culture transfer in video game localization
DESCRIPTION
Video Game LocalizationTRANSCRIPT
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BRINGING THE FOREIGN INTO PLAY
Cultural Transfer in Video Game Localization
Milla Hyttinen
University of Tampere
School of Modern Languages and Translation Studies
Translation Studies (English)
MA Thesis
May 2010
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Tampereen yliopisto Knnstiede (englanti) Kieli- ja knnstieteiden laitos
HYTTINEN, MILLA: Bringing the Foreign into Play Cultural Transfer in Video Game Localization Pro gradu -tutkielma, 87 sivua + suomenkielinen lyhennelm, 10 sivua. Kevt 2010
Abstrakti
Tss tutkielmassa tarkastellaan videopelien lokalisointia ja pyritn selvittmn, kuuluuko lokalisointiin mritelmllisesti kntmisen rajat ylittv kulttuurista adaptaatiota. Aiemmassa tutkimuksessa pelit mritelln usein toiminnallisiksi viihdetuotteiksi, joiden kulttuurisella alkuperll ei ole merkityst varsinaisen pelikokemuksen kannalta. Tst johtuen vahva kotouttaminen olisi perusteltu yleisstrategia. Lisksi lokalisoinnin ymmrretn usein pitvn sislln kulttuurista kotouttamista, joka ei kuuluisi kntmisen piiriin. Pyrin kyseenalaistamaan tt ja hakemaan samalla tarkennusta lokalisoinnin ja pelien mritelmn suhteessa kntmiseen.
Tutkimuksen lhtkohtia ovat aikaisempi tutkimus ja lokalisoinnin kaupallinen mritelm, joita tarkastellaan teoriaosiossa rinnakkain pelien olennaisimpien piirteiden ja kntmisen mritelmn kanssa.
Tutkimusaineistoksi valikoitui visuaalisesti ja alkuasetelmaltaan lhtkulttuuriinsa sijoittuva japanilainen peli sek sen Pohjois-Amerikkaan ja Eurooppaan lokalisoidut versiot. Koska peli heijastaa eksplisiittisesti lhtkulttuuriaan ja lht- ja kohdekulttuuripiirit ovat hyvin kaukana toisistaan, oletin, ett kulttuurinen adaptaatio nousisi selkesti esiin siin tapauksessa, ett se olisi erottamaton osa lokalisointia. Vieraannuttavampaa strategiaa pidin puolestaan merkkin kntmisest.
Tutkittu peli osoittautui aiempien tutkimusten vittmiin nhden hyvin vieraannuttavaksi eik sisltnyt kytnnss lainkaan kulttuurista adaptaatiota, jonka olisi voinut tulkita kntmisen ulkopuoliseksi. Pidin tt osoituksena siit, ettei pelilokalisointiin kuulu mritelmllisesti kntmisen ulkopuolista kulttuurista adaptaatiota. Sen sijaan on erotettavissa seuraavat kaksi lokalisoinnin ominaisuutta, joista jlkimminen saattaa olla erityisen helposti sekoitettavissa kulttuuriseen adaptaatioon: tekninen lokalisointi ja aluekohtainen lokalisointi.
Tutkimuksen johtoptksen oli, ett pelit eivt eroa muista, perinteisemmist tekstityypeist syvllisesti kntmisen ja sen haasteiden kannalta, mist syyst pelien kielellist ja kulttuurista vlittmist on perustelluinta kutsua kntmiseksi lokalisoinnin sijaan knnstieteen piiriss. Kyseess on kuitenkin kntmisen erikoisala, joka ansaitsee itsessn lis tutkimusta erityisesti pelikontekstin ja multimodaalisuuden vaikutuksesta kntmiseen sek kulttuurin ilmenemisest peleiss.
Avainsanat: videopelit, lokalisointi, adaptaatio, pelien kntminen, pelitutkimus, konsolipelit, tietokonepelit, vieraannuttaminen, kotouttaminen
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CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION 1
2. VIDEO GAMESINTERPLAY OF FUNCTION AND MEANING 4 2.1 Interaction vs. Interpretation in Games and Film 5 2.2 Representation and Gameplay 7 2.3 The Twofold Nature of Video Games: Product/Artifact 9 2.4 Culture in Representation and Gameplay 12
3. LOCALIZATION, TRANSLATION AND VIDEO GAMES 15
3.1 Easier Done Than Defined 16 3.2 Localization = Domestication? 18 3.3 Differentiating between Localization and Translation 22 3.4 Enter Foreignization 24
4. GAME PLAN 26
4.1 Remade in Japan: Japanese Games in Western Markets 26 4.2 Mukokuseki and kokuseki 28 4.3 The Case of the Crimson Butterfly 31 4.4 Research Method 35
5. CHASING CULTURAL GHOSTS 38
5.1 Representation 38 5.1.1 In-Game Text 38 5.1.2 Visuals 51 5.1.3 Audio Content 60
5.2 Functionality 63 5.2.1 Menus 64 5.2.2 In-Game Instructions 68
5.3 Interpretation of Findings 70 5.3.1 Summary 70 5.3.2 Underlying Cultural Themes and Issues 72
6. END GAME 77
REFERENCES 82 SUOMENKIELINEN LYHENNELM
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1. Introduction
Video games represent a relatively young form of entertainment that is quickly gaining in
popularity and social visibility. Multidisciplinary studies on games have proliferated since
the late 1990s (Williams and Smith, 2007: 2), but the linguistic and cultural content and
translation of games remain relatively scarcely studied areas, even in the field of Translation
Studies.
The practice of what is nowadays called video game localization has nevertheless been
going on for a few decades and helped catapult the games industry into dramatic growth by
the 21st century. Rendering games usable and understandable outside their country and
language of origin facilitates international sales, which not only account for a substantial
portion of the game publishers profits, but also drive the dissemination of new design ideas
and innovations within the games industry (Chandler, 2005: 3; Kalata, 2007; Kohler, 2005).
As an important factor in the growth and development of gaming, game localization makes
for a rich and worthwhile object of academic interest.
Due to the fairly recent emergence and rapid development of the game localization practice
itself, most of the terminology arises from the practical, commercial realm. Game publishers
and industry professionals view game localization as a way to further increase revenue and
have these interests in mind in regard to all terminology and guides written on the subject.
The main reason why the entire process is referred to as localization rather than
translation is that there are significant technical considerations and more staff involved in
rendering a game into another language than with the translation of any other entertainment
medium, making the process a part of game development from the outset.
Beneath technical and practical considerations, however, there is the question of culture,
which seems like the most interesting converging point of the localization practice and
Translation Studies. In the localization industry context, cultural transfer is often squarely set
apart from the translation of linguistic content, and the two are viewed as separate subsets of
the overall localization process (Fry, 2003: 13). This is in direct conflict with Translation
Studies, which are increasingly strongly inclined to view cultural considerations, even extra-
linguistic ones, as an inseparable part of the translation process (Pym, 2005: 78). These
differences have not been exhaustively explained yet.
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What truly piqued my interest is that so many of the pioneering academic studies on video
game localization seem to maintain that video games by default require more drastic and
consistent cultural adaptation than any traditional medium (e.g., Mangiron and OHagan,
2006; OHagan, 2007; Bernal Merino 2006; Bernal Merino, 2007). The question arises, is there
something about the nature of games or localization itself that requires this? Cultural
adaptation or domestication in translationerasing some of the original, foreign cultural
markers and replacing them with domestic onesis a translation strategy that has
historically been at its most radical in literary translations geared toward children
(Klingberg, 1986: 14). As gamer demographics provided by the Entertainment Software
Association (ESA) in 2009 show, however, the average age of todays game-playing
population is 35. Furthermore, it seems inexplicable that international game sales could have
fuelled interest in gaming and the development of video games if a home-grown impression
is of prime importance.
