What’s the cultural difference between the West and the East? The consumption of popular “cute” games in the Taiwanese market

Abstract

Based on a model that includes three sub-circuits, i.e. technology, culture, and market, this paper shows that the Asian online gaming market has its peculiarities, which are reflected in the case study of popular “cute” games in the Taiwanese market. Asian-oriented “cute” games are based on the themes of Japanese video game culture and Manga, thus creating an Asian-style amusement, which establishes friendly gameplay and an easy-to-use environment. Two types of “cute” games: girls’ games and children’s games, are well accepted by young females in their twenties and by children in the 10 to 15 age group, who are resident in Taiwan’s urban areas. Asian “cute” games present a form of cultural hybridity, a combination of American digital entertainment and Asian urbanized culture. They have become a form of cultural flow in the regional market, established on the basis of Asian modernity and consumerism.

Keywords

Asian modernity children’s game “cute” game female’s game globalization hybridity online game urbanization

Introduction

Online games have become a very popular type of amusement in Asia. This is demonstrated by the market for them, which has increased annually since 2000 and which is found not only in Korea, but also in Taiwan, China, and Japan. The consumption of online gaming in the East Asian market has been growing steadily since then. It is worth noting that, as diversified game genres are developed by Asian firms, this has enlarged the gamer base, including that of children and young females, which is very different from the male-dominated western market. By 2014 it is predicted that China will become the biggest online game market in terms of consumption, with a quarter of the world’s total sales, followed by the USA, with 22 percent, according to Digi Capital (Bradshaw, 2011; Yu, 2011).

In 2012, the Taiwanese game market reached sales of US$1.3 billion (Wan, 2013). The rapid expansion of Taiwan’s market was initially on account of the low cost to gamers, a substantial distribution network of convenience stores, the introduction of the free-game business model in 2005, and of foreign produced “diversified” games in 2006 (Chen, 2009). When further examining the base of the game market, massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) drew 51 percent of the market, and casual games took the remaining 49 percent (Liu and Chou, 2008; MIC, 2008). In Asia, based on a role-playing structure, MMORPGs have become a hybrid that combines several types of genres, including fighting, adventure, simulation, and strategy games. The “casual game” is a generic term for games played competitively online without the existence of a persistent online realm. Some casual games may be as simple as online Mahjong or Poker, and so on.

Although online games are oriented to the USA, the Asian game market has presented very different preferences in terms of consumption. In the USA, the top three genres for men’s games were sports, action/adventure, and simulation, and women chose puzzle-solving, platform games, and sports genre (cited in Royse et al., 2008). In Taiwan, the role-play game is the most popular genre. It is widely accepted by 74.5 percent of players. Fighting/action games, with 45.1 percent, are next. The three most popular story genres of MMORPGs were “cute”, with 59.2 % mediaeval fantasy, with 45.7 percent, and Chinese wuxia, with 20.4 percent (MIC, 2006, 2008). The fantasy game is one of the mainstream genres in the global market generally; the wuxia game primarily targets Chinese-speaking audiences; the “cute” game, which originates from Japanese game culture, has become popular among Asian users (Liu and Chou, 2008).

Since 2006, diverse forms of games, including those that are self-produced and imported, have been introduced into the Taiwanese market. This is because Asian game developers have successfully created Asian-style game titles based on different back-stories, ranging from western fantasy games and Japanese samurai games to modern life simulation games, all embedded in the taste preferences of Asian users. It is worth noting that all have their market niche in Taiwan. The sophisticated structure of Taiwan’s online gaming market can be seen as the epitome of Asian game culture (Chen, 2013).

Based on previous data, we find that the US fantasy games, such as World of Warcraft and Diablo III (Blizzard), appeal to the hardcore users: the young male player (Song, 2013). However, at least, one-third of the online gaming (OLG) consuming market in Taiwan is constructed of other user groups: children and young women (MIC, 2008). This indicates that East Asian consumer societies have developed their own special characteristics, while assimilating western modern consumerism (Takahashi, 2009). This further raises some questions: Why do the western-oriented games solely attract a certain group of players? What kinds of characters do Asian-style games, especially “cute” games, have, and what are the features that their users possess? Based on a combination of game theories and media globalization studies, this paper examines a few popular Asian-oriented “cute” games, how they are developed, and why they create new market niches in the Taiwanese market. The research further scrutinizes how Asian-style MMORPGs, have become part of “popular culture” in the regional market.

