Industry-academia synergies for game translation user research

Abstract

Video games are commercial and artistic creations whose immense popularity and ever-growing success contemporarily hinge on the world-wide distribution of access and the user-tailored experience. This resulted in specialised pipelines in the gaming sector for user-centred quality control that is well-documented and long-problematised in various academic fields. However, the experiencing of target texts–despite entire userbases relying on them–is not as robustly reflected in scholarly works, nor in practical applications. This paper integrates two discernible perspectives to signal the emergence of a more systematic and less fragmented initiative that we refer to as Game Translation User Research (GTUR). We consider the affordances and constraints of user-centric approaches drawing on netnography, userbase surveying, and telemetry, in each case seeking the convergence of Academia, Industry, and Users to result in synergies that can be broadly beneficial. The discussion is based on scholarly literature and cases from the current industry practices.