It would seem that there are still very interesting areas to explore in the basics of the cultural
nature and transfer of video games, which is why the purpose of this study is to delve
deeper into them. Using the definition of video games, localization industry terms and
earlier research on video game localization as a starting point, this study will zero in on the
cultural aspect of the localization process within a Translation Studies framework. The
research question is this: does video game localization inherently entail cultural adaptation
that is outside the scope of traditional translation? If it does, how do these changes relate to
translation? If it does not, why does it seem that way? The premise here is naturally that
cultural adaptation can generally be seen as something relating intimately to translation, and
also that the way and degree to which adaptation is employed in translation usually depends
on the circumstances rather than on any specific medium (see Oittinen, 2000: 7684).
I will begin by studying the most relevant aspects of the game medium in Chapter 2 and
move on to examine the industry concept of video game localization as it relates to video
games and translation and discuss the research problem in more detail in Chapter 3. Chapter
4 introduces the research material and defines the method, which is followed by the
empirical part of this thesis in Chapter 5. I seek to answer the research question by carrying
out a qualitative, in-depth analysis on a Japanese PlayStation 2 game, Zero: Akai Ch, and two
of its English localized versions, released in North America and Europe.
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There were three essential criteria for selecting the games: (1) the source game had to reflect
its cultural origin explicitly, (2) the source and target cultures had to be far apart, and (3) the
target cultures had to represent significant market areas. I assumed that with this type of
material, any cultural adaptation beyond translation would stand out particularly clearly.
This is because translation as such tends to be tilted toward foreignization when the distance
between the source and target cultures is great, whereas the sheer size of the North
American and European market areas should call for significant adaptational localization
changes based on the industry definition of localization.
By looking for and examining localization changes as well as translation decisions, I hope to
gain some clarity into how localization and translation relate to each other when it comes to
cultural transfer. As I base my analysis on the assumption that any cultural feature in the
game could have been modified in the localization process, what is left unchanged is just as
interesting as what has been changed.
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2. Video GamesInterplay of Function and Meaning
This chapter explores the most relevant aspects of video games. The purpose is to gain some
preliminary insight into how games differ from traditional media and in what ways their
cultural origin manifests itself.
The term video game is frequently used to refer to games played on a computer as well as
games played on a separate game console. Further broadened, it may refer to any type of
digital games, such as mobile and arcade games. Although I will use the term video game
in its relatively loose sense with a particular focus on console and computer games, it
warrants mentioning that not everything can be generalized to apply to even these two types
of games. The gaming platform entails many differences in the genre selection, functionality
and sales of the games developed for them. I will therefore also use more accurate terms
when a distinction needs to be made. For the most part, however, the perspective from
which games are discussed in this chapter does not necessarily call for a clearer distinction.
The game medium is marked by rapid development. The evolution of commercial video
gamescomputer and console games alikehas progressed hand in hand with the
advancement of technology. That is to say, in leaps and bounds. As technology improves,
video games are also becoming increasingly complex in content, presentation and
functionality. The new technical sophistication brings with it not only improved graphic
performance, but also worlds of deepening representation and experience.
In 1972, the digital table tennis game Pong, featuring a square dot bouncing between two
vertical lines, seemed technically and graphically sophisticated when compared to a slightly
older television tennis game Odyssey, which not only managed to have poorer graphics, but
also made less sense and forced players to keep score on paper (Kohler, 2005: 14). Today,
both of these games seem like the epitome of simplicity when compared to the latest sports
games or any other popular titles, illustrating the quantum leaps that video games have been
taking. Realistic or artistic graphics, nuanced themes, complex controls, vast game worlds or
spaces and voice-acting have become the norm in most established game genres.
Parallel to this type of deepening development, the genre selection has also expanded greatly
and includes game types that may only barely qualify as video games at all. This diversity is
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what makes video games particularly challenging to define. For the purposes of this study, I
will concentrate mostly on console and computer games that have clearly evolved from the
earliest prototypes of video games, video games proper, so to speak. This refers to games
that are primarily played as an end in themselves, rather than as a means to do something
else that could also be done without the video game medium, such as to get fit with Wii Fit,
sing in SingStar or test ones trivia knowledge in Buzz! Even with this preliminary
distinction, the full spectrum of games that should fit one definition is still quite staggering.
Contemporary game studies distinguish between two basic directions or perspectives from
which the task of defining video games can be approached. One approach is to see video
games as deriving from traditional rule-bound games, such as board games, and to seek a
definition through the concepts of rules and play that are common to all video games
(ludology). The other approach is to view video games through the lens of traditional forms
of storytelling, such as film, with the aim of seeing how games resemble or differ from these
narrative constructions (narratology). These two perspectives, ludology and narratology,
have in some contexts been perceived as contradictory, but considering the complexity of
games, it is more accurate to see them as complementary. (Frasca, 1999; Eskelinen, 2004; Juul,
2001; Konzack, 2007: 119121).
Approaching the subject from a localization industry perspective, Vanessa Wood from Sony
Computer Entertainment Europe maintains that video games are becoming more and more
like movies (Bernal Merino, 2009). This could be seen as a narratological view. Because the
perspective of this thesis is focused on video game localizationa process that is becoming
more complex as games themselves continue evolvingit makes sense to begin by taking a
look at how games and film are in fact very different, and to go on to explore ways in which
they may be seen as coming closer together. This approach is intended to weave ludological
and narratological definitions of games together from the particular perspective of this
study.
2.1 Interaction vs. Interpretation in Games and Film
Film is an art form that traditionally relies on linear, predetermined story-telling, be it verbal,
visual, aural or all of these combined, to capture and keep the viewers attention. In contrast,
although the majority of todays video games feature narrative elements and a frame story
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that leads the action forward, games are generally not played for any narration as such, but
for the immersive, challenging, interactive experience that they offer. As Vuorela (2007: 23)
points out, from a game developers point of view, games are basically made up of a
sequence of interactive functions, whereas the game story merely provides the framework.
Therefore the single most distinctive feature of video games is interactivity, which is also
commonly referred to as gameplay. More specifically, gameplay means the actual
mechanics that define how players can interact with the game environment, and can be
considered to be the only truly necessary part of a game. The popular puzzle game Tetris
from 1984 is frequently used to illustrate this (Konzack, 2007: 120). Tetris has nothing in the
way of a narrative; it relies solely on gameplay that consists of fitting different shapes
together by manipulating them as they fall from the top of the screen.
Gameplay as the raison dtre of games is therefore what ultimately sets games apart from
films and other narrative constructions. This observation is the main premise of the
ludological approach. Some ludology-based arguments go further to claim that games
cannot be considered as a medium of artistic expression similar to films due to gameplay
(Picot, 2009; Vuorela, 2007: 23). If art is equated with a creation that can only be interpreted,
not interacted with, then there is no denying that games do not qualify as art. While films
emphasize the creator, the story-teller, games can effectively make players the authors of
their own experience. What this argument fails to consider, however, is that it may not be
accurate to define the gaming experience solely through gameplay, and there may be another
order of expression taking place in games. This is where narratology can play a role in
complementing the definition of games.
As Thompson (2007: 58) points out in his book for aspiring game designers, even games with
little or no story need context and meaning. The overall gaming experience is composed not
only of gameplay, but also of the meanings built around and within it. Throughout this
thesis, I will refer to these meanings as representation. The simplest example would be the
square dot in Pong, which in the context of the game represents a ball in a table tennis match.
Tetris is a very rare type of video game in its level of abstraction, but even it has clearly
defined polyomino shapes (Tetriminoes), which together with gameplay bring puzzles
and construction toys to mind.
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The reason why the role of these meanings may be difficult to see by comparing games and
films is that the concept of representation in games cannot be understood in an exactly
similar manner as representation in film. Lacking the dimension of gameplay, a film could
not even exist without consistent representation. In games, however, representation is
present to highly varying degrees and in different forms for different games and entirely
different purposes, often becoming meaningful only as the game is played. The concepts of
representation and gameplay will be further examined in the following section.
2.2 Representation and Gameplay
So far, it has been established that a game is made up of gameplay and some type of
representation. What is not entirely clear yet is the relationship between the two.