An examination of western-oriented game cultures

Game studies include categorizing types of games, specific designs for particular game machines, the player’s ability to move, and the game’s visual aspects through the use of mechanical and structural rules, which should all be taken into account. According to Geoff King and Tanya Krzywinska (2002), games can be categorized on four levels: platform, mode, genre, and milieu. Other key theories used to understand digital games also address the debate through narratology and ludology. The narratological approach relies on narrative paradigms, whereas ludological studies focus on understanding the structures and elements of games (Apperley, 2006: 8). However, neither is capable of explaining the complexity of gaming culture.

The examination of today’s game culture should be based on a broader-view perspective. Kline et al. (2003) make use of a model, based on a political economy approach, that attempts to explain the practices of the video and computer game industry: including the application of new technologies to the different gaming platforms; the relationship between game product and consumer, and the market and brand practices used to sell digital products (Kline et al., 2003: 50–51). The dynamic circuit is divided into three sub-circuits: technology, culture, and market, which will be further discussed.

A technology-centered digital world

The game industry can be termed a risk industry, which requires complex technological skills, high capital costs, and long consumption times, no matter which platform is used, or its content development. The gaming industry is divided into three market segments according to the dominant hardware platform: consoles, mobile handhelds, and personal computers. Now, the main consoles have moved to the next generation – Sony’s PlayStation, Microsoft’s Xbox, and Nintendo’s Wii – with a greater allowance for increased functionality and converged multimedia for gamers (Ip, 2008). All of the innovation in-game development is based on one main principle: to offer a much better product so that consumers are willing to bear the pain of switching to it. The cyclical, competitive world of video gaming is therefore a market with a deeply destructive capacity (Kline et al., 2003: 129, 153).

While ranging from shooting and fighting skills to strategic and tactical war games, western games always focus on the hardcore users, who are technologically avant-garde. Western gaming culture is often termed “militarized masculinity,” as it originated from the USA games industry. It is indeed true that USA games have a close relationship with the USA military and the defense industry. Pentagon simulation makers constantly transfer technologies to commercial game production, which has prospered in a civilian industry. The backup of computer simulation and advanced military planning could explain why the USA game industry has a leading position in international markets (Kline et al., 2003: 179–181, 254).

For example, the USA developer, id Software, can be seen to be a leading game company and has produced two innovative games, Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. Wolfenstein 3D was the first “first person shooter” computer game, which provided three-dimensional creation embedded in a kill or be killed situation, an adrenalin fuelled entertainment. The revolutionary shooting game gives the illusion that the player has the vantage point of a protagonist who is moving. Doom provides an innovative interactive entertainment experience that ranges from graphic violence to technological sophistication, a formulaic format of martial games. This violent fighting game was the first to make use of internet techniques, allowing peer to peer connection (DeMarisa et al., 2002; Kline et al., 2003: 144–145).

Meanwhile, three different game platforms have been incorporated into a united platform, based on advances in information technology; for instance, game consoles have begun to provide an online service. Among the leading console manufacturers, Microsoft stand at the high point, as they have a competitive advantage for access to resources of finance from PC- and telecommunication- related industries and they have experience in operating within a related market (Ip, 2008: 214; Song, 2013). At the same time, game content presents a convergence of graphics, narrative, and sound as game hardware increases in sophistication with each generation. The convergence of genres has become apparent when game environments combine puzzles, combat, strategy, and many other design elements, differently from previous stand-alone genres, which were confined to a specific platform and milieu, and the types of virtual world in games, in terms of atmospheric or stylistic conventions, were previously based on limited technological skills (Gaudiosi, 2005; Ip, 2008; King and Krzywinska, 2002). Today’s game industry has become a place of competition for continuous innovation, not only in platform development but also in content design.

A male-dominated game culture

Almost all researchers agree that computer games and console games are a form of technology that embody a game culture presenting excessive masculinity, which can be discussed in terms of culture, market, and technology (Dove and Kennedy, 2006; Schott and Horrell, 2000). While examining the history of the muscled men who have appeared in the digital world, scholars find that the original characters may stretch as far back as the superhero in American comics, such as Superman or Spiderman. In a narrow perspective on the industry, the masculine game characters were designed to suit the standards of core gamers who were fascinated by plots of kicking, punching, and flipping across the game-screen (Hartas, 2005: 26–27). Once the existing genres had proved popular with the young male audience, the game companies and their designers, who are mainly males, had a strong economic incentive to continue and to amplify the genres, rather than to risk breaking new ground with new content (Kline et al., 2003: 90, 249).

