34.2075, Review: On-Screen Language in Video Games

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-34-2075. Thu Jun 29 2023. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 34.2075, Review: On-Screen Language in Video Games

Moderators: Malgorzata E. Cavar, Francis Tyers (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Managing Editor: Justin Fuller
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Steven Franks, Everett Green, Daniel Swanson, Maria Lucero Guillen Puon, Zackary Leech, Lynzie Coburn, Natasha Singh, Erin Steitz
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
           https://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

Editor for this issue: Maria Lucero Guillen Puon <luceroguillen at linguistlist.org>
================================================================


Date: 18-May-2023
From: Troy Spier [tspier2 at gmail.com]
Subject: Applied Linguistics, Language Acquisition, Translation: Deckert, Hejduk (2022) 


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/34.448

AUTHOR: Mikołaj Deckert
AUTHOR: Krzysztof Hejduk
TITLE: On-Screen Language in Video Games
SUBTITLE: A Translation Perspective
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2022

REVIEWER: Troy Spier

SUMMARY

At approximately one-hundred pages in length, “On-Screen Language in
Video Games” presents a (primarily) corpus-based analysis of the
on-screen language present in the Polish-language versions of two
video games, viz. Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 and Shadow Warrior 2. To
this end, this book is divided into nine chapters and framed within
three thematic sections. These chapters vary greatly in length (from
one page to eighteen pages), but the three larger sections are
remarkably cohesive, corresponding roughly to (a) the introduction and
literature review; (2) the methodology, data presentation, and
analysis; and (3) the discussion of those results, implications of the
study, and areas for future research. The introduction outlines the
goals of the book and presents the general outline of the book
alongside a rationale for the study itself.
The first section is entitled “Video Games: The Potential for
On-Screen Language and Translation” and contains three chapters.
Chapter 1 opens with a discussion of the key terminology used
throughout the book, beginning with ‘On-Screen Language’ (OSL),
characterized as visual-verbal, in that it audiovisually represents
real-world language. As the authors are interested primarily in the
types of OSL that impact and/or represent the narrative itself, a
distinction is made between diegetic and non-diegetic elements on the
screen. In the case of a first-person shooter (FPS) video game, the
former might arise through the presence of a banner or sign on a
building, while the latter might be found in a distance-from-location
indicator or the level of remaining ammunition. The chapter closes
with further exemplification of this distinction and engages in a
brief discussion concerning the prominence, salience, and/or
liminality of particular instances of OSL. Chapter 2 presents
background information on the economic impact and significance of the
global gaming industry before shifting to a discussion on the types of
beliefs people have about video games. For instance, the authors state
that video games have been incorrectly identified as promoting
age-inappropriate behaviors, including violence and substance abuse,
but also note that the industry has a history of inclusivity,
heterogeneity, and utility. To this end, they note that video games
are increasingly accessible to those with impairments, the larger
gaming community includes professionals and lay-people alike, and the
playing of video games can actually have positive benefits for users.
Finally, this chapter foregrounds the most salient characteristics of
video games, contrasting these with those of books and movies. Chapter
3 discusses the importance of localization and analogizes the process
for video games to that of other software, indicating that this is
simultaneously more than simply a text-based translation, but also
should be fully contained and offer users an identical experience,
albeit in a different language than the original version of the
program–or, in this case, the video game. The authors note that
sociocultural, historical, political, and legal issues may arise
during this process, too.
The second section is entitled “Mapping Out OSL Functions and Facets”
and contains five chapters. Chapter 4 introduces the methodological
approach utilized in the present study, explaining to the reader that
almost one-hundred hours of gameplay resulted in a corpus of over
one-thousand unique instances of OSL (or ‘elements’ in the authors’
words), the data for which come directly from Tom Clancy’s The
Division 2 (2019) and Shadow Warrior 2 (2016). The criteria under
which each element is identified are also defined according to form
and function. Finally, the chapter closes by noting that the results
are also contextualized by additional information gleaned from a
semi-structured interview undertaken with Michał Mazur, one of the
creators of Shadow Warrior 2. Chapter 5 offers a three-level
taxonomy–based both on the in-game location and also on typographical
features–for the OSL attested, arguing that each instance under
consideration can be described as prototypically prominent,
non-prototypically prominent, or liminally prominent. Chapter 6
presents exemplars from both games and discusses their relationship to
world-building, narrative-construction, and cultural aspects. To this
end, the images engage more serious and playful aspects of each, such
as the clear frustration expressed in “AIR FARCE GONE” in Tom Clancy’s
The Division 2 and the word-play of “FREAK / IN / CHAOS” in Shadow
Warrior 2. Chapter 7 offers a more focused analysis of particular
instances of OSL, examining those that are humorous in nature, those
that ‘speak’ directly to the player, and those that offer in-game,
eggcorn-style messages from the programmers (e.g. the presence of
binary code). Finally, the presence of numerous other languages is
considered, particularly the usage of Polish, ‘Mock’ English (e.g.
‘The Metropolis Tajms’), and other languages. Chapter 8 emphasizes the
more technologically-oriented aspects by highlighting the differences
between static and dynamic OSL, analogizing these to the diegetic and
non-diegetic distinction. Moreover, these are illustrated through OSL
exemplars that provide guidance for completion of the task; prompts
that provide hints, solutions, puzzles, and riddles; advertisements
for fictional, yet analogous, companies; etc. It is also within this
chapter that the interview with Mazur features.
The third section is entitled “Meaningful Mismatches: Findings and
Future Developments” and contains one chapter. Chapter 9 concludes the
book by offering a summary of the findings of the study. In
particular, OSL is employed for three principal purposes, viz. to
create a more realistic experience for the player, to establish and
maintain a convincing narrative for gameplay, and to provide a source
of entertainment for the player. Next, the authors note that future
areas of research might include the (perceived) obligatoriness of OSL,
whether the process of localization could be incorporated into an
earlier stage in game development, how the four gameplay preferences
(i.e. exploration, socialization, domination, and achievement-seeking)
contribute to and are affected by OSL, etc., before ultimately arguing
that “untranslated OSL creates potential for cross-cultural and
cross-linguistic meaning construction and experience asymmetry” (p.
76).