It could very well be argued that it makes next to no difference whether the dot in Pong is a
ball or not; the game is fun to play all the same. However, thinking of Pongconsciously or
unconsciouslyas representing a table tennis match with a ball and two paddles makes
instantly much more sense than a white dot wandering from one end of the screen to another
with two vertical lines to make it change direction. Representation is therefore the point from
which the game derives its identity and meaning. The functional gameplay in Pong, apart
from representation, is to take carefully coordinated and timed action in order to keep the
white dot from disappearing from the screen, and ultimately to reach a high score.
Once the fundamental workings of the game are figured out, it would seem that all that truly
matters in games such as Pong are what the player sees on screen and how he or she reacts to
it (see Picot, 2009). However, it needs to be pointed out that this is an example of both
gameplay and representation in their embryonic forms. Essentially, the action is an ongoing
repetition of the same simple function, and while the flow of the game clearly resembles that
of a table tennis match, there is nothing about a square dot in itself that says ball.
As was pointed out at the beginning of this chapter, games are quickly evolving. In light of
this, it is very interesting at this point to take a brief look further back in time and note that
one of the earliest known digital games, Spacewar! developed in 1961, was actually far more
complicated in functionality than Pong (1972). So complicated, in fact, that at the time it was
hardly comprehensible outside computer-savvy circles. (Kohler, 2005: 1415). It did have a
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representational identity as a space game, with two space ships, missiles and stars, but relied
so heavily on physics and complex controls that representation was left far behind
functionality. The game had to be learned from a lengthy instruction manual, which may
very well be why Pong came to be the first truly successful mainstream game rather than
Spacewar! (ibid.: 15).
The most important implication here is that sophisticated and complicated action in a video
game needs equally complex or realistic layers of representation and meaning to make sense
of what can actually be done in the game. In a sense, development had to backtrack from
Spacewar! and begin to build up from the rudimentary basics of both gameplay and
representation and keep them in balance in order for games to make their breakthrough as a
medium. Even the primitive representational identity of Pong implies that in its more
developed form, representation comes to intertwine inseparably with gameplay to produce
the overall gaming experience.
In a more modern video game, such as Tomb Raider (1996), representation is much more
explicit and realistic than in either Pong or Spacewar! The game features a three-dimensional
world, a detailed frame story, recognizable settings such as ancient tombs in Egypt, and a
playable human character, identified as a female archaeologist from England. The overall
theme of adventure can be unmistakably derived from all the representational elements and
the way they function together with gameplay, which is complex in equal measure to
representation.
Summing games up as a balanced synthesis of gameplay and representation is a sufficient
and fairly comprehensive definition for the purposes of this study. It serves as the basis for
the following question, which is particularly relevant when considering adaptation in game
localization: gameplay and representation may have to be in balance, but since gameplay can
be seen as the heart of a game, does this mean that representational elements are
interchangeable? If it does, it might be hypothesized that cultural adaptation in game
localization is based on the nature of games. It is also the most essential question in
determining whether or not games can ultimately be seen as a medium of artistic expression.
This will be considered in the next section, introducing the central concepts of product and
artifact and returning to draw upon the comparison with film.
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2.3 The Twofold Nature of Video Games: Product/Artifact
In his research article on video game localization, Miguel . Bernal Merino (2006: 27)
expresses the crucial insight that a video game is a product designed for mass
consumption and an artistic team creation at the same time. He speaks of the duality
nature of games as products and artifacts, defining an artifact as a unique aesthetic creation,
whereas the primary purpose of a product, such as a car or utility software, is to cater to the
needs and expectations of consumers (ibid.: 28). In other words, products are all about
fulfilling a certain function, while artifacts come into being through artistic expression.
Although Bernal Merino does not consider this division to be enough to strike a clear
difference between games and other audiovisual products, which was his purpose, it is
highly useful in the context of this study when set side by side with the concepts discussed in
the previous section. While the product/artifact division does not directly translate to the
duality of gameplay/representation, there are certain parallels that aid in exploring the
meaning and importance of representation in a game.
How do the definitions of a product and artifact apply to a video game, then? First of all,
games can be seen as products because the central importance of gameplay makes them
functional, and in that sense closer to high-tech toys or utility software than films. The
product nature is also visible in the extent to which game content can potentially be edited
for release into different market areas. Bernal Merino (2006: 28) goes so far as to say that
everything in a video game is open to particular changes for specific territories, if it would
mean a potential increase in sales. Considering that the cost of producing a typical
commercial video game rises above $10 million, it is obviously in the game developers and
publishers interests to try to meet consumer expectations (Fernandez, 2008: 181). It may be
difficult at first to see how this could be reconciled with seeing games as artifacts. There are,
however, numerous ways to point out how games are more than simply products.
One particularly poignant way to illustrate the artifact nature of games would be to consider
cultural acceptability through the example of video game controversy. Pure products, such
as utility software, rarely contain culturally sensitive or controversial elements. The most
likely explanation for this is that the manufacturers and marketers of these products see the
intended function as taking precedence over any representational elements that might be
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considered offensive or controversial and thereby cause legal problems or hurt sales. In
creative and expressive works like films, however, these elements may be used as part of the
expression, inextricably woven into the fabric of the story and overall presentation.
It follows that if games are solely products with functionalityentertaining gameplayas
their only unchangeable core part, controversial representational elements can only be seen
as a superfluous yet entertaining addition that is easily replaceable. The question is, can
controversial representation actually be an inherent part of a game as a whole? As gameplay
and representation continue developing, the answer is increasingly clearly yes.
An enlightening example of this is the phenomenally successful game series Grand Theft Auto
(GTA), developed by the Scottish video game developer Rockstar North. The Gamers
Edition of the Guinness World Records 2009 names GTA as the most controversial game
series in the history of gaming (Glenday and Pullin, 2009: 108). This is based on the amount
of media attention the series has received as one of the most notorious examples of games
whose content is perceived as promoting violence and glamorizing crime. In GTA games, the
objective of the main character is to make his way up through the criminal underworld in a
vast fictional city, which is usually modeled more or less identifiably after an existing
metropolis. In the latest installment of the series, GTA IV, the setting is a highly realistic
rendering of New York City, dubbed Liberty City, where the Eastern European main
character arrives at the outset in search of a better life and finds himself knee-deep in the
business of crime.
Generally speaking, game developers have to think twice before using depictions of violence,
sexual and criminal acts, as this type of content will invariably be reflected in age ratings and
may even result in bans in some countries, obviously risking sales (Chandler, 2005: 2627).
However, Rockstar North has incorporated many explicitly violent and sexual themes as
part of the GTA games. Despite severe restrictions and widespread media controversy rising
from these elements, the game series in its uncensored form has received perfect and near-
perfect reviews from game critics and become the most successful video game series of all
times on PlayStation 2 (Glenday and Pullin, 2009: 108109).
While it might be argued that the controversial elements are used as an additional selling
point by simply gluing them to an already functional gameplay, signs of the very opposite
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can be seen in reviews of GTA IV, one of which summarizes the appeal of the game in the
following words:
But while the mechanics, side missions and other core gameplay elements are all fantastic, it's the story and overall presentation that elevates GTA IV to heights very rarely seen in gaming. Rockstar North has once again done an amazing job of walking the fine line between humor and seriousness with characters that you're immediately able to connect to. They're almost all bad people, to be sure, but each of them has character weaknesses and vulnerabilities that make them real. (Roper, 2008).
Furthermore, Gonzalezs (2004) article on a wide variety of controversial video games
suggests that games that rely purely on violence, breaking taboos and shocking audiences
are not likely to reach particular success, not necessarily even when propelled by the free
publicity bought by controversy. Therefore, the controversial themes of the highly successful
GTA series may be considered to be an inherent part of the creation as a whole and to
function on the game worlds own terms and meanings, together with the gameplay.