In the USA, the games consumption market’s audiences are disproportionate in terms of gender, as previous literature has discussed (Cassell and Jenkins, 1998). Even recently, playing video games, especially those loaded with graphic violence, has continued to be a male pursuit. Some 81 percent of video game players were male, according to the NPD Group (Hafner, 2004). Actually, female characters are generally absent or under-represented, and are often treated as victims or sex objects in western games (Beasley and Standley, 2002; Labre and Duke, 2004). There are, though, some computer and video games that are targeted at female users, such as Barbie and the heroine adventure games. Barbie games, a type of girls’ games, are considered to be easy games for young children: transferring to video games the “pink and blue” genre divide that is deeply embedded in other realms of commodified children’s culture. That boys play with guns and trucks, and girls with dolls and clothes, are repeated in Mattel’s game world. For instance, Barbie fashion style, Barbie photo designer, and Barbie hair salon game, these successful Barbie series in the US market were associated with the princess image that is stereotypically feminine, as genders are labeled through a narrow stereotype (Kafai et al., 2008).

Although heroine adventure or fighting games set up female roles for protagonists, they are still hard to fit to the preferences of young females, since they solely follow the path of the established male-dominated game world. For instance, Buffy the Vampire Slayer provides a back-story relating to a Californian “valley girl” who slays vampires and other demons. The protagonist, Buffy, is a female hero: strong, capable, and fearless. At the same time, Eido’s Tomb Raider created a female archaeologist-adventurer, Lara Croft, sleuthing, shooting, and seeking hidden treasure in exotic locations. Its third series has sold over three million copies. However, Tomb Raider’s market success was based on the majority of players, who are young boys and men. Lara is seen as the monstrous offspring of science: a well-trained techno-puppet created by and for the male gaze. According to a survey by Schleiner (2001), it is the male players who derive pleasure from the role of Lara’s repeated destruction of her enemies, e.g. lions, rats, monkeys, and dinosaurs, and their consequent cries (Schleiner, 2001: 223–224).

At the same time, female game players do have different preferences, not only in the western but also in the Oriental market. According to research by Kristen Lucas and John Sherry (2004), females are less motivated to play games and show less orientation to game genres that feature competition and three-dimensional rotation. Still, there are researchers who have argued that girls are not uninterested in game playing, but have a set of preferences quite distinct from those of boy players. They like the games which stress collecting, creating, and constructing, rather than destroying, shooting, and defeating (Laurel, 2001). In addition, girl gamers do have a preference for third-person role-play games containing animal/creature-based characters, rather than highly gendered human figures (Schott and Horrell, 2000).

Globalization and glocalization

In market terms, digital entertainment originated in the western market and was then introduced to non-western markets. However, most game studies have focused on Anglo-American production cultures. It is necessary to borrow from studies on media globalization to offer an explanation of today’s global games industry. At an earlier stage, media imperialism was used to explain why an oligopolistic market of a few global media enterprises develops (Hamelink, 1993; McChesney, 2004). Subsequently, media researchers have utilized media globalization as a resource for discussion of how western-based USA cultural products are well situated to succeed as exports in the global market.

The popularity of American audio-visual content in global markets can be seen as a synonym for Americanization (Hall, 1997; Toynbee, 2000). On one side, American cultural products have already achieved a kind of universalization by their absorption of various elements that appeal to diverse audiences in the domestic market, which is their main target (Straubhaar, 2002: 692). On the other hand, the US media have their economic advantage in the global market. As the USA’s market scale is larger, its produced shows tend to have higher budgets, and this facilitates the strength of their cultural competitiveness. The advent of information and communication technology in the USA has also benefited their media enterprises. It easily overcomes regulatory barriers and penetrates foreign markets, and they have built their own transnational media empires by creating and distributing cultural artifacts efficiently (Gershon, 1993; Hoskins et al., 1997: 42). World of Warcraft (WoW) presents a good example, considering its acceptance by 11.5 million global players in 2009. This western fantasy game, with a sophisticated technique and design, ranked as one of the top three most popular selling game titles in the Asian market, including China, South Korea, and Taiwan (Nownews, 2009; Schiesel, 2007).

