From Simple Play to the Pinnacle of Strategy: The Evolutionary History of Games That Fascinated Humanity

What does 'play' mean to humans? The act of moving freely without a plan and exercising imagination—play—is a natural human desire. While animals also utilize play for learning, what distinguishes human play is the presence of 'creativity' within it. However, the 'games' we commonly refer to differ in nature from play. While play is a free act that requires no learning, a game can only be established when agreed-upon 'rules' are learned.

Fun Created by Rules: The Birth and Golden Age of Video Games

The reason for adding complex rules to simple ball games is clear. As rules become more sophisticated, humans feel less boredom and gain greater enjoyment. This aesthetics of rules expanded into the digital world in 1958, when humanity invented a new form called video games. Early video games felt like 'magic' because software composed of code and words moved upon the screen.

In the late 1970s, the golden age of arcade games opened, and the landscape of the game industry began to change. Despite being a simple shooting game, Taito's 'Space Invaders' achieved worldwide success, to the point where arcades ran out of coins. This served as an opportunity for Japan to emerge as a powerhouse in the video game industry. Following this, through 'Pac-Man' and 'Donkey Kong,' the appearance of the plumber character 'Super Mario' turned games into a global cultural phenomenon. In particular, 'Street Fighter II' led the establishment of the fighting game genre by introducing a mechanism where techniques vary depending on button manipulation.

From Chess to Warcraft: The Link Between Tradition and Digital

Modern, flashy video games did not suddenly fall from the sky. Their roots are connected to ancient traditional games. For example, 'Chess,' which was used for the strategic education of nobles, became the prototype for the 'movement range and stats per character,' which is a core logic of modern video games. The rules of 'checkmate,' catching the king on 64 squares, have been inherited as victory conditions in games today.

There are also cases where board game settings became the backgrounds for digital worlds. Strategic board games like 'Dungeons & Dragons,' enjoyed at board game cafes in LA, USA, adopt a method where players select a race and roll dice to determine actions. These settings and grammars became the foundation for strategic simulation games like 'Warcraft' later on. The development of PC performance and the spread of the internet completed the thrilling gameplay of 'Diablo' and the genre value of MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) presented by 'Ultima Online.'

An Era of Strategy and Immersion: The World of Games Expanding into eSports

It is no exaggeration to say that Korean gaming history is divided into before and after 'StarCraft.' And in 2010, a legend named 'LoL' appeared. As of 2019, games have grown into a massive ecosystem where the imagination of millions converges, with the number of simultaneous users on servers worldwide exceeding 8 million.

Games now go beyond simple amusement and possess sophisticated genre classifications. The territory is expanding infinitely, from 'Adventure' exploring unknown worlds, 'RPG' growing characters, 'RTS' devising real-time strategies, to 'FPS' providing a high sense of experience from a character's perspective. This trend led to events like the WCG (World Cyber Games) held in Xi'an, China in 2019, which involved approximately 30,000 participants from 111 countries, establishing itself as a new cultural activity for humanity, akin to the 'Olympics of eSports.'