To offer a slightly different kind of example, in 2007, two years prior to its release, the
Japanese survival horror game Resident Evil 5 was accused of being racist on the basis of its
first trailer, where a white protagonist was shown shooting black zombies in an African
village (Pham, 2009). Whereas the developers of GTA IV had consciously woven in
controversial themes, it had most likely not even occurred to the developers of Resident Evil 5
that their game might be perceived as racist. They were aware of the entire context, but the
trailer portrayed only a small part of the game. As a result, the developer Capcom chose not
to change the content in response to negative feedback while the game was still in
development. Although an African female protagonist was added to the game after the
initial trailer was released, the games producer, Jun Takeuchi, stated that the criticism had
had no effect on the game design (McWhertor, 2008). In a Los Angeles Times article,
Capcoms spokesman Chris Kramer was quoted justifying the choice of Africa as a location
for the game by emphasizing the logic of the game series frame story (Pham, 2009). It was
also pointed out that when seen as a whole, the game was clearly not racist (ibid.).
As can be seen on the basis of the previous examples, even serious considerations of what is
culturally acceptable do not necessarily dictate the representational content of video games
in the way they might affect other software products and their related imagery. Game
developers can justify their choices of content through the inner logic and expression of the
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game as a whole. In early games, these elements may indeed have been superfluous or even
offensive, but today the way they can be incorporated into the meanings of the game
changes the interpretation completely. In the sense of overall expression receiving priority
even in some commercial games, it is indeed justifiable to view games as artifacts such as
films, in addition to products. Many games do, in fact, sell for their overall artifact identities
as much as for providing enjoyable gameplay. They are also rated on those grounds by game
critics, and as Dave Ranyard from Sony points out, game review scores are very important to
game developers (Bernal Merino, 2009).
The developing game stories told through both representation and gameplay are clearly
bringing games closer to movies in their capacity as artifacts, but the fundamental
differences still remainand will remain. To say that these game stories are constructed
and enjoyed similarly to films and separately from gameplay would be entirely mistaken or
simplistic at best. Game developer Michal Samyn captures this very well when describing
his mostly non-commercial games:
When we talk about story with respect to our games, we dont mean linear plot-based narrative constructions. When we say story, we refer to the meanings of the game, the content, its theme. () [W]e believe that contemporary computer games have already crossed the borders of traditional games. Most of them just dont realize it yet. They dont realize that the most interesting aspect of their design is the way in which they express the story: through the environment, the animations, the colour, the lighting, etc. (Samyn, 2008).
While commercial game developers may not have the luxury to explore the artistic potential
of the medium to the fullest, as Picot points out (2009), it seems clear that the game medium
contains representation that is not separable from the game as a whole. This in turn would
qualify games as a medium of artistic expression similarly to films and other traditional
narratives, meaning that they must also be tied to their culture of origin in different ways
than such products as utility software and DVD players. The next section takes a closer look
at how culture manifests itself in representation and gameplay.
2.4 Culture in Representation and Gameplay
At a time when monochrome dots and lines and simple controls were the only building
blocks of a game, it would have been quite an accomplishment to create a deeply culture-
specific game. This is not to say, however, that the earliest games were not affected by their
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culture of origin. In recent studies, culture has been shown to be inherent in every aspect of
game design, built into the very makeup of a game (Kalata, 2007; OHagan, 2009). From the
way controls, characters and game worlds are designed to camera angles and the level of
linearity or non-linearity in gameplay, games coming from different cultures can feature
notable differences (Kalata, ibid.). Even games that in principle belong to the same genre
may look, feel and function very differently, depending on the origin of the game.
In addition to the inherent cultural specificity, modern games can also have an explicit layer
of cultural representation, as in-game graphics allow for increasingly realistic depiction. The
representation of a game may therefore draw upon a highly realistic cultural setting, as in
the case of the distinctly American GTA IV. However, if games that are based on films and
other predetermined stories and locations are excluded, it has traditionally been more typical
for games to take place in imaginary settings. The word imaginary here does not
necessarily refer to full-fledged fantasy worlds; it can refer to real-world or historical
settings, but the anonymity and lack of clear cultural or ethnic markers can make the settings
seemingly culture-neutral in most games. This is particularly typical in Japanese games.
Iwabuchi (2002) uses the expression culturally odorless, or mukokuseki in Japanese, to
describe these worlds that seemingly exist in no-mans land.
One reason why fantasy settings appear so common in games could be that representation
that is based on imagination opens up more possibilities and freedom when it comes to
designing gameplay. Realistic depiction requires that game mechanics also abide by the laws
of physics. For example, a human character in a relatively realistic setting cannot logically be
designed with an ability to jump from the ground to the roof of a building. An imaginary
representational quality has to be added to account for breaking the scientific laws.
Consequently, realistic cultural settings are also rarer.
Even when a game does take place in a realistic cultural setting, it is not necessarily that in
which the game was developed. This is exemplified by GTA IV which is set in an American
cultural space, but was developed in Scotland. Explicit cultural representation is therefore
not a perfectly straightforward or even a common matter in games, but to a large extent, the
same could probably be said about any expressive medium. The story of a novel may or may
not be set in the real world or in the culture that the writer grew up in, but it will still reflect
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its cultural origin, if not in anything else, in the way the story is constructed, linguistic
features and the thinking that underlies it.
Almost every game naturally also has linguistic elements, which in the gaming context can
be assigned various roles and appear in many different text types. According to Frank Dietz
(2006: 124), the purpose of language in games is to help and instruct the player to proceed,
while at the same time introducing elements of intrigue, fleshing out characters and bringing
depth and authenticity to the game world. Based on this, it can be said that language in
games can either serve the functional gameplay or mesh with the representation of the game.
Examples of the function-serving language would be commands, menus, system feedback
and instructions on screen or in the user manual. The second category includes spoken and
written dialog, cut-scenes, letters, news articles and information within the game world.
Linguistic content of games has clearly followed the general development of gameplay and
representation. There are changes to the more verbose even in heavily action-driven game
genres such as first-person shooters, as can be seen by comparing Doom from 1993 to Doom 3,
released in 2004. However, the process has not been as simple as mere growth in linguistic
content. Even though most of the earliest games contained very little if any text, there are
also many examples of 1980 computer games that were purely text-based and relied on
language parsing, known as Interactive Fiction (Keller, 2007). It would perhaps be better to
say that linguistic content is woven into the game as a whole with increasing sophistication.
To sum up, culture can play an explicit part in creating and conveying a games meanings,
but regardless of whether a game has realistic cultural representation, cultural influence is
deeply ingrained in the very fabric and architecture of the game as well as its language.
Despite external and structural differences, games would therefore appear to represent the
same type of cultural products as films and literature in the most fundamental sense.
Nevertheless, the cultural and linguistic transfer of video games is discussed in the
framework of localization. The next chapter takes a closer look at the reasons behind this.
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3. Localization, Translation and Video Games
I have already used the word localization throughout the early part of this thesis to refer to
the overall process of creating new language versions of a video game. As mentioned in the
introduction, this is a term used by the games industry itself. There is no general consensus
yet on what the linguistic and cultural transfer of games should be referred to in a
Translation Studies framework, but the question has been taken under closer scrutiny in
several studies. Some of the most noteworthy contributions to the subject have been made by
Miguel . Bernal Merino (2006), Minako OHagan (2007) and Carmen Mangiron (Mangiron
and OHagan, 2006). Most of the pioneering studies borrow from the localization industry
terminology, as there are very few other sources of information available.
The only consensus seems to be on the view that video game localization entails more
consistent and large-scale cultural adaptation than any other medium. In fact, this in itself
complicates questions relating to terminology. Would it not be inaccurate to refer to the
linguistic and cultural transfer of games as translation alone, assuming that there is another
level of cultural transfer at play that no other type of translation entails? Should the term
localization or some other distinguishing name be used to accurately reflect this? On the
other hand, is it too broad a term? Mangiron and OHagan (2006: 20) have suggested the
term transcreation to refer to the quasi absolute freedom to modify, omit, and even add
any elements which they deem necessary to bring the game closer to the players.