In addition, contemporary markets are more or less dominated by global cultural products that have been hybridized in order to adapt to local cultures. It is becoming increasingly common for western-centered cultural products to be adapted for use in various locales in order to increase exports (Tomlinson, 1991). Roland Robertson (1995) defines the process of hybridization of the local and global as “glocalization,” a constitutive, rather than a distinctive, relationship. As a new practice of cultural and performative expression, cultural hybridity is hard to identify as belonging to any particular national culture (Lull, 2001).

The concept of cultural hybridity not only benefits western cultural artifacts entering the global market, but also artifacts from any regional culture, so long as they have been adapted to extend their exportability. A prime example is the glocalization success of Japanese video games. Initially, Japanese game producers absorbed and adopted foreign (western) ideas for use in their own cultural products, and then adapted them to fit other cultures, instead of pressing for a global standardization, which was the strategy of many US game producers (Iwabuchi, 2002; Straubhaar, 2007). Mia Consalvo (2006) indicates that the acceptance of Japanese video games is now thoroughly global. Square Enix and the Final Fantasy Series are paradigmatic of both the processes involved in localizing Japanese game products and their glocalization success. Despite the game content largely being based on a western fantasy story, the process of localizing the game content was a complex labor-intensive and time-consuming process before the game was ready to enter the international markets. Square Enix had, in the meantime, developed a network of Japanese, American, and European holding companies to be responsible for the expansion of the company’s global businesses. The strength of Final Fantasy’s product value was the result of extensive development and sophisticated marketing of the brand, and of an immense budget (Consalvo, 2006: 128–132).

Asian-style “cute” games

Online games appeared on the Taiwanese market in 2000. Since then, fantasy and wuxia games, such as the Korean-produced Lineage (NCsoft) and the Taiwanese oriented game Jingyon Online (Chinese Gamers), have been the mainstream genres, since young males make up the majority of the OLG market. In 2006, diverse forms of imported games enlarged the game base for players, and increased the revenue of the OLG market by 40 percent. It is worth noting also that there is a distinct type of “cute” game, which originates from Japanese consumption culture, and which has become a popular genre in Taiwan. Taiwan’s market structure has changed because cute games have a great appeal to young females and children.

In 2005, Maple Story and Kart Rider, two Korean-produced “cute” games were introduced to Taiwan. “Cute” themed games attract two distinct groups of users, whose audience structure differs greatly from that of the traditional core users, who were males between 15 and 25 years old (MIC, 2008). Kart Rider, developed by the South Korean Nexon, is an online racing game. The game is presented in a simple fashion. The goal of the game is to drive the kart as fast as possible in order to beat the other players. The game design provides a concept for easy play, breaking down the traditional thinking on new games, which stresses technological novelty. In a simple way, the game asks players to drive the “kart” fast, overtaking rivals. This “cute” game was played competitively online without the existence of a persistent online realm. In Taiwan, the racing game attracted 70,000 users, an equal number of women and men. They were in an average age group that was over 25, whose demographic is more representative of middle Taiwan, according to their Taiwanese operator, Gamania. At the same time, there were an estimated 15 million users of the Korean version, and over 25 percent of South Koreans have played the game at least once. This was also the first game to outsell WoW in South Korea. It is worth noting that Kart Rider has been consistently successful in enlarging its gamer base, gamers range in age from 35 to younger than 15, especially in the intra-Asian market. In 2005, the number of its global players reached 230 million (Hjorth, 2006).

