• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.109-153
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• 1992

본고(本稿)에서는 우리나라 은행산업(銀行産業)의 트랜스로그비용함수(費用函數)와 규모(規模) 및 범위(範圍)의 경제성(經濟性), 비용(費用)의 보완성(補完性) 그리고 경쟁적(競爭的) 생존력(生存力) 등 효율성지표들을 추정함으로써 은행산업(銀行産業)의 효율성(效率性)을 평가하고 제도개선방향(制度改善方向)에 대한 시사점을 논하였다. 추정결과에 의하면, 우선 규모(規模)의 경제성(經濟性)의 경우는 은행대출(銀行貸出)이 규모(規模)의 비경제하(非經濟下)에 있고 모든 다른 업무(業務)들은 규모(規模)의 경제(經濟)를 시현하고 있지만, 전업무에 걸친 규모(規模)의 경제(經濟)는 부재(不在)하는 것으로 관찰된다. 다음, 범위(範圍)의 경제(經濟)의 경우는 유가증권투자(有價證券投資)와 신탁자산(信託資産) 및 수신(受信) 등은 범위(範圍)의 경제하(經濟下)에 있는 반면, 은행예금(銀行預金)은 범위(範圍)의 비경제하(非經濟下)에 있고 전업무에 걸친 범위(範圍)의 경제(經濟)는 강한 것으로 관찰되고 있다. 그리고 비용보완성(費用補完性)의 경우는 유가증권투자(有價證券投資)가 은행대출(銀行貸出), 예금(預金) 및 신탁업무(信託業務)와, 그리고 신탁자산운용업무(信託資産運用業務)가 은행자산운용업무(銀行資産運用業務)와 각각 비용보완관계(費用補完關係)를 보이고 있는 반면, 은행예금(銀行預金)은 특히 은행대출(銀行貸出)과 그리고 신탁자산업무(信託資産業務)와 경쟁관계에 있다. 한편 은행산업(銀行産業)에는 경쟁적(競爭的) 생존력(生存力)이 부재(不在)하는 것으로 관찰되고 있다. 이상의 결과들의 시사점을 정리하면, 우선 은행대출(銀行貸出)은 상대적으로 규모를 축소하고 여타의 모든 은행업무(銀行業務)나 신탁업무(信託業務)들은 규모를 확대함으로써 효율성제고(效率性提高)에 기여할 수 있을 것이며, 은행예금(銀行預金)과 은행주변업무는 앞으로 금융(金融)의 심화(深化)가 진행되면 여타업무에서 분리되어 각각 독립 운영될 가능성이 높다. 유가증권업무(有價證券業務)와 신탁자산(信託資産) 및 수신업무(受信業務)들을 추가확대함으로써 은행업무(銀行業務)의 효율성(效率性)이 증대될 수 있을 것으로 보여 겸업주의(兼業主義) 은행제도(銀行制度)의 타당성은 높지만, 은행산업(銀行産業)의 자연독점적인 성격은 부재(不在)하여 섣부른 규모(規模)만의 확대(擴大)는 오히려 경쟁력(競爭力)을 저하시킬 수도 있을 것이다.