This thesis seeks to question the idea itself that there is a fundamentally unique quality in the
cultural transfer of games, which would call for extensive cultural adaptation beyond
translation. If such a quality exists, the reason for it would have to be found either in the
nature of games or in the nature or definition of localization. I have already tentatively
pointed out that the game medium itself does not seem to differ from other media in a way
that would by itself warrant significant cultural adaptation. In fact, such adaptations might
rather be ill-advised considering the balanced structure of gameplay and representation. The
explanation may therefore very well lie in localization itself.
Since most of the earlier studies have had industry terminology and definitions as their
starting point, I will begin by taking a look at localization in its original industry context and
then examine attempts to move it into the realm of Translation Studies.
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3.1 Easier Done Than Defined
Localization as a term seems to have gained in popularity with the proliferation of computer
software over the past few decades. Consequently, the general meaning of the word is
nowadays most commonly associated with technology. Considering the size of the
localization industry and the frequent use of the word, it is nevertheless still surprisingly far
from a clearly defined and unequivocal term, as theory lags behind practice. In fact, it is
questionable whether such a thing as localization theory exists. As Anthony Pym (2005: 4)
aptly puts it, [t]here is something willfully perverse in dragging ideas away from the realm
of commercial practice and making them act like a scholarly discipline.
Much has been written on and around the topic of localization in recent years, but as Folaron
(2006: 196-197) points out, the way localization is defined in the industry tends to vary
greatly depending on the perspectives of those who formulate the definitions. In fact, what
localization even entails can differ substantially depending on what is localizeda car, a
magazine, a piece of software or a website. Even if the scope is narrowed to technology-
based products, as it will be here, forming a balanced view is not easy considering the
complexity of the process and the gamut of different professionals involved. Although this is
good to bear in mind, some generalizations naturally still can and have to be drawn.
Although problems may arise when the term is specified, the most common industry
definitions of localization nevertheless have the same core.
Bert Esselink, one of the most well-known and often-quoted authors on the subject of
localization, defines localization as follows:
In a nutshell, localization revolves around combining language and technology to produce a product that can cross cultural and language barriers. No more, no less. (Esselink, 2003: 4).
This definition seems to encapsulate very well what the word refers to in the modern day.
However, while it is certainly true that localization is no less than this, if there was anything
to add or specify, I would argue that it would have to do with the motive of such endeavor,
which is already implied by the word product. This aspect becomes clearer in the
definition of the Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA), which defines
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localization as the process of modifying products or services to account for differences in
distinct markets (Fry, 2003: 13).
There are at least two emphases to be noted in these definitions. The first underlines the
interplay of language and technology, and the second places the focus on business motives
and a product to be sold. These could be called the two basic denominators that determine
whether the overall process is referred to as localization rather than translation: (1) the object
of localization is a product that combines technology with language, and (2) the purpose of
localization is to increase sales by modifying the product for a specific target locale.
If this definition is applied to video games, it can be observed that all games are based on
software technology and the linguistic content is integrated into the program code.
Furthermore, video games are typically commercial1 products that are developed in large
teams with sizable budgets. The act of rendering a game understandable and usable beyond
its country of origin is a business process aimed at reaching wider international markets and
therefore ultimately yielding larger profits. It seems clear, then, that similarly to any
software, video games meet both conditions of combining technology with language (object)
and being commercial products (purpose), which is why it is entirely justified and correct to
speak of video game localization in the industry context.
However, while this definition alone might suffice in the industry context, it becomes
problematic when brought to the sphere of Translation Studies. Problems arise particularly
in determining what exactly is meant by modifying products or services to account for
differences in distinct markets in LISAs definition. To add to the confusion, localization
has been previously used in Translation Studies with a meaning that differs from the modern
definition.
The next section explains more specifically how the industry term has been used in the
context of Translation Studies in previous research and illustrates the difficulties faced in
telling translation apart from localization.
1 Of course, there are also non-commercial games created by individuals and small teams. These are consciously left out in this context for the simple reason that video games could not have developed into their present form without the funding of the commercial video game industry.
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3.2 Localization = Domestication?
Before taking on new connotations in the digital age, localization in Translation Studies
referred to a heavily domesticating translation strategy in childrens literature and songs
(Klingberg, 1986: 15; Parrish, 2003: 3). Domestication or cultural adaptation in its most
radical form might mean replacing foreign proper names with local ones and even
transferring the entire setting of a story to a local environment that is more familiar to the
target reader or receiver (Klingberg, 1986: 1415). This is a translation strategy that places the
emphasis on target text readers in order to ensure that the translation is as understandable
and enjoyable as possible. In so doing, however, it may even completely erase the original
cultural markers of the source text and therefore involve significant rewriting. This may be
very difficult to carry out consistently, and the end result can even be viewed as a different
work. Therefore, the degree and amount of domestication usually depends largely on the
intended purpose and target audience of the translation and is determined on a case-by-case
basis.
In certain types of products, a kind of complete rewriting is precisely what localization
refers to even today. The only thing that matters is the core product or basic concept; a bare
structure which can be stripped of original content and fleshed out again in a different locale.
The product still remains fundamentally the same, because its raison dtre lies in its function,
not in the original content as with most literary and artistic works. This is known as concept
trade, good examples of which would be TV shows such as the Idol series and Who Wants to
Be a Millionaire? (Iwabuchi, 2002: 9697).
Although some comparisons might be drawn, software localization is essentially different
from what localization used to mean in the context of Translation Studies. The industry
term has first and foremost come to refer to modifying technical and product aspects to
render them usable and understandable in foreign locales. In games, this can mean
converting the video display format from NTSC to PAL when localizing an originally
American game into Europe, or making adjustments to the interface to accommodate a
translation that takes more space than the original text. In linguistic and cultural content,
localization can mean, for example, taking differing country standards into consideration in
instructions and replacing symbols that are meaningless in the target culture. These types of
domesticating changes are often not only meant to offer a more pleasant user experience;
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they are mandatory in order to ensure proper and safe functionality and use of the localized
product.
Other types of changes may be made in order to conform to local laws or other guidelines.
Germany, for example, has strict laws concerning depiction of blood and Nazi symbolism in
video games (Chandler, 2005: 33). Somewhat similarly, excessive use of Christian symbolism
in Japanese games, which might be considered blasphemous outside Japan, is often censored
from U.S. versions (Kohler 2005: 206207). Furthermore, the content of certain types of games
may be altered to match local conditions or expectations with the aim of attracting new users
to the localized version. For example, a driving game may have its soundtrack changed.
Localization, as it is defined in this chapter so far, is above all a technical and business
process that can entail changes on many levels. But how, then, does this relate or apply to the
overall aesthetic, cultural content of games? If a game has a distinct cultural setting and
theme, does localization by default extend to these as well in the form of cultural adaptation?
In previous academic research on game localization, the answer would seem to be yes.
This has been justified by viewing games primarily as functional products whose main
purpose is to entertain (e.g., Bernal Merino, 2006; Mangiron and OHagan, 2006; OHagan,
2007; OHagan, 2009). Although Bernal Merino suggests and considers the artifact nature of
games, he nevertheless sees the product nature as taking precedence when it comes to the
question of cultural translation/localization:
[W]e are talking about a product (not an artefact), and we are not obliged to maintain the source culture identity. On the contrary, we must favour the target culture. The acceptance of the product by the receiving culture is more important than its nationality. (Bernal Merino, 2006: 31).
OHagan is slightly more specific in expressing the perceived reasons for why the target
culture should be favored:
[T]he ultimate purpose of video games as a pleasure-giving medium () constitutes skopos in the context of translation and is something that the games localiser needs to bear in mind, as the raison dtre of the end product. With games localisation, the translator is expected to convey a game play experience that is as close as possible to the equivalent of the original. (OHagan, 2007: 4).
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Furthermore, Mangiron and OHagan justify the need for the word transcreation in the
following words:
[T]he traditional concept of fidelity to the original is discarded. In game localisation, transcreation, rather than just translation, takes place. (Mangiron and OHagan, 2006).