Maple Story, developed by Wizet, appeals to a very different group of new users, those under 15 years old. Its 2D capacity scenarios and scrolling story lines, which were originally used in Japanese video games to attract boy players, are also worth noting. Different from traditional MMORPGs, which require military raids or combat in order to move up through the levels, players can experience a jungle exploration, in which they can develop the characters’ skills and abilities, as in other typical role-play games. To earn experience points, the avatar has to smash monsters that are designed as “cute” representations, such as mushrooms, rabbits, and snails. A large number of quests require the player to retrieve a certain amount of the spoils that are attained from monsters, or to traverse an obstacle course. Jump quests in games are a unique type of quest in which a character starts at one area of a map and uses timed jumps to get from one platform to another specific platform. The player can jump off the platform when attempting to avoid enemies and obstacles. The game successfully attracted new players who were under the age of 15 – kids – because it provided an easier way to play games. The “cute” game was a hit in the intra-Asian markets outside Taiwan. Subsequently, a global version of Maple Story entered the western market, operated mainly in North America and Europe. In 2007, Maple Story had a combined total of over 50 million subscriber accounts for all of its versions, according to their Taiwanese operator, Gamania.

Since then, “cute” games have become one of the popular genres in the Taiwanese OLG consuming market. The Korean Flyff, developed by Korean Gala Lab, can be seen as another example. Based on a western fantasy story, the game rules encourage working in groups in order to move up the levels, for instance, by killing monsters in a party. As a community-based MMORPG, a guild system, which provides many in-game activities, a good way to socialize players, is an important feature of Flyff. Besides this, its main distinctiveness lies in its flying system: flying is the normal method of transportation for characters during gameplay. In the digital wonderland, users can perform tasks, run a shop, and, most importantly, make friends with other avatars. The social inter-activities and multi-aid activities appeal to young females, who are not interested in violent fighting and military aids. According to the operator, MacroWell, young females account for at least 60 percent of users. When launched in 2006, the flying-style game immediately went to Number One for the first week, and remained in the top five until the next year. In 2012, four “cute” game titles, all South Korean produced, were listed among the top selling game titles in Taiwan, Maple Story was second and Ragnarok Online was tenth (Song, 2013).

The localization of Asian “cute” games in the intra-regional market

“Cute” games are well accepted, not only in Taiwan but also in other East Asian markets. Meanwhile, the rise of the “cute” genre can be seen as no longer being only an aesthetic representation, but as being a burgeoning subgenre that plays on the culture of nostalgia (Hjorth, 2006). The popularity of Asian-style cute games in the intra-regional market was encouraged by their characteristics of western globalization and glocalization, which are worthy of further discussion.

First, the strategy of glocalization is also used by the Asian game industries, which allows “cute” games to easily cross countries’ borders, becoming a popular genre in the intra-regional market. All the Asian-style games were adapted through a process of localization before they entered the different local markets. This included content adjustment, and the local operator provides what is needed to fit the preferences of local users.

For instance, in 2003, the first popular “cute” game that operated in Taiwan was Korean Gravity’s Ragnarok Online (RO), with around 350,000 online users playing the game. According to the operator’s data, 30 to 35 percent of the users were females in their mid-20s. The “cute” game also appeals widely to gamers in East Asian markets. RO’s storyline comes from Nordic mythology: a fancy digital world provides 2D “cute” representations and a 3D virtual space for players. The design of the game’s characters is based on western cultural and social structures, for instance, swordsmen, knights, wizards, priests, and bards. Differently from those serious games that focus on violent activities, RO’s game rules emphasize social interactions and mutual aid. Teamwork is also encouraged during gameplay, where users have to incorporate each other for upgrades. For example, a collective task is designed for the players’ mutual aid. Sometimes, completing a quest may require swordsmen to kill monsters, magicians to supply energy, and merchants to provide equipment for battle.

As RO circulated in the intra-Asian market, different content or specific events were designed to attract users from the intra-Asian market. These were, for instance, occasions like the Sakura Festival in Japan, the Pouring Water Festival in Thailand and the Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan, according to their Taiwanese operator, Game First. To further provide specialized services and localized game content, Gravity’s overseas team consists of 150 people who specifically provide a service for the localization of the content. The merit of the South Korean firms is not only in providing products and technology support, but also in their services to operators in the international markets.

Second, Asian-style “cute” games are rarely associated with any national identity but are, rather, based on western popular culture. This followed the strategy of Japanese computer games in the global world, as the propensities of Japanese cultural products are purposely designed and customized for the international market. Koichi Iwabuchi (2002) puts forward an explanation which he calls “odourless,” which decreases Japanese cultural identity and which can easily be adapted to cultural contexts. To enlarge their outbound market, the genres of Asian MMORPGS were exploited by western game developers and were further transformed in order to fit Asian cultures.

