Creating Cross-cultural Appeal in Digital Games: Issues in Localization and User Testing

Alex Thayer, Quan Zhou, Eliana Medina, Elisabeth Cuddihy, Mark Chen, Beth Kolko Presented at STC annual conference 2005, Seattle

An Overview of Digital Games, Globalization & Localization

Alex Thayer, M.S.T.C.

Definition of Terms

• What does the term “digital game” include?

– Computer games (Half Life, EverQuest, Solitaire) – Console games (PS2, Xbox, GameCube games) – Arcade games, mobile device games, and more • What is the difference between “productivity” applications and digital games?

– Productivity applications (Word, Excel, Photoshop, etc.) facilitate work; digital gaming applications facilitate play – Although some overlap is possible, work and play are two discrete types of computer-based activity

General Relevance of the Research

• Games are a multibillion dollar industry: – Over $10 billion in the US by some estimates – The world market is even larger – Companies are eager to market to multiple countries in order to recoup development expenses • Game interfaces can inform the interface design of productivity applications: – Human-computer interaction researchers and interface designers are looking at games – Game developers have produced creative solutions to several UI design challenges

Relevance of Research to Technical Communication

• TC practitioners have a wealth of relevant professional experience: – We know how to perform many tasks during the localization process – We bring cross-cultural awareness to a project – We understand complex ideas about users and audiences • TC practitioners can learn from game documentation: – Some game manuals have won competitions – Some games have integrated systems that offer innovative ideas for context-sensitive Help

Definitions of Translation, Globalization, and Localization

• Translation: straightforward language conversion • Globalization: one product fits nearly all • Localization: altering a product so it suits a specific country or region – Goes beyond translation – Often deals with UI issues – Requires significant time and resources

Overview of Localization Process for Productivity Applications

• The user interface must be changed: – Icons may or may not need to be redrawn – Menu and message text must be translated – Documentation must also be translated • Cultural stereotypes must be removed: – Colloquialisms, slang, and potentially offensive terms and images must be changed

Localization: How is the process different for digital games?

Overview of Localization Process for Digital Games

• User interface • Stereotypes • Storyline or narrative • Ratings, violence, and the issue of local law

UI and Stereotypes in Digital Games

• The user interface must be changed: – Icons may or may not need to be redrawn – Menu and message text must be translated – Documentation must also be translated • Cultural stereotypes must be removed: – Gender, race, and other game design factors require close examination – Heroes/enemies might need realignment

Storyline and Violence in Digital Games

• The storyline might need some revision: – The application defines the user’s goals – Certain types of narratives or settings are not necessarily appropriate for certain cultures • The game rating is an important factor in certain countries: – Germany and South Korea have more stringent rules on violence – The EU has adopted a general rating system – Plan for green blood and robots!

Digital Game Localization: Three Levels of Cost and Time Required

• Basic localization: – The game retains its original GUI and icons, leaving only the text to be translated • Complex localization: – The GUI and icons must be translated along with the text • Blending: – The narrative is rewritten and the graphics are recreated to match the interests of a different culture – The UI and icons might be changed or they might remain the same

Basic Digital Game Localization: A Bad Example

• Avoid the “all your base” syndrome:  Good text translation makes a difference

Basic Digital Game Localization: A Better Example

• Final Fantasy:  The story holds the appeal; players are willing to learn the game as they play it

Complex Digital Game Localization: A Good Example

• Crash Bandicoot: –The Japanese press predicted failure… –…900,000 copies sold, spawning a few successful sequels

Complex Digital Game Localization: A Few More Good Examples

• Sierra had to alter Half Life for audiences around the world: – Robots replaced human enemies – Blood changed from red to green – Gamers bought it anyway, despite age restrictions and less violent content • The list of successful international games is quite long (Starcraft, Age of Empires, etc.)

Digital Game Blending: A Good Example

• Legend of Darkness is a Korean game: – The developers redesigned the story and gameplay for a US audience: • More emphasis on role-playing, politics, and religion • Added elements of “Gaelic and Lovecraftian horror” – The result (Dark Ages) remains successful in the US • However, not all games are suitable for blending: – The appeal of the Harry Potter series is in the original storyline and characters – The same is true of sports, movie-based, and other literature-based titles

Digital Games Localization Model and a Case Study in China

Quan Zhou

(Chwen Joe)

, TC Ph.D. student

Game Localization: Unique Characteristics of Games

• Three Aspects of Digital Games to Consider: – Games are a cultural product, and they are influenced by the cultural background of the designers.

