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Translation Spaces: Online-First Articles

International players’ perceptions of localization in their gameplay experiences

An explorative study with steam user game reviews

ORCID logo | The University of Auckland
ORCID logo | The University of Auckland

Game localization is the complex industrial process of adapting digital games technically, linguistically, and culturally, seeking to deliver a gameplay experience as close as possible to that of the original. Guided by Livingston’s (2018) Review Analysis methodology combined with thematic analysis, we tap into user reviews of the Taiwanese game Detention (Red Candle Games 2017) in Simplified Chinese, English and Japanese, to gauge and compare player experiences in relation to localization, and explore the scope of review data for player-focused game localization research. Our qualitative analysis implicates culturalization as an impactful underlying factor in shaping the gameplay experience, for which translation issues remain opaque. As long as certain limitations are acknowledged, real-world data such as Steam user reviews provide an alternative source that is high in ecological validity, offering promising scope for future player-focused game localization research towards enriching the international dimension of Games User Research.

Keywords: game localization, player/gameplay experience, Review Analysis methodology (RVA), Steam user game reviews, games user research (GUR)
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
  • 3.Methodological considerations
    • 3.1The rationale for the game and locale selections
    • 3.2User-generated game reviews on Steam
    • 3.3Dataset and analysis procedures
      • Step 1.Planning
      • Step 2.Data collection
      • Step 3.Data analysis
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Linguistic translations
    • 4.2Cultural contexts
    • 4.3Technical issues
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
  • Gameography
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Gameography

Hello Games
2016 No Man’s Sky. Hello Games. PlayStation, Microsoft Windows.Google Scholar
Red Candle Games
2017 Detention. Red Candle Games, AGM PLAYISM. Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux.Google Scholar