Asian cuteness in Asian cultural commodities

Why do US games solely appeal to young male players? It is true that western designed games rarely notice female players’ demands, for the process of western game culture, including game design, production, and marketing, all serves to demarcate games being played as a specifically masculine activity (Dove and Kennedy, 2006; Schott and Horrell, 2000). When tracing the developmental history of Japanese video games, many specifically originate from Japanese Manga (comic book) and animé cartoons, differing from the development of American PC games. The graphics-based cultural industries have provided an important foundation for the development of Japan’s video game industry (Aoyama and Izushi, 2004).

It seems that the American and the Asian game worlds are two game worlds that have developed based on different ways of thinking and different values. However, Asian-style cute games have more sophisticated practices that have evolved with socio-cultural factors that are based on the preferences of Asian players, rather than with technological concerns to increase their market base. Further evidence is drawn from a comparison of the design of the female and child characters and of the game concepts in western- and Asian-oriented games.

Japanese boys’ easy games

Where does the concept of “cute” in these Asian games come from? It should be explained in the connotation of cuteness in the Japanese culture of consumption. Cuteness, in the Japanese language, conveys meanings of sweetness and gentleness. While this concept is used in girls’ games, it stresses dependency and purity; when cuteness is applied to children’s games, it suggests safety and innocence from the threat of adult themes and adolescent culture (Tobin, 2004: 242).

Japan’s “cute” features present a friendly representation that is easily approached by players. For instance, Mario is a moustached man wearing a red hat, just an ordinary fellow from our daily lives, rather than the muscle-bound hero so often found in an epic. With a stature that is proportioned with a head to body size ratio of 1 to 2, Mario’s appearance of normality allows gamers to believe that the quest to rescue a princess from an evil dragon can be completed by anybody. Actually, Japanese “cutification” can be seen as an extension of “Disneyization.” Disney has long carried out a process of taming in their films by depicting their cartoon characters as mastering dark and evil nature. Japan’s Pokémon expands the cutification of children’s imaginary lives, which Disney had initially exploited, and therefore Japanese “cute” characters reflect a Japanese sophistication that is based on globally diffused American popular cultural formats (Iwabuchi, 2004: 72). However, differences still exist between Disney cartoon characters and Japanese video characters. Japanese “cute” characters do not have subtle emotional facial expressions. The character design encourages players to pick a character, go on an adventure, and experience a different life. By contrast, audiences can easily figure out the “personalities” of characters in Disney’s world, such as the quick-witted Mickey Mouse, the stubborn Donald Duck, or the awkward Goofy, according to Taiwanese game producer Jim Tsia’s observations.

Japanese girl culture

The “cute” character design in girls’ games present another style: the proportions of the head to body size ratio are 1 to 8, reflecting the perfect body shape of human beings, which presents a supermodel-like body shape that is based overall on western values. We should note that the creation of western-style characters originated from the foundation of girls’ manga (Aoyama and Izushi, 2004). Manga is “the defining characteristic of Japan’s publishing culture” (Cooper-Chen, 1999: 98). The manga market can be broken down as follows: boys’ comics, girls’ comics, young adults (sitcoms, sports, action/adventure), ladies’, and miscellaneous others (pachinko, golf, erotica). Girls and ladies accounted for 60 percent of the market share in 2002, with a strong readership among those aged 12 to 17, according to Tokyopop and Viz Media (Glazer, 2005). Girls’ manga, emphasizing idealized love, makes use of lavender and pink on covers, or on pages with color. Purposely designed for women and girls, Japanese girls’ comic stories, are very “wet,” as opposed to “dry”; they are unashamedly human and sentimental. These Caucasian-looking heroes and heroines have un-naturally large eyes that often glisten with stars and tears (Cooper-Chen, 1999: 101–102). The cultural commodity has become a popular entertainment among Japanese young females in urbanized cities.

Japanese girls’ “cute” culture provides the inspiration for Asian online game developers to create a genre specifically for female users. For instance, Love Box, a Taiwanese, self-oriented “cute” game, has circulated among young female users in the Pan-Asian markets, including Tokyo, Seoul, and Taipei. Developed by Chinese Gamers, the simulation “cute” style MMORPG is purposely designed to attract young females in urban areas. Love Box’s game rules are set up in the ways in which young women enjoy their modern life, for instance, through luxury shopping, dining, and house decoration. Players are encouraged to keep their experience points, evaluated by indications of beauty, attraction, quality of life, and passion. The avatar can move up a level through the use of different kinds of modern social activities based on consumerism and hedonism; at the same time, the avatar can become bankrupt once any category of experience points decreases to zero.

