The recent second-generation American-American-American role-playing game, The Moot, was linked to a South Korean fashion brand, YoGoods, which was supposed to be a win-win game and a commercial, yet once again broke South Korean players’ fragile heart, prompting YoGoods to jump and cut.
As can be seen from the public joint illustrations, the hand gesture of the most right-hand female character, Zanni, appeared in a “c” shape, and the release of the linked pictures had a dramatic impact on the Korean Internet. It’s made of thumbs and index fingers.ZeniumWith the development of the Internet, South Korean women’s communities are now commonly used to sarcasticize the specific physiological characteristics of Korean men, with a clear “negative male connotation”, thus causing a strong rebound from Korean male players. Criticism spread rapidly in male-dominated forums in Korea, forcing YoGoods to issue an urgent apology.
In an official apology, Yogoods stated: “We are deeply sorry for the fact that the role clipping is not properly designed to trouble your players. We immediately terminated all cooperation with the content designer. At the same time, to prevent the recurrence of such incidents, internal audit processes are being reorganized and stricter standards are being applied.”
In fact, this is not the first wave of chiming in Korea. The “Chinese-English” sign on the site “Only Koreans” has been acclaimed on the Internet. Chinese players question their country of discrimination. Chinese slogans are targeted and clearly unintentioned. In a statement of apology given by Naruto, it was stated that Samsung stores had changed without official approval.
The number of disputes over gender-related symbols in the game industry in Korea is also increasing the vulnerability and sensitivity of Korean players. Nexon had been protested for the gender stereotypes of the NPC dialogue, Krafton ‘ s PUBG had been forced to adjust because the female role body model was too realistic, and Steam Platform had been in dispute on several occasions because of forum gestures. Korean society is highly sensitive to gender issues, making game companies particularly cautious.
The extreme sensitivity of Korean society to gender symbols is the projection of its deep social contradictions in the virtual world. The special survival laws of the Korean game market are once again confirmed by the waves of the Moot and YoGoods, which appear to be subtle symbols in the context of globalization, but are amplified indefinitely in the highly sensitive gender issue field of Korea.