The importance of language

[Farohna.6247]

6 hours ago, Loic.9657 said:

Playing an MMO takes a lot of time.
Everyone's time is limited.
Now technology is advanced and information is transmitted rapidly.
If there is an MMORPG in the future that really has all the goodies it should have (Ashes of creation?), if it really promises to design such a game.
Then the rest of the MMORPG market will slowly die and be phased out.
And this is just one game, if there are other potential masterpieces ready to launch, there must be.
If you want to live, you have to win.
With this mentality, you can achieve the longevity and survival you said.
I suggest that you travel more around the world after the epidemic is over, you will understand that the well-known MMORPG is not only known by the people who play it, but really known by the public.

One could argue that WoW at its peak should have crushed everything else in the market.  Everyone else aspired to have that level of success.  Yet games persevered, found niches, new storytelling or gameplay styles, and the MMO market continues. You don't have to be number one.  GW2 is in the top ten roundup for popular MMOs. 

While I'm sure that GW2 would love to have 12 million active players, I'm sure they've researched what they want to do and the markets they want to reach or the ones that would favor them.  As mentioned, it's been discussed in the forums a myriad of times and while each voice is worth being heard, it's very very unlikely to change.

[Tukaram.8256]

It is a 10 year old game, with pretty much no advertising.  I do not think available languages are really the problem. 😎

[Loic.9657]

16 minutes ago, Farohna.6247 said:

One could argue that WoW at its peak should have crushed everything else in the market.  Everyone else aspired to have that level of success.  Yet games persevered, found niches, new storytelling or gameplay styles, and the MMO market continues. You don't have to be number one.  GW2 is in the top ten roundup for popular MMOs. 

While I'm sure that GW2 would love to have 12 million active players, I'm sure they've researched what they want to do and the markets they want to reach or the ones that would favor them.  As mentioned, it's been discussed in the forums a myriad of times and while each voice is worth being heard, it's very very unlikely to change.

Indeed WOW crushed the market at its peak.
They transformed the game into a culture, supported the languages and regions of various countries and brought players from all over the world together to share the majesty of the WOW worldview.

[kharmin.7683]

2 minutes ago, Loic.9657 said:

Indeed WOW crushed the market at its peak.
They transformed the game into a culture, supported the languages and regions of various countries and brought players from all over the world together to share the majesty of the WOW worldview.

They are also a much larger studio with presumably a significantly larger budget supported by a subscription model.  Let's not try to compare games which are significantly different.

[Loic.9657]

9 minutes ago, Tukaram.8256 said:

It is a 10 year old game, with pretty much no advertising.  I do not think available languages are really the problem. 😎

That's right.
It really isn't a problem when your native language is one of the supported languages, or if you're fluent in one of the four.
They really don't have any ads, so they want to promote themselves on steam as an advertising means.

[Luthan.5236]

In fact ... I think it is the opposite: "Only" supporting 4 languages avoids splitting the playerbase too much. (Which is - especially in some game modes - not tooo high.) Also makes it easier to update the game - translation costs  money as well. (And if ... then more languages would only be possible with subtitles and text - not voice acting. That would be way tooo expensive.)

For the smaller languages (not that many players) this makes most sense - they still can learn English though. Would not give a lot more income when trying to add as mall language and paying a lot for translation while only gaining a few more players.

+ the player base and target audience is older I guess. A lot know English. (I am from Germany and I mainly play English even though we still have the translated version - prefer this for chat ingame to know all the English terms and have the English UI).

Only for the major asian languages like Chinese ... yeah here it might make sense to offer 1 version - to get a lot of players from that big country with the huge population. But I think they just are okay with the current system. (Own company there cause the Chinese market has different needs. I think they have the content monetized in a different way.)

Sorry but I can't see them making any big changes here. Best would be to look for a guild where maybe people of a specific foreign language are organized. Trying to learn a bit English + talking with the guild ingame in your local language and maybe getting some help and explanations.

Same like with the korean grind games where sometimes people try to translate tutorials on how to register - for western people. Where they are only available in asian. (At least until someone publishes them in the west.)

Edited May 9, 2022 by Luthan.5236

[Loic.9657]

22 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

They are also a much larger studio with presumably a significantly larger budget supported by a subscription model.  Let's not try to compare games which are significantly different.

That's true, WOW has 10 times the staff size of GW2.
But at least it should try to supports a little more of the languages spoken by most of the world.

Edited May 9, 2022 by Loic.9657

[Loic.9657]

13 minutes ago, Luthan.5236 said:

In fact ... I think it is the opposite: "Only" supporting 4 languages avoids splitting the playerbase too much. (Which is - especially in some game modes - not tooo high.) Also makes it easier to update the game - translation costs  money as well. (And if ... then more languages would only be possible with subtitles and text - not voice acting. That would be way tooo expensive.)

For the smaller languages (not that many players) this makes most sense - they still can learn English though. Would not give a lot more income when trying to add as mall language and paying a lot for translation while only gaining a few more players.

+ the player base and target audience is older I guess. A lot know English. (I am from Germany and I mainly play English even though we still have the translated version - prefer this for chat ingame to know all the English terms and have the English UI).

