Cover not available
Part of
Translation Flows: Exploring networks of people, processes and products
Edited by Ilse Feinauer, Amanda Marais and Marius Swart
[Benjamins Translation Library 163] 2023
► pp. 107–128

Chapter 6
Recirculated, recontextualized, reworked

Community-driven video game fan translation practices in Turkey

| Ege University
This chapter explores non-commercial translation practices in video games with an expired shelf life in Turkey. Pursuant to the paratextual analysis of fan material that contextualizes the game or localization process, this chapter concludes that the non-professional translators translate, circulate and recontextualize the games regardless of their commercial value and that it is their gaming capital that drives this specific form of circulation.
Keywords: game localization, fan paratexts, gaming capital, virtual communities, fan productivity, translation sociology
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Theorizing non-professional localization practices
  • Gaming capital: Paratextualizing the making of non-professional translation practice
  • Oyunceviri community: Empowerment, gaming capital and paratextual production
  • Reframing paratexts: Documenting histories of production
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 9 October 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.163.06kar
References (75)
References
Al-Batineh, Mohammed, and Alawneh Razan . 2021. “Translation Hacking in Arabic Video Game Localization: The History and Current Practices.” Translation Spaces. 10.(2):202–230. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Consalvo Mia. 2007. Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2012. “A Localization’s Shop Tale: Bringing an Independent Japanese Role- playing Game to North America.” In The Participatory Cultures Handbook, ed. by Aaron Alan Delwiche and Jennifer Jacobs Henderson, 59–10. New York. Routledge.Google Scholar
. 2013. “Unintended Travel: ROM Hackers and Fan Translations of Japanese Video Games” In Gaming Globally: Production, Play, and Place, ed. by Nina B. Huntemann and, Ben Aslinger, 119–141. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2016. Atari to Zelda: Japan’s Videogames in Global Contexts. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dietz, Frank. 2007. ““How Difficult Can That Be?” – The Work of Computer and Video Game Localization” Revista Tradumàtica – Traducció i Tecnologies de la Informació i la Comunicació. 5: [URL]
Dovey, Jon, and Helen W. Kennedy. 2006. Game Cultures: Computer Games As New Media. Berkshire: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Fernández Costales, Alberto. 2013. “Crowdsourcing and collaborative translation: Mass phenomena or silent threat to translation studies?” Hermes 15: 85–110.Google Scholar
Frayssé, Olivier, and Mathieu O’Neil. 2015. “Introduction: Hacked in the USA: Prosumption and Digital Labour” In Digital Labour and Prosumer Capitalism The US Matrix ed. by Olivier Frayssé and Mathieu O’Neil, 1–20. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Genette, Gérard. 1997. Paratexts: thresholds of interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Green, Jeff. 2004. “Knights of The Old Republic.” Computer Gaming World 225: 60–61.Google Scholar
Guo, Ting and Jonathan Evans. 2020. “Translational and Transnational Queer Fandom In China: The Fansubbing of Carol.” Feminist Media Studies. 20(4): 515–529. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haythornthwaite, Caroline. 2009. “Crowds and Communities: Light and Heavyweight Models of Peer Production,” In 42nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences: 1–10, DOI logo
Jimenez-Crespo, Miguel A. 2017. Crowdsourcing and Online Collaborative Translations: Expanding the Limits of Translation Studies. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Karagöz, Selahattin. 2019. “Amateurs, experts, explorers: Video game localization practices in Turkey” PhD Thesis. Istanbul, Yıldız Technical University.