For the reasons stated in the citations, the general assumption appears to be that the cultural
game content by definition calls for cultural adaptationlocalization in the original sense
of the word, as it were. Not only domesticating translation, but something that exceeds the
limits of translation and relates specifically to video game localization, as Mangiron and
OHagans comment seems to suggest.
One thing is immediately clear: it is by no means mistaken as such to advocate domesticating
translation strategy in video game localization. This strategy can work very well particularly
if a game is not tied to any realistic cultural setting, as they traditionally have not been.
Mangiron and OHagan (2006) offer good examples of this from the Japanese role-playing
games Final Fantasy X and X-2, set in a fantasy world. Their case study revealed, for example,
that the American translator had added an allusion to the American Lollapalooza rock
festival by translating the original Japanese word raibu, meaning live concert, into
Yunapalooza, derived from the main character Yunas name (Mangiron and OHagan,
2006: 19). In these particular cases, Bernal Merino (2007: 1) is largely correct in stating that
the place of origin or the language of development of the game is not relevant to the game
experience itself.
However, it is one thing to advocate domestication and quite another to assume that cultural
adaptation is required by default in video game localization, beyond translation. Even in a
purely translational sense, it seems questionable to claim that all or even most games have
the same function and therefore their translations have the same skopos, which can be
defined as the intended purpose of a translation that is used to determine the best translation
strategy. This would pertain to all games and game genres. If, on the other hand, the
functional product nature of a game is taken to be the only determining factor in the overall
process of game localization, what it seems to imply is that the original game content is
almost entirely interchangeable, which is in conflict with what was argued in Chapter 2.
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It is actually possible to take a look at what happens if the entire game content is substituted,
as such drastic measures are actually not completely unheard of. OHagan (2007: 4) cites an
example of a deeply culture-bound Japanese dating game, Tokimeki Memorial, whose U.S.
version, Brooktown High: Senior Year Hands-on, retained only the theme of dating simulation
from the original, while everything else was redesigned and geared toward American
audiences following market research that was conducted in the U.S. This can be done if a
game as a whole is viewed as a product concept or format, such as the previously mentioned
television program Idol.
The crucial question in this context, which OHagan (ibid.) also mentions is open for debate,
is whether Brooktown High can still be considered or perhaps even recognized as the localized
version of Tokimeki Memorial. In essence, the original aesthetic identity and cultural origin
have been almost completely replaced. If representation is radically changed, gameplay will
have to be redesigned as well. The result is, for all intents and purposes, a different game.
The paradox is ultimately the same as when a childrens book is radically domesticated: is it
the same work? This type of cultural adaptation, even when brought to the game context and
linked to commercial considerations, still seems to deal with questions and problems relating
to translation rather than anything external.
It seems internally contradictory to claim that video game localization inherently strives for
cultural adaptation if the outcome can actually cease to be a localized version when the task is
successfully completed. Clearly, some type of confusion must be at work, most likely
deriving from industry definitions. One possible source for confusion is a rule of thumb in
the localization industry to localize a product in such a way that it has the look and feel of
a domestic product (Fry, 2003: 3; Chandler, 2005: 5). What needs to be noted is that these
rules are formulated by localization industry professionals, not by translation scholars or
even by translation professionals. From an industry perspective, the look and feel of a
domestic product may not equal cultural adaptation as it is defined in the context of
Translation Studies, but simply that the product is skillfully translated and that any
technical, cultural or linguistic elements do not prevent the user from enjoying it.
Chandler (2005), writing from the industry perspective on the practical game localization
process, actually also speaks of the flavor of the game that needs to be maintained. She
gives the example of True Crime: Streets of L.A., a game set in the city of Los Angeles, in
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which the cultural specificity is necessary to the overall look and feel of the game and
therefore should not be erased in the localization process (ibid.: 26). Although Chandler sees
these cases as localization challenges when discussing the desirability of cross-cultural game
design, to any professional translator this kind of cultural specificity would rather present
only routine translation challenges.
The fact remains, however, that various substitutions and changes can be and are made
during the commercial localization process, some of which reach into the cultural content as
well. How do these fit in? How are they beyond translation? According to a common
industry definition, translation differs from localization in that it is one of the many subsets
of localization, dealing with the linguistic content (Esselink, 2000: 4; Fry, 2003). This is not,
however, a satisfactory distinction. While it is true that the entire process can be referred to
as localization, the issue is more complex when it comes to separating translation from
localization on the level of content and actual decision-making. As I will point out in the next
section, certain individual linguistic changes can actually be seen as localization rather than
translation decisions, and some cultural modifications beyond language are best described as
translation. It is therefore necessary to try to differentiate localization more clearly from
translation on the level of content changes.
3.3 Differentiating between Localization and Translation
The separation between localization and translation may be clear in the case of technical
modifications, which are exclusively localization, but the line becomes increasingly blurred
when it comes to cultural and linguistic game content. Di Marco (2007: 2) calls the transfer of
the entire cultural and linguistic game content simply as cultural localization. The purpose
of this thesis is to further explore whether translation as such can be pulled out of the
somewhat obscure notion of cultural localization in order to see what remains.
On a general level, it could be said that the main task of translation is to convey the source
content in an understandable and appropriate manner to the target culture, and a wide
variety of strategies can be employed to this end. Individual translation solutions may
include additions, omissions, modifications and substitutions similarly to localization. When
it comes to cultural and linguistic elements, the difference between localization and
translation seems to lie not so much in the types of changes that are made, but rather in the
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motivation of making them and the resulting effect. As has been established, localization is a
technical and business process mainly concerned with sales, acceptability, usability, legality
and ensuring customer satisfaction, while translation aims primarily at successful
intercultural communication and creative delivery of meaning in their own right, which may
also entail changes of an ideological nature.
The following example represents a localization change on the level of language: a Russian
character originally named Vodka Drunkenski was changed into Soda Popinski in the
NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) version of Punch-Out!!, a game originally developed
for the arcades in Japan. This name change was most likely motivated by Nintendo of
Americas policy of removing all alcoholic references and avoiding ethnic stereotypes, while
Nintendo of Japan did not have similar guidelines (McCullough). Although the change is a
rather creative textual shift and could perhaps seem like an ideological statement from the
translator, in this context it is clearly a localization decision with the purpose of making the
product more acceptable and neutral. These types of localization decisions are usually
concerned with details rather than the work as a whole, which is why the result may not
always agree perfectly with the overall context and intention. In this case, characterizing the
muscular and rather intimidating character as an ardent lover of soda pop gives an
entirely different impression of him than the original.
On the other hand, there are times when even graphical changes can be seen through the
lens of translational motives, as in the following case:
I remember one project I worked on had a light bulb that signified an idea in the pop-up help text. However, in the target language a light bulb signified nothing more than a light bulb. If this light bulb symbol had been used, it would have confused the users of the target language. Instead, the graphics were replaced with the translation for the word idea. (Louden in Chandler, 2005: 86).
In this example, translation and localization can be seen to overlap in a certain sense.
Replacing an image should by definition be a localization change, as it deals with usability
and graphical elements, but in this particular case it is also essentially the kind of change that
a translator would do for the sake of successful inter-cultural communication.
Extra-linguistic game elements can therefore clearly be viewed through the lens of
translation and some linguistic elements through the lens of localization, illustrating the
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complex relationship between the two. It is helpful to understand the motivations of
localization, but the concept still remains elusive in terms of how it relates to the cultural
transfer of a game on the content level. Clearly there exists localization separately from
translation, but what exactly is cultural localization? Is it an inherent part of the entire
localization process, and, if so, how does it relate to actual cultural translation? Does the
functional or product nature of games make their cultural transfer a unique process after all?
It would seem that the research question cannot be conclusively answered through
individual examples taken from different games. Considering the nature of games laid out in
Chapter 2 and the importance of understanding the entire game context, it is necessary to
carry out an in-depth analysis on a full game, taking into consideration the whole context
and how changes affect it.