– The external environment of games is unique (to the entertainment sector).

– Digital games’ target audience is unique (to the entertainment sector).

–

Digital game localization relates to various characteristics, both inside the game, and out in the real (non-game) world.

A Three Dimensional Approach

• Dimension 1: In-Game Environment: includes factors embedded in the game and that are developed during game design.

• Dimension 2: External Environment: includes external factors such as social issues, political issues, legal issues, ideological issues.

• Dimension 3: Users: includes cultural background of players, conventions, game-playing contexts, attitudes and habits towards games, the role of games in everyday life.

Digital Games in China

• China's online gaming industry: sales revenue of 1.3 billion Yuan (about 157 million US dollars) in 2003; more than 13.8 million online players • In 2003, online game software development plan written into "863 High-Tech Program" • “Koreanization”: More than 70% digital games in China from South Korea.

• Top 10 game ranking: 80% Asian games, 50% Korean games, few western countries, U.S. being the only one on the list this week. (World of Warcraft).

Case Studies

• Less popular and failed games in China • Successful games in China • EverQuest case • Localization issues beyond China

Project IGI2: Covert Strike

• Game produced by Norway-based Innerloop Studios AS • “intentionally blackening China and the Chinese army's image as a freelance mercenary fights in the game across three linked campaigns in the former Soviet Union, Libya and China, where he steals intelligence and conducts sabotage in China and shoots at China's soldiers while China's national flag and signs like "China Aviation" pop up frequently”

Soccer Manager 2005

• “Contained content that harmed China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and violated Chinese law (MSNBC). Any Web site that offered downloads of the game would be fined up to 10,000 Yuan ($1,210)”

Hearts of Iron II

• Swedish-made computer game • Banned in China for "distorting history and damaging China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," the Ministry of Culture (MOC). • Claimed to “severely distort historical facts and violate China's gaming and Internet service regulations.” • “"Manchuria", "West Xinjiang", and "Tibet" appeared as independent sovereign countries in the maps of the game.” • Included Taiwan as the territory of Japan at the beginning of the game.

Command and Conquer Generals: Zero Hour Expansion

• Game produced by Electronic Arts (EA) • Banned in 2003 for "smearing the image of China and the Chinese army," according to the state news agency. • 50 other games banned: pirate copies, “negative influence” on young people, pornography

Successful Games: Lineage, Ro

• Korean games

Corum (Korean)

World of Warcraft

• U.S. game • No. 1 this week

EverQuest vs. Mu

•

EverQuest

ranks high in the Western digital market for MMORPGs; the top two digital games in the Chinese market are

Lineage

and

Mu

with 2 million and 5 million subscribers each.

•

EverQuest

was initially not on the TOP 10 list • Improved

EverQuest II

: oriental/Asian version

EverQuest oriental version EverQuest western original

Localization Evolution: EverQuest US vs. Asia

Localization Evolution

Localization Evolution

Beyond China

• U.S.A.

– The governor of Washington state recently signed a bill “that bans the sale of certain violent video games to minors”; video games that contain

a specific type

of violence – News Tribune reports that House Bill 1009 makes it a civil violation to sell or rent to youths under age 17 video games

that graphically depict violence against law enforcement officers

; fine up to $500.

Beyond China

• Europe – Similar bans on violence in Greece and Germany:

Return to Castle Wolfenstein

caused Germany's government to call for the removal of Nazi characters from the game.

Activision

's homepage with a warning.

• Australia

Localization of Games

• Three-dimension approach reflected through the examined facts. • Not at the end, but at the beginning

Engagement & Motivation

• Mark Chen, PhD student in Education • Elisabeth Cuddihy, PhD student in TC • Eliana Medina, PhD student in Education

Modeling Engagement

• What are the aspects that make a game engaging?

• Engagement:

The psychological state caused by strong focus of attention in which one is drawn into the game.

• Our working model of engagement draws upon: – Flow Theory (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) • Flow: The state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter & they are highly motivated – Presence Theory (Virtual Reality research) • Presence: The sense of being inside a virtual reality.

– Narrative theory from film & drama, social computing, emerging theories from games research.

Engagement Model for Digital Gaming

Interface Usability Interface Fidelity Personal Identification

Engagement

Attention, Task Performance, & Motivation Personal Interest Social Relationships

Interface

Usability

Fidelity

How do the hardware & software UI affect engagement during game play?

