users in two main areas. In an interview, Candidate Yoon argued that “strong regulations such as mandatory disclosure of trade secrets, which are difficult to accept as a company, are not unconditional” in the ‘probability-type item issue’. .
The probability-type item is effectively the same concept as the lottery. Game users agree that regulation is necessary. When a game user pays cash to buy an item, the item grade is randomly divided like the probability in the lottery. You can pull out expensive items, but you can pull out a ‘bang’ item even if you pay a huge amount. Of course, the latter is of course more likely. Game companies protested, saying, “The item probability cannot be disclosed because it is a trade secret.” The probability-type item issue is a hot potato in the annual national audit.
Candidate Yoon was seen as raising a company hand on this issue, and in particular, Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung said in the same interview, “We will promote transparent information disclosure of probability-type game items and transparently disclose the exact composition probability and expected value of probability-type items.” Contrary to what was said
Candidate Yoon also said, “All cultural contents, including games, are products, but they also affect users’ minds, so it is necessary to properly deal with promotion and regulation.” It was interpreted from the viewpoint of ‘regulation is necessary because game addiction is a disease’, causing controversy. Candidate Lee expressed a cautious stance on the same topic, saying, “It is necessary to carefully examine whether gaming disorder can be classified on the same line as other diseases.”
Regarding the interview with Candidate Yoon, Assemblyman Ha said, “Some answers appear to represent the position of the industry rather than gamers, so the opposition of gamers is growing.” If you take a position that goes against this atmosphere, it could have a negative impact on the youth approval ratings,” he said.
Hwang Hee-doo, director of the Institute for Democracy, a former pro gamer, said in a phone call on the 2nd, “The People’s Power proposed a bill to legislate the self-regulation of probability-type items at the end of last year, but it was withdrawn due to ‘headwind’ from game users. Similar to back then, they took a position that they should consider the company’s position, but they still have not come to their senses.”
Director Hwang said, “Rep. Ha said this interview was the result of ‘Suk-Yeol Yoon passing’, but in the end, he spit in his face.” Inben actually drank water from Candidate Yoon. What will be the game users and game industry who thought that candidate Yoon’s true intentions were reflected in the interview?” he scolded.
Director Hwang said, “Candidate Jae-myung Lee may also lack knowledge and understanding of the game industry. Still, it seems that game users are watching this candidate who wants to listen and learn a lot. There are evaluations coming out that he is a person who tries to learn and grow.”
On the afternoon of the 2nd, candidate Yoon seemed to be conscious of the controversy, saying, “Games are not a disease.” “The older generation’s views on games were generally not positive. As a result, some were concerned about game addiction, classifying it as a disease, and attempting to intervene forcibly through the ‘shutdown system’.”
Candidate Yoon continued, “We should minimize government interference and leave it to the creativity and innovation of Korean companies with the world’s best technology. We will respect the opinions of gamers in this direction.” The position is somewhat different from the previous interview with Inven, which caused controversy over the proxy interview.
“Games are never a disease,” he said. “Except for concerns about excessive speculation, outdated regulations on games should be cautious.”