The following section suggests foreignization as a way to roughly identify what might be
called cultural localization beyond translation, serving as the basis for choosing the
research material and designing the empirical study.
3.4 Enter Foreignization
As mentioned in section 3.2, the stated industry goal of the localization process is that the
end result has the look and feel of a nationally-manufactured piece of goods (Fry, 2003: 3).
In product-centered localization the strategy is therefore by default geared toward the target
locale. This corresponds confusingly closely with what might be called domestication from a
translational point of view. Translation decisions might be easier to tell apart from
localization decisions if reflected through the mirror of foreignization, a translation strategy
that would seem to go completely against the purpose of localization as seen from a product
perspective. Before this can be elaborated upon, a working definition of foreignization is in
order.
Although the term foreignization itself, along with domestication, has become well-
known within Translation Studies mainly through the work of Lawrence Venuti (1995), the
fundamental principle it refers to was known much earlier. Previously referred to as
alienation, foreignization was advocated particularly by Friedrich Schleiermacher in the
early 19th century and by Antoine Berman in the 1980s (Munday, 2001).
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According to Berman, [t]he properly ethical aim of the translating act is receiving the foreign
as foreign (quoted in Munday, 2001: 149). This seems to summarize the basic sentiment of
all three scholars, but the most apt definition in this particular context is that formulated by
Schleiermacher. In his view, foreignization differs from domestication in that it is not about
trying to simulate the effect that the source text had on source culture receivers, but rather
conveying the effect that the source text would have on the members of the target culture if
they could understand the language of the original work (Schleiermacher, 1813/1992). This
would appear to directly oppose the general localization principle adopted in earlier
research that players should be able to experience the localized version as if it were
originally developed in their own language (Mangiron and OHagan, 2006: 1415). When it
comes to functionality, this is certainly true, but not necessarily from a translational point of
view.
Foreignization as it is defined by Schleiermacher would therefore seem to serve only the
goals of translation, as such a strategy might not make much sense from the business and
marketing perspectives that drive localization decisions. As Sprung (2000: xiv) also notes,
the most effective way to make a product truly international is to make it look and feel like
a native product. There is, however, at least one way in which foreignization could be seen
to work as a localization strategy as well. Namely, the foreign can be employed to make the
product seem more attractive by using mental images of the source culture that already exist
in the target culture and are found exotic.
This kind of foreignizing localization might prove challenging to tell apart from
foreignizing translation, but presumably not nearly as difficult as the two types of
domestication. As a basic principle, if the foreign has somehow been retained in the target
content, it must be possible to see it as serving the overall context of the game in order to
qualify as translation rather than localization.
This is the foundation on which the empirical research of this thesis is based. If culturally
foreignizing changes can clearly be identified as translation rather than localization, and the
overall translation strategy is usually consistent as it deals with the work as a whole, then
cultural localization changes should stand out as individual domesticating decisions. The
next chapter expands upon the grounds for choosing the research material and defines the
method.
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4. Game Plan
In order for foreignization to be a useful tool, the research material has to be selected with
certain criteria. The source game should be one which, from a translational point of view, is
likely to require at least a moderate degree of foreignization. As was mentioned in Chapter 3,
domestication can be a very viable translation method for games that are set in a fantasy
world rather than a realistic one. Therefore, the choice should fall on a game that has a
realistic cultural setting. Furthermore, the source and target cultures should preferably be far
apart. As Leppihalme (2007: 372) observes, the greater the distance between the source
culture and target culture, the more alien features can be expected in the translation. To
make the localization decisions stand out even more in contrast, the target culture would
have to represent a significant market area, which from a business and marketing
perspective would presumably call for various types of localization changes, particularly as
the source and target cultures are distant.
Based on these reasons, I chose a Japanese game that incorporates many explicit markers of
its cultural origin and its North American and European localized versions. I chose two
target versions for two distinct areas, as I suspected that they might exemplify different types
of localization changes that could be helpful in understanding more about the nature of
content-level localization. With a culture-specific Japanese game, it would be reasonable to
assume that any cultural adaptation that is beyond translation would stand out particularly
clearly, given that translation as such would probably be tilted toward foreignization.
However, as was mentioned in Chapter 2, Japanese games have a particular tendency to take
place in imaginary settings rather than realistic ones. The following two sections provide a
closer look at Japanese games and the role of cultural origin in them in order to further
elaborate on the choice of the research material.
4.1 Remade in Japan: Japanese Games in Western Markets
Throughout this thesis, I have already made multiple references to Japanese games. This is
not due to any particular emphasis in this study. In actual fact, even though video games
originated in the United States, Japan has held a strong position in the console games
industry for well over two decades. Words such as Nintendo and Super Mario have
found their way into mainstream lexicon far beyond active gaming circles, and two out of
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the three console game industry leaders todayMicrosoft, Sony and Nintendoare
Japanese. History offers a fairly straightforward explanation for this: the global breakthrough
of Japanese games can be traced back to 1985, when Nintendo Co., Ltd. released the NES2
game console with a host of Japanese games in North America, Europe and Australia,
effectively kick-starting the Western video game markets which had begun to dwindle in the
early 1980s (Kohler, 2005: 8). Japan seems to have maintained a strong foothold on the
industry ever since.
However, this offers little in the way of explanation as to why Japanese video games fared
better at the time than Western ones. It is very interesting how many Japanese games were
adopted with open arms by the American and European public in the 1980s, despite the fact
that these games were exported with little or no modification from a very distant culture. Far
from a marginal curiosity, Japanese games such as Super Mario Bros. became mainstream,
insofar as gaming in the 1980s could be described in those terms. Even though today certain
types of games can sell by virtue of being Japanese (further discussed in section 4.2), this was
very unlikely to be the case with games in the 1980s. Japanese popular culture, particularly
in the form of Japanese animation (anime) and comics (manga), had yet to make its entrance
into Western markets and cultivate wide-spread interest in the Japanese culture. The only
plausible explanation is that Japanese games introduced elements that were novel in gaming,
and even more importanta certain something that simply worked for games.
The main thesis in Chris Kohlers insightful 2005 book Power-Up! How Japanese Video Games
Gave the World an Extra Life is that Japanese games were the first to start developing game
representation in the 1980s into its present form. Kohler speaks of this as the introduction of
cinematic elements and narrative to games. While I fully agree on the general thesis, I
nevertheless adhere to the concept of representation as defined in Chapter 2 and claim that
games never construct narratives in the film sense. From this perspective, what narrative
and cinematic elements might rather refer to is the type of representation that flows
forward and progresses with gameplay instead of the repetition of the same function and
same simple meanings, as in Pong, for example.
2 NES, the Nintendo Entertainment System, is known as Famicom in Japan and elsewhere in Asia.
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Kohler (2005: 24, 3536) attributes this introduction particularly to Shigeru Miyamoto, the
creator of the highly successful Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda game series. Miyamoto
designed game characters and distinct, imaginative settings and incorporated them into
game worlds in ways that no other games at the time did. It could be said that these were the
types of game stories that were the perfect fit for the game medium. Although there were
something called graphic adventures developed in the West which resembled graphic
novels and featured complex narratives, gameplay in these games remained very simple,
setting them apart from the new form of game stories in Japanese games that actually helped
gameplay become more complex.
Whereas representation in Western games might have been typically borrowed from
relatively realistic models, the task of designing games was seen differently in Japan. As
Kusahara (2002: 277) points out, art and aesthetics permeate all layers of the Japanese society
and the division into high culture and popular culture is not as clear as it is in the West. It is
perhaps therefore not surprising that Japan, of all countries, would have been the first to
incorporate a wilder order of artistic imagination into games.
Originally, the unique representation and gameplay of Japanese games, such as Donkey Kong
(1981) by Shigeru Miyamoto, were deemed so foreign that the games were predicted to fail
entirely in the West. Instead, what these types of games did was lift the Western game
industry back on its feet. (Kohler 2005: 4546). The interesting thing to note here is that this
innovation in game design had its roots in the very cultural difference itself, dealing with the
implicit cultural specificity. This is also where the Japanese tendency to have imaginary
game settings is likely to be rooted. The next section introduces different manifestations of
explicit cultural representation in Japanese games.