• 한국초지조사료학회지
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.71-82
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• 2005

Khori(高麗) refers to the Chaabog(reindeer) that live on lichens(蘚) on Mt. Soyon(鮮) in which pastures are the cold and dry plateau of North Eurasia. Thus, the origin region of the Khori or Koguryo that are the ancestors of the reindeer-herding pastoral nomads(馴鹿 遊牧民) can be said to be the Steppe-Taiga-Tundra pastoral areas of North Eurasia and North America. When the pastoral nomads moved on to the great mountain(大山) zone of the Jangbaek(長白) to the Baekdu(白頭) Mountains, they could have been in contact with pastoral farmers or agricultural farmers living there and they became the farmers remaining on agricultural farms. They were the Koryo people, the ancestors of Korea. Staying in one place, they gradually forgot the origin of their reindeer-herding pastoral nomadic history in the Northwest area of Mt. Soyon, the small mountain(小山) zone of the Steppe-Taiga-Tundra pastoral areas. In other words, they lost their identity as reindeer-herding pastoral nomads when they entered the agricultural area after leaving the pastoral area. However, since their basic genes had already formed when they lived on the cold and dry plateau of North Eurasia, it is possible to study their pastoral nomadic history focusing on 'the minority living in the broad area(廣域少數)', by utilizing highly advanced biotechnological science and focusing on genes and information technology innovation, and removing various past hindrances in research. Therefore, it is not so difficult to restore the reindeerherding pastoral nomadic history of the Koguryo(高句麗) people and secure their pastoral nomadic identity, of which the first steps have already been taken into their historical stages. The Eurasian continent and the Korean peninsula, especially the cold and dry plateau of North Eurasia and the Korean peninsula have been closely related to each other ecologically and historically. They can never be a separate space at all. The Eurasian continent lies horizontally east to west and thus, the continent forms an isothermal zone. Also, since the time of producing their own foods, it was relatively easy for people with their technology to move to other places owing to the pastoral nomadic characteristic of mobility. Unlike the Chungyen(中原) region, western Asia and the regions covering the Siberia-Manchu-Korean peninsula where food production revolution was first made were connected to the Mongolian lichens route(蘚苔之路: Ni, ukinii jam) and steppe roads. Although the ecological conditions of nature have changed a bit throughout a long history, it was natural for the many tribes in North Asia living on the largest Steppe-Taiga-Tundra area in the world to have believed 'the legends related to animals in relation to their founders and ancestors(獸祖傳說)'. Assuming that Siberian tigers and the tigers living on Mt. Baekdu were connected ecologically and genetically because of the ecological characteristics of the animals, and their migration from plateau to plateau, we would suspect that the Chosun(朝鮮) tribe living on Mt. Baekdu were ethnically and culturally more closely connected to the farther removed Ural-Altai tribes that lived on the cold and dry plateau region than to the Han(i14;) tribe who lived in Chungyen(中原) that was close to Mt. Baekdu. More evidence is the structure of the Korean language which has the form of 'Subject + Object + Verb', which is assumed to have originated from the speedy lifestyle of the reindeer-herding pastoral nomads. The structure is quite different from that of the Han(漢) language, which is based on agricultural life. Also, it is natural for reindeer riding reindeerherding pastoral nomads or horse-riding sheep-herding pastoral nomads(騎馬, 羊遊牧民) to have held military and political power over the region and eventually to have established an ancient pastoral nomadic empire in the process of their conquest of agricultural regions. The stages for founding global empires in the history of mankind maybe largely divided into two, in terms of ecological conditions and occupations. They are the steppes and the oceans. Of course, the steppe-based empires were established based on the skills to deal with horses and the ability to shoot arrows while riding horses, along with the use of iron ware in the 8th century BC. The steppe-based empires became the foundation for an oceanic empire, which could have been established by the use of warships and warship guns since the 15th Century. Based on those facts, we know that Chosun, Puyo(夫餘), and Koguryo are the products of a developmental process of pastoral nomadic empires on the steppes. Maybe we can easily find the pastoral nomadic identity of the Koguryo more than we expected when we trace the origins and history of the Korean tribe living in the pastures located in the