Game and Marketing - Censorship Issues
Because of various cultural elements that a specific to a place or territory, a video game, already released in some places and that looks absolutely acceptable in one place might be disregarded as unacceptable once released in a new territory. This is a good reason to thin that localization - as opposed to just straight translation - is necessary for computer and consoles games.
But one seemingly simple yet relatively deep and complicated question has always bothered me: when does localization cross the line of censorship? And is that something one should accept?
I decided to explain my complaint here, after another game marketing blog raised the flag.
In order to illustrate my thoughts, Yakuza 3 on PS3 shows well how thin the frontier between censorship and localization can be. The game was heavily criticized by gamers who suspect the localizerd edited or removed significant game elements.
Now the question is: do all of these elements actually required to be changed? Isn't that just based on a stereotype that American gamers tend to be more religious and concerned about nudity and violence? I assume that someone purchasing the third installment in a game series would normally have a pretty good idea as to what kind of content they were getting into, especially with a series such as Yakuza, which is relatively well-known. The games even receive ratings similar to films, giving the consumer an even better idea of what the game in question contains.
Now if you look at it, most gamers actually are adult and will absolutely not care to find certain elements. In fact, their absence may come as a huge disappointment for them and alter their gaming experience. So should developers think a little more about what public they are targetting, or just assume anyone may buy the game by accident, and thus edit it?.
Game marketing should be given more consideration, and before censoring, developers should rather listen to their gamers at first.
But one seemingly simple yet relatively deep and complicated question has always bothered me: when does localization cross the line of censorship? And is that something one should accept?
I decided to explain my complaint here, after another game marketing blog raised the flag.
In order to illustrate my thoughts, Yakuza 3 on PS3 shows well how thin the frontier between censorship and localization can be. The game was heavily criticized by gamers who suspect the localizerd edited or removed significant game elements.
Now the question is: do all of these elements actually required to be changed? Isn't that just based on a stereotype that American gamers tend to be more religious and concerned about nudity and violence? I assume that someone purchasing the third installment in a game series would normally have a pretty good idea as to what kind of content they were getting into, especially with a series such as Yakuza, which is relatively well-known. The games even receive ratings similar to films, giving the consumer an even better idea of what the game in question contains.
Now if you look at it, most gamers actually are adult and will absolutely not care to find certain elements. In fact, their absence may come as a huge disappointment for them and alter their gaming experience. So should developers think a little more about what public they are targetting, or just assume anyone may buy the game by accident, and thus edit it?.
Game marketing should be given more consideration, and before censoring, developers should rather listen to their gamers at first.