Khoshsaligheh, Masood, Saeed Ameri, and Milad Mehdizadkhani. 2018. “A Socio-Cultural Study of Taboo Rendition in Persian Fansubbing: An Issue of Resistance”, Language and Intercultural Communication. 18(6): 663–680. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, Dang. 2021. “The Transcultural Flow and Consumption of Online Wuxia Literature through Fan-based Translation.” Interventions. 23:7:1041–1065. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mangiron, Carme. 2018. “Game on! Burning Issues in Game Localisation”. Journal of Audiovisual Translation. 1(1):122–138. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McDonough Dolmaya, Julie. 2011. “A Window into the Profession.” The Translator. 17:1, 77–104. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Muñoz Sánchez, Pablo. 2009. “Video Game Localisation for Fans by Fans: The Case of Rom-hacking.” The Journal of Internationalization and Localization 1 (1): 168–185. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norris, Craig. 2014. “FCJ-171 Expectations Denied: Fan and Industry Conflict Around The Localisation of the Japanese Video Game Yakuza 3.” The Fibreculture Journal, 23: 73–95Google Scholar
O’Hagan, Minako. 2009. “Evolution of User-generated Translation: Fansubs, Translation Hacking and Crowdsourcing.” Journal of Internationalisation and Localisation. 1 (2009): 94–121.Google Scholar
. 2017. “Seeking delocalization: Fan community and game localization in the age of user empowerment.” Journal of Internationalization and Localization. 4: 183–202. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
O’Hagan, Minako, and Chandler Heaher. 2016. “Game Localization Research and Translation Studies: Loss and Gain Under An Interdisciplinary Lens” In Border Crossings Translation Studies and Other Disciplines ed. by Yves Gambier, and Luc van Doorslaer, 309–331. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Öncü Yılmaz, Tutku and, Emre Canbaz . 2019. “The Role of Translation in Story Driven Video Games: An Evaluation of The Last of Us” Çeviribilim ve Uygulamaları Dergisi Journal of Translation Studies. 26: 77–103. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Önen, Seçkin İlke. 2018. “Approaches and Strategies to Cope with the Specific Challenges of Video Game Localization.” Master’s thesis, Ankara, Hacettepe University.
Pérez González, Luis. 2007. “Fansubbing Anime: Insights into The ‘Butterfly Effect’ of Globalisation on Audiovisual Translation.” Perspectives. 14:4, 260–277. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Piróth, Attila and Mona Baker . 2020. “The Ethics of Volunteerism in Translation: Translators without Borders and the Platform Economy.” Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Translation Studies. 5(3): 1–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ritzer, George and Nathan Jurgenson. 2010. “Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The Nature of Capitalism in the Age of the Digital ‘Prosumer’.” Journal of Consumer Culture. 10(1): 13–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Saadat, Shabnam. 2017. “Translaboration”. Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts. 3(3): 349–369. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sánchez, Pablo Muñoz. 2009. “Video Game Localisation for Fans by Fans: The Case of Romhacking.” The Journal of Internationalization and Localization 1: 168–185Google Scholar
Sarıgül, Semih and Jonathan Ross . 2020. “Volunteer vs. Professional Community Translation in Video Game Localization: The Case of the Steam Translation Server in Turkish”, Translogos. 3(2): 1–22. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tapscott, Don and Anthony D. Williams. 2006. Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. New York: Portfolio.Google Scholar
Terranova, Tiziana. 2000. “Free Labor: Producing Culture for Digital Economy”, Social Text, 18(2): 33–58. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Walsh, Christopher and Thomas Apperley. 2009. “Gaming Capital: Rethinking Literacy.” In: Changing Climates: Education for Sustainable Futures. Proceedings of the AARE 2008 International Education Research Conference, 30 Nov 4 Dec 2008, Queensland University of Technology.Google Scholar
Wongseree, Thanda, Minako O’Hagan, and Sasamoto Ryoko . 2019. “Contemporary Global Media Circulation Based on Fan Translation: A Particular Case of Thai Fansubbing.” Discourse, Context and Media. 32: 1–9. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zan, Arman. 2018. “Domestication and Foreignization in the Turkish Translation of Video Games.” Master’s thesis, Ankara, Hacettepe University.