northwest area of Mt. Jangbaek by focusing on pastoral nomadic mobility and organization just as we have investigated the historic origins of Anglo-Saxons in America by focusing on the times before the 15th Century. In the process, we should keep in mind that English culture originated from the Industrial Revolution and was directly delivered to the American continent, although America was far from England and was not an intermediate point on long sojourns either. Further, American culture came back to England in a more advanced form later. The most important thing currently to be resolved is to cause Koreans to look back on their own history in a freer way of thinking and with diverse, profound, and sharp insight, taking away the old and existing conventional recognition that is entangled with complicated interests with Korean people and other countries. The meanings of Chosun, Khori, and Solongos have been interpreted arbitrarily without any historic evidence by the scholars who followed conventional tradition of fixed-minded aristocrats in an agricultural society. If the Siberian cultural properties of the stone age, the earthenware age, the bronze age, and the iron age are analyzed in such a way, archaeological discovery will never be able to contribute to the restoration of the Koguryo's pastoral nomadic identity. One should transcend the errors that tend to interpret the cultural properties discovered in the pastoral nomadic regions as not being differentiated from those of agricultural regions and just interpret them altogether from the agricultural point of view. A more careful intention is required in the interpretation of cultural properties of ancient Korean empires that seem to have been formed due to mutual interactions of pastoral nomadic and agricultural cultures. Also, it is required that the conventional recognition chain of 'reverse-genes' be severed, which has placed more weight on agricultural properties than pastoral nomadic ones, since their settlement on agricultural farms was made after the establishment of their ancient pastoral nomadic empires. There is no reason at all to place priority on stoneware, earthenware, bronze ware, and iron ware than on wooden ware(木器) and other ware which were made of animal skins(皮器), bones and horns(骨角器), in analyzing the history in the regions of reindeer or sheep pastures. Reading ancient Korean history from the perspective of pastoral nomadic history, one feels strongly the instinctive emotions to return to the natural 'mother place'. The reindeer-herding pastoral nomadic identity of the Koguryo people that has been accumulated in volumes in their genes and hidden deep inside and have interacted organically could be reborn with Burqanism(Burqan refers to 不咸 in Chinese), which was their religion by birth and symbolized as the red willow(紅柳=不咸). The mother place of the Koguryo's people is the endless vast green pastures of North Eurasia and North America, where we anticipated the development of Korean livestock farming following the inherent properties in the genes of the reindeer-herding pastoral nomads with Korean ancestors. We anticipate that the place would be the core resource that could contribute to the development of life of living creatures following the inherent properties of their genes and biotechnological factors. In other words, biotechnology used for a search for clues on the well-being of humans could be the fruit brought by Burqanism of the Koguryo people and the fruit of the globalization of Korean livestock farming. It is the Chosun farmer in China come from the vast nomadic reindeer pastures of North Eurasia that resolved the food problem of a billion Chinese people with lowland paddy rice seeds (水稻) by transforming Heilongjiang Province(黑龍江省) into an oceanic lowland paddy rice field(水田). Even Mao Tse-tung(毛擇東) could not resolve the food problem by his revolution campaigns for tens of years. Today is the very time that requires the development of special livestock farming following the inherent properties of the ancient Korean reindeer-herding pastoral nomads that respected the dignity of life on the cold and dry plateau of North Eurasia and the America continent. I suggest that research should be started from the pastures of the Dariganga Steppe in East Mongolia that was the homeland of Hanwoo(韓牛) and the central horse-herding steppe place(牧馬場) of Chingis Khan's Mongolia. The Dariganga Steppe is awash with an affluent natural environment for pastoral nomadic living however, the quality of life of the pastoral nomads there is still low. I suggest we Koreans, the descendents of the Koguryo, should take our first steps for our livestock farming business project and develop the Northern nomadic pastures, here at the pastures of the Dariganga Steppe, which is the Mongolian core place of state-of-the-art technology for military weapons.