• Good system responsiveness

Engagement

• Appropriate & effective choice of hardware and software user interface Attention, Task Performance, & Motivation Personal Interest Personal Identification Social Relationships

System Responsiveness & Appropriate UI

• Will gaming input devices work on target platform? • Will the target game platform have enough memory if translated text is larger in size?

• Does the game engine have full support for 16 bit UNICODE fonts?

Predictable UI Interaction

Some things to check: • Do the icons use metaphors that require cultural knowledge to understand and may be misunderstood?

– Metaphors from western fairy tales (e.g.,

Warcraft III’s

hex spell uses a frog icon) • Is the color symbolism meaningful or counter intuitive for the target culture?

Interface

Usability

Fidelity

What is the quality of the audio, graphs, and animation/video?

Personal Identification • Can be understood by the players

Engagement

• Can be enjoyed by the players • Does not detract from game play Attention, Task Performance, Personal & Motivation Interest Social Relationships

Moderators of Interface Fidelity Inaudible voices, unfamiliar accents Clearly audible voices Jittery video or animation Subtitles

Interface Fidelity

Smooth graphics Poor or distorted audio Key: Distraction Reinforcement Readable fonts, clear graphics Text/graphics do not fit on screen

Interface Usability Attention, Task Performance, & Motivation

Personal

Fidelity

Identification

Is the player able to identify with the games rules, customs, & world?

• Able to project oneself into the game

Engagement

• Able to accept the game world as real while playing Personal Interest Social Relationships

Indentification with Game World

• Does the game world help or hinder a player’s ability to project oneself into the game?

• Is the environment culturally accepted? Culturally understandable?

– Levels of sex and violence – Selection of music and graphics – Costumes and character (avatar) appearance – References to religion, mythology, and pop-culture • Consider using cultural notes (popular in manga and anime)

Interface Usability Interface Fidelity

What elements in the game could distract the player’s attention, or affect task performance and motivation?

knowledge and the information presented in the game

Performance, & Motivation

Interest • Deficient character voice-over Personal Identification Social Relationships

Moderators of Attention, T.P., & Motivation Geopolitical Conflict Challenge/Skills Religious Conflict Specific Goals Key: Distraction Voice Over deficiency Reinforcement

Attention, Task Performance & Motivation

Control Clear Feedback Difficulty with Translation

Geopolitical Conflict

Religious Conflict

Language Issues

Language Issues “Awesome, guy” = “Vientos, Güey!” “I love you, guy” = “Te quiero, mano” “Great Honor” = “Gran Honor” “You guys suck” = “Ustedes son unas maletas” “Game” = ”Partido” “It's pretty big” = “Va a ser muy númeroso” “Hunters, prepare for combat” = “Cazas, prepárense para el combate”

Interface Usability Fidelity

Does the game match the player’s interests?

Personal Identification • Genre, content, theme, characters

Engagement

• Desire to play more • Involved in game community (hints, Attention, Task Performance,

Personal

& Motivation

Interest

Social Relationships

Interface Usability Attention, Task Performance, & Motivation

Social Relationships

Interface Personal

Does the game support socializing?

Fidelity Identification • Does the genre have an established game culture?

Engagement

are the meanings of the game’s narrative, characters, etc?

• Will people from different regions

Social

Interest

Relationships

• To what extent can the game be modified by users?

Moderators of Social Relationships Game culture conflict Strong social network Weak social network Websites and forums

Social Relationships

Mods, etc.

No established game culture Key: Distraction Reinforcement Easy to communicate in-game No way to communicate in-game

• Each genre of game has a culture(s) of gamers associated with the genre. • Each game within a genre can have its own micro-culture.

• These cultures have social norms and are embedded within social networks.

A Stereotypical Gamer

But Actually Not Alone

• Strength of a person’s social network is a huge factor of whether that person stays with the game.

• Localization of a game might – disenfranchise players if they think they are getting a lesser version – change the social dynamic that would normally occur • In addition to regional cultures, there is the game culture to consider.

•strategy •quest help •IC posts •coordination •etc.

Online Forums

A guild is a group of players who have officially banded together

Mods, machinima, fan art, etc.

To Sum Up…

• Engagement comes from – elements of the game (Dimension 1) – relationship between the game and the player (Dimension 2) – relationships among players mediated in and out of the game (Dimension 3)

Engagement Model

Interface Usability Interface Fidelity Personal Identification

Engagement

Attention, Task Performance, & Motivation Personal Interest Social Relationships

Digital Gaming Research Group Dept. of Technical Communication University of Washington http://depts.washington.edu/diggames Materials in this presentation for educational use only