EVALUATION

Building upon the previous research of both authors, “On-Screen
Language in Video Games” accomplishes the objectives established in
the introduction and advances the goal of Cambridge Elements more
broadly to present “original, concise, authoritative, and
peer-reviewed scholarly and scientific research.” Despite the
editorial limitations concerning length, the authors masterfully–and,
perhaps, even enviably through such extensive gameplay–developed a
corpus of over one-thousand unique instances of OSL, approximately one
hundred of which featured in the analysis offered in the second
section, which alone accounted for approximately one-half of the
overall length. Indeed, the inclusion of images greatly assists in the
reader’s understanding of the semeiosis under investigation, and the
comparison between OSL in both Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 and Shadow
Warrior 2 was quite interesting.
However, there are a few areas where this book could be improved.
First, far too much space is dedicated at the beginning of the book to
defining and defending the merits of video games; on the other hand,
other topics that are later addressed do not receive sufficient
coverage in the literature review, leading to a situation where some
of the technical information remains inaccessible to those who are
less technologically literate but equally interested in video games,
e.g. the conversation about specific data types, texture modification,
software vs. hardware interaction, etc. Second, although the defense
of video games would seem to be unnecessary in an academic text of
this nature, such a defense ended up becoming (somewhat) apologetic,
seemingly insisting that video games are overwhelmingly positive with
very few shortcomings or negative consequences, a position that does
not have broad consensus and which depends greatly on a variety of
game- and player-specific factors (cf. Ferguson 2007). Third, in
discussing the extralinguistic factors (e.g. the sociocultural and
political) behind OSL, there was a missed opportunity to conceptualize
the corpus along the lines of an electronic (ethno)linguistic
landscape (see e.g. Landry and Bourhis 1997, Gorter 2018, and
Pevčíková and Pecníková 2021). If the designers of the game intended
to (re)produce an environment as realistic as possible to everyday
life within these fictional worlds, then it would stand to reason that
the linguistic landscape might reflect or reify that reality. Finally,
the prominence taxonomy constructed by the authors has real potential,
but a few points still remain unclear. In particular, if a
prototypically prominent instance of OSL depends on the size,
legibility, and color of the text, in addition to their “placement in
locations that the player is expected to or required to visit,” then
how does one define and contrast these typographical features
concretely while also determining beforehand the actions of the
player? For instance, if a player ignores the directions provided in a
tutorial or from an in-game hint/clue, can one still define the OSL as
prototypically prominent? Similarly, if a billboard contains text in a
large font that can be ‘read’ from a distance through the usage of a
rifle equipped with a scope, can this be characterized as
prototypically prominent–or only as such when the player is close
enough to the billboard to see it without special equipment? On the
other hand, what impact does this trifurcation of OSL have on the
player and/or whether the player is truly more likely to notice the
diegetic before the non-diegetic in all instances. For example, is the
player less likely to recognize his or her level of remaining
ammunition than s/he is to read the message on an in-game billboard?
Despite what this sequence of questions might suggest, the authors
have presented an incredibly timely and engaging text that ‘bridges’
the academic and non-academic by focusing on two first-person shooters
and by foregrounding an un(der)researched geographical and linguistic
area: Polish-language translations of popular video games.