• 철학연구
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• 제105권
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• pp.49-74
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• 2008

본 연구의 목적은 토미즘에 있어서 '인간적 행위'가 가지는 '자기초월의 성격'을 조명하는 데에 있다. 토미즘에 있어서 이성과 의지를 가진 인간의 본성은 궁극적인 목적에로 지향성을 가진 것이며, 따라서 '인간의 행위'가 아닌 '인간적 행위'란 이러한 본성에 적합한 행위를 말하며, 현재의 상태보다 더 낳은 상태를 지향하는 '자기초월'을 성격을 가지는 것이다. 물론 이러한 자기초월적 성격을 본질적으로 가지게 되는 인간적 행위의 근거는 인간의 형상인 이성혼(理性魂)이 '자립적인 형상'이라는 데에 있다. 토마스 아퀴나스에게 있어서 이러한 인간적 행위의 자기초월의 성격은 크게 세 가지 단계를 거친다고 볼 수 있는데, (1)자연적 진보의 질서 안에서의 초월, (2)도덕적 질서 안에서의 자기초월 그리고 (3)종교적 삶에 있어서 자기초월이 그것이다. 자연적 진보에서는 우선적으로 이성적 영혼의 특성에서 드러나는데, 아퀴나스는 인간의 이성적인 덕을 '나약함 안에서의 충만함'이라고 규정하는데, 이는 이성적인 덕이란 '외적 감각능력들의 목적지($finalit{\acute{e}}$)'로서 고려하기 때문이다. 외적 감각을 통해서 인간은 '감각적 상(especies sensibilis)'들을 수용하며, 이미지들을 보존하고, 이 이미지들은 기억 혹은 추억이라는 형태로 그의 실존의 일부가 되며, 자기의식을 의미하는 정신적인 실재가 되는 것이다. 따라서 토마스에게 있어서 이성의 덕은 단순히 사변적인 능력이 아니라, '되어짐'의 질서, 충만함의 질서 안에 있는 것이다. 바로 이 때문에 토마스는 이성(ratio)의 능력을 '생성(generatio)'에 비유하고 있으며, 지성(intellectus)을 존재(esse)에 비유하고 있는 것이다. 즉 이성은 감각을 초월하고, 지성은 이성을 초월하는 것이다. 도덕적 질서 안에서의 자기초월은 의식의 진보와 관련되어 있는데, 인간의 의식은 언제나 이중적인데, 일차적으로 외부대상에 대한 인식이요, 이차적으로 이러한 외부대상에 대한 인식의 결과라 할 수 있는 자기의식(contientia)이다. 즉 이러한 외부대상에 대한 인식은 근본적으로 자기의식 혹은 자기인식을 목적으로 하며, 자기인식에서 완성된다. 자기의식은 '자기동일성'에 대한 의식을 말하는데, 여기서 인간의 특유한 도덕적 행위가 발생한다. 즉 당위 혹은 의무라는 것은 언제나 '자기동일성'에 대한 적합성을 의미하는 것이며, 이러한 행위가 지속적일 때, 도덕적 삶이 발생하는 것이다. 도덕적 삶이 그 자체 초월적인 성격을 가지는 것은 '자기동일성'에 적합한 인간적 행위란 언제나 '보다 나은 것' 보다 '이상적인 삶'을 지향하기 때문이다. 종교적 삶에 있어서 토미즘의 특성을 보다 잘 부각하기 위해서 본 논문에서는 키엘케고올의 종교적 삶에 대한 초월성을 우선적으로 고찰하고 있는데, 그에 의하면 종교적 삶에 있어서 초월적 성격은 '절대적 차원의 초월'로서 근본적으로 합리적으로 기술되거나 표현될 수 있는 모든 문화적인 인간적인 지평을 넘어서는 '초월' 즉 '절대적 초월($d{\acute{e}}passement$ absolu)을 의미하는 것이다. 반면 아퀴나스에게 있어서 신과 인간 사이의 '친근성($affinit{\acute{e}}$)'은 수용된 덕들(virtutes infusas)이 있는 곳에는 반드시 일종의 종교적인 초월이 수반된다. '가능태'중에 있는 하나의 (수용된)덕이 '현실태'가 되는 곳에는 반드시 '자기초월'의 행위가 수반되는 것이다. 왜냐하면 이러한 수용된 덕의 국면은 신과 인간 사이의 소통을 말해주고 있기 때문이며, 이는 곧 '인간적인 것'에서 '신성한 것'에로의 초월을 암시하고 있기 때문이다. 이러한 아퀴나스의 사유는 구체적이고 개별적인 한 인간의 종교적인 삶 안에서 '자기초월'이 이루어지는 곳에는 언제나 신의 섭리가 개입하고 있다는 실재론적인 사유를 가능하게 하고 있는 것이다.