Zimmerman, Joshua J. 2019. “Computer Game Fan Communities, Community Management, and Structures of Membership.” Games and Culture. 14(7–8): 896–916. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zwischenberger, Cornelia. 2021. “Online Collaborative Translation: Its Ethical, Social, and Conceptual Conditions and Consequences.” Perspectives DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Online resources
Akdoğan, Adem. 2014. Oyun çevirileri hakkında Genel bilgilendirme … OYUNCEVİRİ. Accessed September 2, 2021. [URL].
EF English Proficiency Index. 2020. EFI. Accessed September 2, 2021. [URL].
Eliaçık, Erdi. 2013. Site Yöneticimizden Bir Açıklama. OYUNCEVİRİ. Accessed September 2, 2021. [URL].
. 2013b. Önemli Bir Duyuru! – (Lütfen tüm takipçilerimiz okusunlar.) OYUNCEVİRİ. Accessed September 2, 2021. [URL].
GOG. 2021. Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee. GOG. Accessed October 2, 2021. [URL].
Grandshaw, Lisa. 2017. “The Unexpected Reveal in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.” [URL]. Accessed October 20, 2018. [URL].
Kasavin, Greg. 2001. Clive Barker’s Undying Review. GAMESPOT. Accessed October 2, 2021. [URL].
Oyunceviri. 2017. Sıkça Sorulan Sorular. OYUNCEVİRİ. Accessed September 9, 2017. [URL].
. 2019a. Clive Barker’s Undying Türkçe Yama. OYUNCEVİRİ. Accessed October 2, 2021. [URL].
. 2019b. Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered Türkçe Yama v1.0. OYUNCEVİRİ. Accessed October 2, 2021. [URL].
. 2019c. Knight Rider the Game 2 Türkçe Yama. OYUNCEVİRİ. Accessed October 2, 2021. [URL].
. 2019d. Oddworld – Abe’s Oddysee – %100 Türkçe Yama. OYUNCEVİRİ. Accessed October 2, 2021. [URL].
. 2019e. Prince of Persia Warrior Within – %100 Türkçe Yama. OYUNCEVİRİ. Accessed October 2, 2021. [URL].
. 2019f. Star Wars The Force Unleashed 2 – %100 Türkçe Yama. OYUNCEVİRİ. Accessed September 2, 2021. [URL].
. 2019g. Tomb Raider I Türkçe Yama v 1.0. OYUNCEVİRİ. Accessed September 2, 2021. [URL].
. 2019h. Tomb Raider 3 – Türkçe Yama v 2.0. OYUNCEVİRİ. Accessed September 2, 2021. [URL].
. 2020. Crysis – %100 Türkçe Yama. OYUNCEVİRİ. Accessed October 2, 2021. [URL].
Spry, Jeff. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Set to Score a Modern Fan Makeover. [URL]. Accessed October 20, 2018. [URL].
Sürücü, Said. KOTOR. Accessed October 20, 2018. [URL].
Yıldızsavaşları. 2011. KOTOR Artık %100 Türkçe. YILDIZSAVASLARI. Accessed October 2, 2021. [URL].
. 2011. Türkçe Kotor Projesi Desteğinizi Bekliyor. YILDIZSAVASLARI. Accessed October 12, 2021. [URL].
List of the games
Assassin’s Creed – Revelations. 2011. Ubisoft Montreal.
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. 2010. Ubisoft Montreal.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. 2009. Infinity Ward.
Colin McRae DIRT 2. 2009. Codemasters.
Crisis. 2007. Cybertek.
Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered. 2015. Aspyr
Formula I 2011. 2010. EA Sports
Knight Rider: The Game II. 2002. Tri Synergy.
Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee. 1997. Oddworld Inhabitants.
Postal I. 1997. Running with Scissors
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. 2004. Ubisoft Montreal.
Star Wars The Force Unleashed II. 2010. Aspyr
The Clive Barker’s Undying. 2001. DreamWorks Interactive
The Tomb Raider I. 1996. Core Design
The Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft. 1998. Core Design