According to the game developer, Chinese Gamers, the game concept was inspired by the format of Japan’s game Princess Maker, which is a series of nurturing and love simulation computer games. The Japanese series of games provides a storyline based on fictional worlds, ranging from a mediaeval world to modern Japan, wherein gamers play the role of parents who adopt a mysterious girl. Numerous factors decide whether the young girl will become successful in her future, varying from making friends and selecting partners, through raising children. Winning or losing the game depends on the process through which a young girl climbs her career ladder. Various possible endings open up for the players, providing a fresh entertainment experience, while other traditional console or computer games only provide a few endings. Furthermore, the process of nurturing a child from teenager to adult has inspired the Asian OLG designers to form a concept that creates the life simulation game genre specifically for young females.

Cultural values embedded in a digital world

Different from other entertainment, such as film or music, computer video games offer a rule-based system where different outcomes are assigned different values. An interactive process is established: where games provide the diversification of rules to limit or guide players and, at the same time, players will therefore validate the actions one is able to take in that world (Consalvo, 2006: 112). Games are “ergodic,” structured in accordance with the branching algorithms that regulate behavior (Juul, 2005: 6). The development of a digital narrative does not present itself as a liner, but rather as a hedgehog, which means the designer has to provide a few possible and meaningful outcomes for players to explore.

A back-story is therefore a core part of games, especially role-playing games. An embedded story must draw the players’ interest first, and then invite them to engage in role-playing and make-believe and to perform roles as part of the game world. In cultural terms, most games are targeted at the western market and then spread to non-western markets. It is true that many of these games are designed around what are fundamentally US military subtexts, such as conquest and western imperialism. For instance, the strategic games, such as Age of Empire, also known as “war games,” originate from scenarios of western colonization. Based on militarized masculinity, the western-centered hegemony contains the plots of either, or both, exploration and the conquering of other civilizations (Kerr, 2006: 116; Kline et al., 2003: 254–255). According to Kline et al. (2003), video and computer game culture can be termed a cultural hybridization, something of a combination: American superheroes and British neo-colonial nostalgia (189-190).

However, this type of western-oriented games has difficulty in attracting children and young females. Differences between US games and Japanese games vary with game genre, aesthetic artifacts, and graphic design. When examining the success of Japanese Nintendo, we can find that the game company created a new entertainment concept, adding narrative and “cute” graphics to enhance play. Setting out with the goal of “play value,” the Japanese game company provided games which attracted novices, and which were attractive and not too complex or challenging (Kline et al., 2003: 116–118). For instance, the design of Mario is an attempt to replicate childhood experiences with a new game space, clearly a space for children, according to Nintendo’s game developer, Miyamoto (DeMarisa et al., 2002; Kline et al., 2003: 96). In the Japanese game world, there are no confrontations between either hero and dragon, or justice and evil. Rather, their protagonists struggle across an astonishing electronic range of landscapes of deserts, frozen wastelands, tropical rainforests, and urban undergrounds, and encounter resistance from strange hybrid beasts. Combining the iconography of multiple boys’ book genres, these adventure games have become the young children’s virtual experiences (Dove and Kennedy, 2006: 94). Japanese style children’s games, stressing jungle adventures or mysterious island exploration, therefore engage in happy hours of leisure activities, in contrast to the activities of serious games, which may be offensive, competitive, and technical.

Besides this, the cuteness of girls’ games can be explained as an extension of innocence, when further examining the connotations inside the concept. In Japanese society, innocence is highly admired as a unique form of beauty, delicacy, and refinement; this is in contrast to the adult world, in which maturity is a symbol of impurity and complexity (Allison, 2004). Inuhiko Yomota (2007), in particular, explains the phenomena of girls’ culture, by giving an example of Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon (PSSM), Japan’s console and arcade game based on the animé series in Japan. The story of the various PSSM meta-series revolves around the reincarnated defenders of a kingdom, and the evil forces that they battle. The protagonist of PSSM is an ordinary middle school girl, depicted as a well-intentioned but underachieving crybaby. Interestingly, the evil side consists of grown-up females with well-rounded physical bodies.