• 한국습지학회지
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.474-480
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• 2016

본 연구에서는 지구적 차원에서 생물다양성의 성립 배경과 그동안 일어난 변화 그리고 기후변화가 생물다양성 및 인간에 미치는 영향을 밝히고 그 영향을 줄이기 위한 대안을 제시하였다. 생물다양성은 생명체의 풍부한 정도이며, 생물을 구분하는 모든 수준에서의 다양성을 종합적으로 의미한다. 즉, 생물다양성은 유전자, 종 그리고 생태계 전반과 그들의 상호작용을 아우른다. 이는 생태계의 기반을 구성하며, 모든 사람들이 필수적으로 의존하는 서비스를 제공한다. 그럼에도 불구하고 오늘날 생물다양성은 주로 인간 활동에 의해 점점 더 위협받고 있다. 지구상의 생물은 생명이 탄생한 이래 약 40억년의 역사를 통해 다양한 환경에 적응하고 진화한 결과, 약 1000만 내지 3000만종으로 추정되는 다양한 생물이 존재하게 되었다. 생물다양성을 구성하는 무수한 생명들은 각각의 고유한 특성을 가지고 있으며 다양한 관계 속에 얽혀 있다. 우리들이 현재 생활하고 있는 지구의 환경도 이러한 생물체의 방대한 연관성과 상호작용에 의해 긴 세월 동안 만들어져 왔으며, 인류도 하나의 생물로서 다른 생물들과 관계를 맺으며 살아가고 있다. 이러한 주위의 생물들이 없다면 사람도 살아갈 수 없다. 그러나 인류는 최근 수 백 년 간 과거의 평균 멸종속도를 1000배 가량이나 가속시켜 왔다. 우리는 미래 세대의 풍요로운 삶을 위해서라도 생물다양성을 보전하는 한편, 지속가능하게 이용할 책임이 있다. 우리나라는 세계 어느 국가보다도 빠른 경제 성장을 이루어왔으나, 동시에 이는 남북으로 길게 뻗은 반도 국가라는 지리적 특성에 의해 본래 풍부했던 생물다양성을 빠르게 소실시키는 결과를 야기하였다. 한국인은 오랫동안 농업, 임업 그리고 어업을 해오는 과정에서 자연과의 공존을 통해 독특한 고유의 문화를 창조하였다. 그러나 근래 서구문명의 유입과 과학 기술의 발전 과정에서 이러한 자연과의 관계는 멀어지게 되었으며, 자연과 문화 사이의 조화로운 조합에 의해 창출된 고유한 풍토는 점점 더 사라지고 있다. 한국의 인구는 세계 인구가 지속적으로 증가하는 것과는 반대로 점차 줄어들 것으로 예측되고 있다. 이 시점에서 우리는 인구 감소에 의한 자연의 회복에 발맞추어 급속한 인구 증가 및 경제 성장으로 인해 훼손된 생물다양성을 복원할 필요가 있다. 지구상에 생명이 탄생한 이래 다섯차례의 대멸종이 있었다. 현대의 대멸종은 매우 급속히 진행되고 있으며, 인간 활동에 의한 영향이 주요 원인인 점에서 이전의 것과 구분된다. 기후변화는 실제로 일어나고 있으며, 생물다양성은 이러한 변화에 매우 취약하다. 만약 생명체가 변화하는 환경에서 '진화를 통한 적응', '생존가능한 다른 지역으로의 이주' 등과 같은 생존 방법을 찾아내지 못한다면 이들은 절멸할 것이므로, 기후변화가 지속된다면 생물다양성은 극도로 훼손될 수 밖에 없다. 따라서 우리는 이러한 훼손정도를 최소화하기 위해 기후변화가 생물다양성에 미치는 영향을 보다 적극적이고 심도있게 파악할 필요가 있다. 생물계절의 변화, 식생 이동을 비롯한 분포 범위의 변화, 생물 간 상호작용의 부조화, 먹이 사슬 이상에 기인한 번식 및 생장률 감소, 산호초 백화현상 등이 기후변화에 미치는 영향으로 등장하고 있다. 질병의 확산, 식량 생산 감소, 작물 경작지 범위 변화, 어장 및 어업시기의 변화 등은 인간에 대한 영향으로 나타나고 있다. 기후변화 문제를 해결하기 위해 우선, 우리는 온실 가스 배출량을 감소시켜 기후변화 완화를 시도할 필요가 있다. 그러나 현재 우리가 온실가스 배출을 당장 멈추더라도, 기후변화는 당분간 지속될 전망이다. 이런 점에서, 기후변화 적응 전략을 준비하는 것이 더 현실적이 될 수 있다. 생물다양성에 대한 기후변화 영향의 지속적 모니터링 및 보다 적합한 모니터링 체계 구축이 선행과제가 될 수 있다. 생물다양성이 성립할 수 있는 생태적 공간의 확보, 이동 보조 및 남북을 이어주는 수평 및 저지대와 고지대를 이어주는 수직적 생태네트웍이 기후변화에 따른 생물다양성의 적응을 돕는 대안으로 추천될 수 있다.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.69-98
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• 2009

We investigated what factors motivate gamers to participate in a guild and why they continue to be engaged as members of the guild. We find that, based on the result of focus group interviews with MMORPG gamers, social support and self-esteem factors play important roles. Considering both prior research and the focus group interviews we have conducted, we define social support and character control as independent variables. Character identity, guild identity, and self-esteem are proposed as mediating variables while guild flow and game loyalty as dependent variables. Accordingly, we develop the research model and hypotheses, and verify them empirically. Based on our experiences of playing the WoW game, we proposed a research model and conducted focus-group interviews (FGIs). FGIs involve formulating a hypothesis and then collecting some relevant data. FGIs were conducted face-to-face with students of C University in Korea. We formulated structured interview schedules, and the questions were based on our research variables and personal experiences. The questions for the interviews encompassed the following areas: (a) the demographic characteristics of the focus group; (b) the number of years for which respondents had played online games; (c) the motive for starting a game; (d) the number of game-characters assumed by each gamer; (e) the type of game played; and (f) other issues such as the reasons for involvement in the play, the willingness to reuse the game in case new versions were released, etc. On average, it took two hours to interview each of three groups. A primary set of FGIs was conducted with three groups on the premise