First demonstration of 'Raonatti' in front of a Dutch minister
Joint development by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Gyeongsangbuk-do, grand opening scheduled in December
Use traditional cultural heritages and characters of the local government body to open possibilities of globalizing cultural contents industries
[March 29, 2012]

 Yeungnam University finally revealed the online platform-based 'cultural contents education serious game' that it is currently developing together with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism(MCST) and Gyeongsangbuk-do.

 
 The YU Convergence Media Design Center (director Hong, Chang-kee) attended the 'Korea-Netherlands Serious Game Seminar' at the Seoul JW Marriott Hotel on the 28th and gave a demonstration on 'Raonatti' (Korean word meaning 'fun friend'), a game that YU developed. The demonstration was made by Kim, Chan-woo, a fifth-grader at Sawol Elementary School in Daegu and Hong, Ji-ho, a second-grader at Samyuk Elementary School in Daegu.

 Due to the 'fun' and 'immersion' character of games, Serious Games can be a way to effectively conduct education, therapy and training. It is receiving high attention as a core sector that can lead next-generation technologies and contents. Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Uri Rosenthal and Joke Witteveen of the Dutch Games Association (DGA), and Director of the Gyeonggi Digital Content Agency Sung, Yeol-hong were present and watched the demonstration of 'Raonatti'.

 Features of this is that it utilizes Korea's traditional cultural heritages such as Bulguksa Temple, Seokguram, and Andong Hahoe Village, as well as characters of the local governing bodies as contents. In addition, by integrating the entertainment factors, which is the main function of serious games, together with education, tourism and PR, it induces elementary and secondary school students to enjoy games while having continued interest in Korea's unique traditional cultural heritages and cultural contents. Representatives from both nations that watched the demonstration praised it saying that it was entertaining.

 
 The YU Convergence Media Design Center, which began development of the games with a total investment of 720 million won made up of both national and provincial funding from June of last year, is reinforcing the contents such as 'Knowing Dokdo' with the goal of having the grand opening at the end of the year. Meanwhile, it is also planning to conduct test classes at elementary schools, as well as an online beta test in the coming months of June and October.

 On this, Professor Hong, Chang-kee (42, Department of Visual Communication Design), who is serving as the director of the YU Convergence Media Design Center, stated, "The education, culture and IT contents of the Gyeongbuk region finally took its first step towards globalization and popularization." He added, "Starting off at Gyeongbuk, by establishing a cultural U-learning system nationwide and by utilizing 'Knowing History Properly' learning contents that use the UNESCO designated cultural heritages and cultural properties of local governments, we can expect not only educational effects, but the creation of new growth engines by adding value to local cultures."

 Meanwhile, this event was hosted by the Embassy of Korea to the Netherlands, the Gyeonggi Digital Content Agency, and the Korean Society for Computer Game, and sponsored by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation. As part of the friendly match of Serious Games between Korea and the Netherlands, Korea demonstrated cultural contents serious games that YU is developing, while the Dutch showed a fire fighting drill serious game.