Cuteness is therefore equated with consumption itself; the yearning to be comfortable and soothed is a way back to nostalgia for experiences in a child’s past. This could explain why cute characters have a great appeal to Japanese young females, while Japanese businessmen had to try to sell their cute game products to children in the western market (Allison, 2004). The rise and fetishization of “cute” goods in Japan in the 1970s and 1980s links it to growing consumerism and the increasing role, real and imaginary, played in it by girls as they pursue their desires for self-pleasure by consuming clothes, accessories, music, and comics (Allison, 2004: 40). The nature of “kawaii” (cuteness in the Japanese language) has become apparent and pervasive in Japanese urban culture. With the deep cultural influence from Japan, today’s Asian girls’ “cute” games are widely accepted by young, Asian, urban females, who have similar tastes in their consumption of cultural products.

Conclusion

The characters in “cute” games offer two sided presentation: the finesse and delicacy of artifacts, and a friendly, easy-to-use game environment. Now, the politics of the “cute” can no longer be so simplistically categorized, when they are linked to the young females and children who have become the most active players of games in Asian urban cities.

Based on the model that encircles three sub-circuits, i.e. technology, market, and culture, this paper shows that the Asian OLG market has its peculiarities, reflected in the case of the popular online “cute” games in the Taiwanese market.

First, in technological terms, the application of advanced complexity through technologies does not play a major role in deciding whether a game becomes successful in a market, at least within the Asian market. Differently from the western game industry, which has expanded beyond the tech- and male-centered, Asian easy games are designed with decreased technical complexity and a reduction in violent competition; and, at the same time, diversified forms of game genres have tended to increase the game user base.

Second, a united Asian game market is established by close co-operation between the game developers and local operators. All Asian games that come from a particular country (mainly from South Korea) still require a process of deep localization in order to fit the preferences of local users before the games enter other markets. The strategy of glocalization, originally used by western media conglomerates to penetrate international markets, is followed by these Asian game companies who provide customized services for local users.

Third, meanwhile, Asian-oriented OLGs have become a popular part of the cultural activity of consumption in the intra-Asian market. Asian gamers are formed through a wider game base, which includes young males, young females, and children. Most of them have sophisticated tastes in game products, further breaking the markets into a fragmented audience structure. When examining the differences in cultural product consumption between the two distinct cultural markets, West and East, we find that they are shaped not only by their economic conditions, such as computer-based skills and technological techniques, but also by means of socio-cultural forces, such as tradition, social practices, and cultural values.

The above examination shows that Asian “cute” games were originally adapted into western consumer culture, and then became a combination of Japanese game culture, western computer techniques, and the preferences of Asian users in metropolitan areas. It is worth noting that the integrity of the Asian OLG market is also based on the emergence of the commodity function of Asian-ness. It means that, from Tokyo to Seoul to Taipei, these East Asian countries have accepted a similar process of western modernity in terms of economic, social, and political effects. The popularity of western style pop culture in the Asian market is also accompanied by urbanized modernity and information technology. For instance, going online has become one of the main activities of Korean adolescents, including the seeking of entertainment-related information, games, and email, according to the Korean Network and Information Center in 2002 (Jung et al., 2005). In Taiwan, Chen (2000) finds that the household income and urbanization level have had a significant influence on internet access and etiquette among middle school students. However, at the same time, East Asian consumer societies have developed their own special characteristics, reflected in their tastes in digital cultural products, while assimilating western modern consumerism. Meanwhile, Asian-style “cute” games have become part of popular culture in the regional market. This can be identified by a larger scale consumer market, which is more fragmented, diversified, and sophisticated when compared to the western game culture, which originates from Pentagon sponsored inception and hacker culture.

Footnotes

Funding

This research received grant from University of Westminster as PhD research funding in 2007.

Author biography

Lai Chi Chen is Associate Professor in College of Communication and Journalism at Shantou University in China. She received her PhD degree from University of Westminster. Her research interests and teaching focus on media globalization, cultural industries, media management and popular culture. She is particularly interested in Asian popular culture, including the Asian online gaming industries and Korean Wave, which focus on the process of content production, marketing, consumption, and reproduction in the intra-Asian markets.

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