Only for the major asian languages like Chinese ... yeah here it might make sense to offer 1 version - to get a lot of players from that big country with the huge population. But I think they just are okay with the current system. (Own company there cause the Chinese market has different needs. I think they have the content monetized in a different way.)

Sorry but I can't see them making any big changes here. Best would be to look for a guild where maybe people of a specific foreign language are organized. Trying to learn a bit English + talking with the guild ingame in your local language and maybe getting some help and explanations.

Same like with the korean grind games where sometimes people try to translate tutorials on how to register - for western people. Where they are only available in asian. (At least until someone publishes them in the west.)

I agree with what you said in the previous paragraph, it may be their point of view strategy.
But like you said at the end, if an Asian game doesn't have English (like before lost ark has English server), will the game be famous and many westerners play it?
No, it won't.
Was FF14 the best game in the world before the English server came out?
No, it's not.
Although a small number of Westerners will go to korean server to play, but after all, it is a minority, and it will not last long, most of them are just to experience.
The language gap between the Western world and the Eastern world is a fact that lies there.
Many Asians are very unfamiliar with English.

[Freya.9075]

Oh my. This turned sour real fast. i better throw my two cents in before it’s closed. 👀

While more languages would be good to have, it’s not needed. I know ppl who learned English through gaming. Even I did when I was younger and it broaden my knowledge of the language. 

[mythical.6315]

57 minutes ago, Loic.9657 said:

Was FF14 the best game in the world before the English server came out?

I don’t see that game having separate release dates so try again. 

[kharmin.7683]

52 minutes ago, Freya.9075 said:

Oh my. This turned sour real fast. i better throw my two cents in before it’s closed. 👀

While more languages would be good to have, it’s not needed. I know ppl who learned English through gaming. Even I did when I was younger and it broaden my knowledge of the language. 

I'd wager that you may have a better grasp of English than many native speakers!

[Nash.2681]

38 minutes ago, Luthan.5236 said:

In fact ... I think it is the opposite: "Only" supporting 4 languages avoids splitting the playerbase too much. (Which is - especially in some game modes - not tooo high.) Also makes it easier to update the game - translation costs  money as well. (And if ... then more languages would only be possible with subtitles and text - not voice acting. That would be way tooo expensive.)

For the smaller languages (not that many players) this makes most sense - they still can learn English though. Would not give a lot more income when trying to add as mall language and paying a lot for translation while only gaining a few more players.

+ the player base and target audience is older I guess. A lot know English. (I am from Germany and I mainly play English even though we still have the translated version - prefer this for chat ingame to know all the English terms and have the English UI).

Only for the major asian languages like Chinese ... yeah here it might make sense to offer 1 version - to get a lot of players from that big country with the huge population. But I think they just are okay with the current system. (Own company there cause the Chinese market has different needs. I think they have the content monetized in a different way.)

Sorry but I can't see them making any big changes here. Best would be to look for a guild where maybe people of a specific foreign language are organized. Trying to learn a bit English + talking with the guild ingame in your local language and maybe getting some help and explanations.

Same like with the korean grind games where sometimes people try to translate tutorials on how to register - for western people. Where they are only available in asian. (At least until someone publishes them in the west.)

Sums it up very well, especially the first paragraph.

What's still beyond me- what's so bad about learning at least basic english? It benefits you in so many ways, be it for international business, for holidays or just for using the internet- english is used almost everywhere and often the smallest common denominator when it comes to languages. Yet some think it's a bad thing when a game just has few costly localizations instead of taking the opportunity to learn some english while playing.

(and before false accusations kick in: I'm not a native english speaker myself)

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

1 hour ago, Loic.9657 said:

Indeed WOW crushed the market at its peak.
They transformed the game into a culture, supported the languages and regions of various countries and brought players from all over the world together to share the majesty of the WOW worldview.

And where are they now?  Did they remove languages?  Is that the issue?

[Lion.6590]

I do wish there was at least a Portuguese language in the game, it doesn't changes absolutely anything for me, but with EoD I saw a lot of GW2 ads on Facebook in Portuguese and most of the complaints was that there was no actually Portuguese translation of the game.

[Loic.9657]

34 minutes ago, Nash.2681 said:

Sums it up very well, especially the first paragraph.

What's still beyond me- what's so bad about learning at least basic english? It benefits you in so many ways, be it for international business, for holidays or just for using the internet- english is used almost everywhere and often the smallest common denominator when it comes to languages. Yet some think it's a bad thing when a game just has few costly localizations instead of taking the opportunity to learn some english while playing.

(and before false accusations kick in: I'm not a native english speaker myself)

I was a businessman who traded between Asia and U.S.

 I can speak both Mandarin and English(although not quite well as westerns),  so I totally agree that learning English is a good thing.
But here is the thing, part of asian agree this opinion, others are not. (especially Japanese)
The population and the market in Asia is too big that they actually don't need it, which according the international business you said.
Will you be willing to learn Chinese because 1/5 of the world's population is using it?
The highest chance of meeting someone who speaks Chinese if you travel around the world.
If you won't, maybe you should stop thinking logic from western point of view, but from world.

