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Article published In:
The Journal of Internationalization and Localization
Vol. 4:1 (2017) ► pp.22–39

Achievements

Unique texts, unique localisation

 | University College London
Achievements perform an essential entertainment function in video games. They instruct and reward gamers, and they serve as status symbols or bragging rights within gaming communities. These texts can be challenging for localisers, since they have multiple functions, align with or subvert game mechanics and narrative, and can contain a range of intertextual references, understood as references to other texts, genres, or popular culture (Mangiron and O’Hagan, 2006). Their localisation, therefore, warrants special handling. In this article, I make the case for achievement texts being a unique text type based on Bernal-Merino’s (2014) classification. Further, I propose a macro-level analysis approach that enables localisers to re-render these texts’ essential component parts.
Keywords: achievements, video games, intertextuality, localisation, ludolect, text function
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The role of achievements
  • 3.The function of achievements
  • 4.Localising achievement texts – challenges
  • 5.Examples of achievement texts
  • 6.Suggestions for localising achievement texts
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
  • Ludography
Published online: 19 January 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jial.4.1.02str
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2019. French gamer-speak: new conceptualizations of text production, virtual spaces, and social stratification. Contemporary French Civilization 44:1 ► pp. 39 ff. DOI logo
Fernández-Costales, Alberto
2017. On the sociolinguistics of video games localisation. The Journal of Internationalization and Localization 4:2 ► pp. 120 ff. DOI logo

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