that there would be some differences caused by character race (Horde vs. Alliance) or by playable server (Normal vs. Combat). With respect to the manner of playing, we found that guild members shared information, felt a sense of belonging, and played computer games for quite a long time through the guild; however, they did not undergo these experiences when playing alone. Gamers who belonged to a specific guild helped other players without expecting compensation for that, freely shared information about the game, gave away items for free, and more generous with other members who made mistakes. The guild members were aware of the existence other members and experienced a sense of belonging through interactions with, and evaluations from, other players. It was clear that social support was shown within the guild and that it played an important role as a major research variable. Based on the results of the first FGIs, a second set of in-depth FGIs was carried out with a focus on the psychology of the individual within the guild and the social community of the guild. The second set of FGIs also focused on the guild's offline meetings. Gamers, over all, recognize the necessity of joining a community, not only off-line but also online world of the guild. They admit that the guild is important for them to easily and conveniently enjoy playing online computer games. The active behavior and positive attitudes of existing guild members can motivate new members of the guild to adapt themselves to the guild environment. They then adopt the same behaviors and attitudes of established guild members. In this manner, the new members of the guild strengthen the bonds with other gamers while feeling a sense of belonging, and developing social identity, thereby. It was discovered that the interaction among guild members and the social support encouraged new gamers to quickly develop a sense of social identity and increase their self-esteem. The guild seemed to play the role of socializing gamers. Sometimes, even in the real world, the guild members helped one another; therefore, the features of the guild also spilled over to the offline environment. We intend to use self-esteem, which was found through the second set of FGIs, as an important research variable. To collect data, an online survey was designed with a questionnaire to be completed by WoW gamers, who belong to a guild. The survey was registered on the best three domestic game-sites: 'WoW playforum,' 'WoW gamemeca,' and 'Wow invent.' The selected items to be measured in the questionnaire were decided based on prior research and data from FGIs. To verify the content of the questionnaire, we carried out a pilot test with the same participants to point out ambiguous questions as a way to ensure maximum accuracy of the survey result. A total of 244 responses were analyzed from the 250 completed questionnaires. The SEM analysis was used to test goodness-of-fit of the model. As a result, we found important results as follows: First, according to the statistics, social support had statistically significant impacts on character control, character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Second, character control had significant effects on character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Third, character identity shows its clear impact on self-esteem and game loyalty. Fourth, guild identity affected self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Fifth, self-esteem had a positive influence on the guild flow. These days, the number of virtual community is rising along with its significance largely because of the nature of the online games. Accordingly, this study is designed to clarify the psychological relationship between gamers within the guild that has been generally established by gamers to play online games together. This study focuses on the