[Fuchslein.8639]

21 hours ago, Linken.6345 said:

Its about people who speak chinese and dont live in china so they cant play on those servers I think.

And this is region-locked? Or why can't they play this?

------

This guy reminds me of someone else here on the forum who calls other people nerds when he feels attacked. Attacking people but wanting a normal discussion is something.

Edited May 9, 2022 by Fuchslein.8639

[Loic.9657]

1 minute ago, Fuchslein.8639 said:

And this is region-locked? Or why can't they play this?

Policy factors.
WOW also operates through agents in China.

[Farohna.6247]

14 minutes ago, Loic.9657 said:

I was a businessman who traded between Asia and U.S.

 I can speak both Mandarin and English(although not quite well as westerns),  so I totally agree that learning English is a good thing.
But here is the thing, part of asian agree this opinion, others are not. (especially Japanese)
The population and the market in Asia is too big that they actually don't need it, which according the international business you said.
Will you be willing to learn Chinese because 1/5 of the world's population is using it?
The highest chance of meeting someone who speaks Chinese if you travel around the world.
If you won't, maybe you should stop thinking logic from western point of view, but from world.

The big issue there is that English is an easier language to learn.  It would be fantastic to have it available in Mandarin and other languages.  WoW has ten languages last I knew, which makes GW2 proportionate for the amount of staff and resources available.  

Again, the game's biggest issue is lack of advertising to hype it, not limited languages.  

[Fuchslein.8639]

26 minutes ago, Loic.9657 said:

Policy factors.
WOW also operates through agents in China.

But why should anet put a language in a western game, when this game already has a version in the country the language you want?

I understand the wanting of this. But i don't see any logic why anet should do this. You of all people, as a businessman, should be aware of this. 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Fuchslein.8639

[daesz.2439]

2 hours ago, Loic.9657 said:

That's true, WOW has 10 times the staff size of GW2.
But at least it should try to supports a little more of the languages spoken by most of the world.

Retail wow is 90% bots.

Also, english is not even my 2nd language and i am playing GW since faction/2007 (following since 2005, but couldnt buy a physical copy of the first game in my country prior faction release).

With only spanish and english - anet covered like 30%(if not more) of the world population. 

Even if anet/gw2 add a few smaller languages (including my native one, for example) - ill keep playing it in english (which (remimder) is not even my 2nd language).

 

Summary: i dont think languages are the reason, more like proper advertisement.

[seitensei.6189]

Chinese support outside for a Chinese operator is a moot point: the largest populations of overseas Chinese live in English or European speaking countries, including Singapore.

 

The largest Chinese populations outside of Mainland China that only speak Chinese are in Chinese SARs like Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau. They all have Chinese citizenship and access to the mainland services.

[Loic.9657]

34 minutes ago, Fuchslein.8639 said:

But why should anet put a language in a western game, when this game already has a version in the country the language you want?

I understand the wanting of this. But i don't see any logic why anet should do this. You of all people, as a businessman, should be aware of this. 

Maybe you should read my article carefully.
I never said it was my demand.
But a few people's replies obviously didn't understand the situation, all they do is put an confused emotion, so I not feel like to answer.

[Loic.9657]

19 minutes ago, seitensei.6189 said:

Chinese support outside for a Chinese operator is a moot point: the largest populations of overseas Chinese live in English or European speaking countries, including Singapore.

 

The largest Chinese populations outside of Mainland China that only speak Chinese are in Chinese SARs like Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau. They all have Chinese citizenship and access to the mainland services.

Nope, that's not true..
Basically China does not share the same treatment as other so-called China Special Administrative Regions (including game services)
And Chinese nationality needs to be apply for and meet its conditions, if you aren't Chinese who borned in China.
Not everyone has it.

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Loic.9657

[Loic.9657]

59 minutes ago, Fuchslein.8639 said:

And this is region-locked? Or why can't they play this?

------

This guy reminds me of someone else here on the forum who calls other people nerds when he feels attacked. Attacking people but wanting a normal discussion is something.

So you think wrapping sarcasm replies nicely is far friendlier than the word nerd, right?
I notice that you are used to spending a lot of time doing interesting replies under others articles.
Why not try to put forward a point of view in the game for everyone to discuss by yourself?
That way you'll be sure to understand everyone who leaves a message is something.

[Fuchslein.8639]

7 minutes ago, Loic.9657 said:

So you think wrapping sarcasm replies nicely is far friendlier than the word nerd, right?
I notice that you are used to spending a lot of time doing interesting replies under others articles.
Why not try to put forward a point of view in the game for everyone to discuss by yourself?
That way you'll be sure to understand everyone who leaves a message is something.

I just asked questions? How is this not putting forward points? Just because you don't like a replie, don't make them less valuable.

And yes, sorry, when someone insults other or me i often get sarcastic. I don't like to insult people, but i also don't like to comfort them :). I saw your'e deleted post's. I thought you wanted to move on from this when you don't relpied to my sarcasm so i try'd to also answer mannered. So like above, just because you don't like an answer makes it less valuable.

So, have a nice day.