REFERENCES

Ferguson, Christopher John. 2007. “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: A
Meta-Analytic Review of Positive and Negative Effects of Violent Video
Games.” Psychiatric Quarterly, 78: 309-316.

Gorter, Durk. 2018. “Methods and Techniques for Linguistic Landscape
Research: About Definitions, Core Issues and Technological
Innovations.” In Martin Pütz and Neele Mundt (eds), Expanding the
Linguistic Landscape: Linguistic Diversity, Multimodality and the Use
of Space as a Semiotic Resource, pp. 38-57. Bristol, UK: Multilingual
Matters.

Landry, Rodrigue and Richard Y. Bourhis. 1997. “Linguistic Landscape
and Ethnolinguistic Vitality: An Empirical Study.” Journal of Language
and Social Psychology, 16(1), 23-49.

Pevčíková, Jozefa and Jana Pecníková. 2021. “Video Game as a Simulated
Cultural Landscape.” In Ruslan Saduov and Aliya Saduova (eds),
Linguistic and Cultural Landscape: At the Crossroads of Research
Paradigms, pp. 160-177. Ufa, Russia: Bashkir State University.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Troy E. Spier is Assistant Professor of English and Linguistics at
Florida A&M University He earned his MA and Ph.D. in Linguistics at
Tulane University, his B.S.Ed. in English/Secondary Education at
Kutztown University, and a graduate certificate in Islamic Studies at
Dallas International University. His research interests include
language documentation and description, discourse analysis, corpus
linguistics, and linguistic landscapes.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please consider donating to the Linguist List https://give.myiu.org/iu-bloomington/I320011968.html


LINGUIST List is supported by the following publishers:

American Dialect Society/Duke University Press http://dukeupress.edu

Bloomsbury Publishing (formerly The Continuum International Publishing Group) http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/

Brill http://www.brill.com

Cambridge Scholars Publishing http://www.cambridgescholars.com/

Cambridge University Press http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics

Cascadilla Press http://www.cascadilla.com/

De Gruyter Mouton https://cloud.newsletter.degruyter.com/mouton

Dictionary Society of North America http://dictionarysociety.com/

Edinburgh University Press www.edinburghuniversitypress.com

Equinox Publishing Ltd http://www.equinoxpub.com/

European Language Resources Association (ELRA) http://www.elra.info

Georgetown University Press http://www.press.georgetown.edu

John Benjamins http://www.benjamins.com/

Lincom GmbH https://lincom-shop.eu/

Linguistic Association of Finland http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/sky/

MIT Press http://mitpress.mit.edu/

Multilingual Matters http://www.multilingual-matters.com/

Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG http://www.narr.de/

Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke (LOT) http://www.lotpublications.nl/

Oxford University Press http://www.oup.com/us

SIL International Publications http://www.sil.org/resources/publications

Springer Nature http://www.springer.com

Wiley http://www.wiley.com


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-34-2075
----------------------------------------------------------