relationships in which social support influences guild flow or game loyalty through character control, character identity, guild identity, and self-esteem, which are present within a guild in the MMORPG game environment. The study results are as follows. First, the effects of social support on character control, character identity, guild identity and self-esteem are proven to be statistically significant. It was found that character control improves character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Among the seven variables, social support, which is derived from FGIs, plays an important role in this study. With the active support of other guild members, gamers can improve their ability to develop good characters and to control them. Second, character identity has a positive effect on self-esteem and game loyalty, while guild identity has a significant effect on self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Self-esteem affects guild flow. It was found that the higher the character and guild identities become, the greater the self-esteem is established. Contrary to the findings of prior research, our study results indicate that the relationship between character identity and guild flow is not significant. Rather, it was found that character identity directly affects game players' loyalty. Even though the character identity had no direct effect on increasing guild flow, it has indirectly affected guild flow through self-esteem. The significant relationship between self-esteem and guild flow indicates that gamers achieve flow, i.e., a feeling of pleasure and excitement through social support. Several important implications of this study should be noted. First, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to conduct this study. Through FGIs, it was observed that both social support and self-esteem are important variables. Second, because guilds had been rarely studied, this research is expected to play an important role in the online community. Third, according to the result, six hypotheses (H1, H5, H6, H7, H8, and H11) setup based on FGIs, were statistically significant; thus, we can suggest the corresponding relationships among the variables as a guideline for follow-up research. Our research is significant as it has following implications: first, the social support of the guild members is important when establishing character control, character identity, guildidentity and self-esteem. It is also a major variable that affects guild flow and game loyalty. Second, character control when improved by social support shows notable influence on the development of character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Third, character identity and guild identity are major factors to help establish gamers' own self-esteem. Fourth, character identity affects guild flow through self-esteem and game loyalty. The gamers usually express themselves through characters; the higher character identity is, the more loyalty a gamer has. Fifth, guild identity, established within the guild, has clear effects on self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Sixth, qualitative and quantitative methods are employed to conduct this study. Based on the results of focus group interviews and SEM analysis, we find that the social support by guild members and psychological factors are significant in strengthening the flow of guild and loyalty to the game. As such, game developers should provide some extra functions for guild community, through which gamers can play online games in collaboration with one another. Also, we suggest that positive self-esteem which is built up through social support can help gamers achieve higher level of flow and satisfaction, which will consequently contribute to minimizing the possibility for the players to develop negative attitude toward the guild they belong to.