4.2 Mukokuseki and kokuseki
The Japanese word mukokuseki translates literally as statelessness, referring to something
or someone that has no nationality (mu = no/nothing, kokuseki = nationality). The word is
also often used to describe a typical quality of Japanese anime and manga; representation in
which the characters and worlds have no identifiable nationality or ethnicity (Iwabuchi,
2002: 28). In this context, I use mukokuseki as a succinct way to refer to the lack of ethnic
cultural markers in Japanese games, such as characters with Japanese features and names. By
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using a Japanese word I also seek to underline that lack of cultural markers refers
specifically to lack of Japanese cultural markersidentifiable signs of the games origin
rather than just lack of a realistic cultural setting which could be based anywhere in the
world. The antonym of mukokuseki would be kokuseki, meaning nationality. In this
particular context, I use it to refer to the presence of Japanese ethnic markers.
Kalata (2007) and Kohler (2005) both maintain that the prevalence of mukokuseki worlds in
Japanese games stems from the strong visual tradition in Japan. Iwabuchi (2002: 7072, 94)
has a slightly different view, as he describes mukokuseki as the erasure of culturally distinct
characteristics in Japanese cultural products. In his view, these commodities are culturally
odorless (ibid.: 27). In response to Iwabuchis view, Kohler (2005: 7) has pointed out that it
is hardly accurate to describe the Japanese style as lacking nationality, considering that the
style itself is uniquely Japanese. This is very true on the inherent level of culture-specificity
and acknowledged by Iwabuchi as well, but when it comes to explicit representation in
games, it is also true that some Japanese mukokuseki games might not necessarily be
recognized as Japanese at all, particularly by a casual player.
Usually representation in a game is either mukokuseki or kokuseki, but there is also a
combination of both, in the sense that visual style is mukokuseki and the characters do not
have any Japanese ethnic features, but the setting is clearly located in Japan and the
characters have Japanese names. In other words, there are basically three types of Japanese
games when it comes to cultural representation:
(1) Mukokuseki visuals + kokuseki setting
(2) Mukokuseki visuals + mukokuseki setting
(3) Kokuseki visuals + kokuseki setting
The first combination category includes games which feature a stylized, strongly anime-
influenced graphic look, but clearly have a story and characters based in Japan. An example
of this category would be the Shin Megami Tensei series, whose characters look more Western
than Japanese and have varying hair colors, but are nevertheless identified as Japanese
through their names, speech, locations and other culture-specific representation. These are
the prime examples of Japanese games that can sell in the West by virtue of being Japanese,
fuelled by the popularity of anime and manga in the West. Some can become underground
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hits even before they are localized. It is probably for this reason that even the name of the
series Shin Megami Tensei has been retained in Japanese in Western markets. To a certain
degree, this might constitute foreignizing localization, in addition translation.
The second, mukokuseki category can contain two types of games. The more common one is a
full-fledged fantasy game, with fantasy characters and fantasy worlds. Games of the popular
Final Fantasy series provide an example of this, as well as The Legend of Zelda series and most
other Shigeru Miyamoto games. The second type of mukokuseki games have realistic
characters and setting, but rather than Japanese, they are based in some other existing
culture or country. The Clock Tower game series is an example of this. Clock Tower 3 has
characters and settings identified as English. These types of games require presumably the
least amount of any cultural adaptation, although the overall theme, story and gameplay
may deviate significantly from typical Western game design.
The third, kokuseki category contains games which have realistic Japanese characters as well
as a Japanese setting. Many of these are connected in story to Japanese cultural or historical
events or concepts. For example, the game series Way of the Samurai, Yakuza and Tenchu are
set in the worlds of samurai, yakuza (Japanese mafia) and ninja respectively. In addition to
these, there are also Japanese kokuseki games that do not ride on any popular and widely
known Japanese theme or style, but have a realistic Japanese setting. Examples of these are
Glass Rose and the Siren series, which have characters and settings that are clearly Japanese
both in location and story.
In the context of this study, the last type of Japanese games, such as Glass Rose and Siren,
make for the most suitable research material. This is because Japaneseness as such could
probably not be construed as their most interesting selling point in the eyes of Western
consumers, and therefore it seems most likely that cultural localization, motivated by
business considerations, would come in most strongly to eliminate foreign cultural elements
that might be perceived to hamper the actual gameplay experience of the Western players.
Translation, in contrast, would be more likely to treat these cases on an individual basis and
employ foreignization to the degree that is necessary, desirable or even inevitable in order to
maintain the Japanese identity, which is nevertheless part of the games inherent meanings.
The following section introduces the kokuseki game that was ultimately chosen.
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4.3 The Case of the Crimson Butterfly
As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, the most important criterion for the source
game was that it be a Japanese kokuseki game. The choice fell on Zero: Akai Ch (,
Zero: Crimson Butterfly), an atmospheric and visually realistic game in the survival horror
/ horror adventure genre.
Zero: Akai Ch is a Japanese game developed by Tecmo for PlayStation 2 and the second
installment in a game series titled Zero in Japan (Fatal Frame in North America and Project
Zero in Europe and Australia). The representation features Japanese cultural markers in
visuals, story and locations. Image 1 shows the main character of Zero: Akai Ch, Mio
Amakura, and her twin sister Mayu. The outward appearance of the characters, while not
perfectly photorealistic, identifies them as young East Asian girls. The way their names are
written and read in Japanese confirms their Japanese nationality.
Image 1. Mio Amakura (left) and Mayu Amakura. Image scanned from the Japanese manual.
The game begins as the twin sisters get lost in the woods and find themselves trapped in a
deserted, haunted mountain village that is rumored to have disappeared from the map. The
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gameplay involves exploring the village, solving puzzles and using an antique camera with
metaphysical qualities to ward off vengeful spirits and to receive helpful hints from
sympathetic ones.
Only the barest rudiments of the story are told via cutscenes (brief cinematic non-interactive
sequences) throughout the game to push the action forward: two girls trying to find their
way out of a haunted village and getting entangled in the nightmarish past of the location
that keeps reliving itself. A deeper and more complex tale about the villages past is
unraveled through notes, journals, encounters with certain vanishing spirits, spirit stones
that store the thoughts of the villagers, visuals and photographs that can be picked up
throughout the village. As the game progresses, these elements reveal more about the beliefs,
lives and deaths of the villagers and how they intertwine with Mio and Mayu.
The story of the villages past revolves around a macabre Shinto ritual which used to be
performed every few decades. According to ancient beliefs, this would appease the gods and
keep the worlds of the dead and the living separated. To this end, young identical twins
were forced to endure a ritual involving the killing of one twin by the other. The remaining
child was able to go on living, but many times was too severely traumatized to carry on a
normal life. The tradition remained unbroken across generations, until one year right before
the ritual, the girl who was to sacrifice her twin sister managed to escape. The girl who was
left behind was sacrificed anyway, only to have the ritual fail due to the absence of her sister.
As a consequence, every villager perished and the village itself was swallowed up into a
twilight reality.
Considering the many supernatural elements, the game cannot be said to be entirely
realistic in the strictest sense of the word. It is, however, very consistent in its cultural
representation, mixing realistic depiction with ancient Japanese folklore, religious beliefs and
death legends. Mio and Mayu are portrayed as ordinary girls who stand aghast at the
paranormal phenomena they come to witness, yet try to cope to the best of their ability. The
game relies heavily on atmosphere, using verbal, visual and auditory means to create an
eerie ambience, and many of these game elements include cultural references, both explicit
and implicit.
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Besides realistic cultural depiction, this particular game was chosen because of the
interesting localization history of game series. The Zero series currently consists of four
games. Apart from some converging plot points and references between the games, each
installment is an independent work with a different story and main character. The theme,
gameplay and representation