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game should be understandable and easy to play. Toury (1995, p. 24) called this exception as the Skopos theory. Other than that, Mangiron introduced trasncreation or carte blanche that means ―the freedom granted to the translator, albeit within severe space limitations‖.
However, a good translating ability is not enough for the translators to apply carte blanche, especially in sim-ship kind of localization. The other components that the translators must possess are a good programming skill and the full-understanding about the gaming world. Furthermore, there is a skepticism in the quality of the Indonesian industry of game localization.
Assessment is really needed in the translation done by Indonesian Video Games Development to produce a marketable games.
In fact, game developers localized many aspects of video game (Merino, 2015) such as in-game text, voice over and cinematic (audio and video scripts), art (game logo, in- game texture embedded words, glossaries, and even the packaging and promotion.
However, in Indonesia, there is no game localized all of those aspects. One problem is the amount of money needed to localize those aspects is higher than the production cost itself. Another problem is the allotted time, since the sim-ship video games must be released as soon as the original video game launched.
From the point of view of translation, there are only two types of games based on the degree of freedom translators are given (Merino, 2007). Merino states, ―Effectively, some games require more research than creativity, and others require more creativity than research.‖ Video games very often draw on different elements of popular culture, such as films, literature, comic books or sports.
When this is the case, the text to be translated will require a proficient understanding of the
jargon used and an accurate rendering of that particular terminology for the locale. In a way, the best translators are like chameleons when it comes to changing tongues, because they can make their language blend in seamlessly with the right linguistic context. If the game is, for example, a rendering of Conan the Barbarian, as written by Robert E.
Howard, the first step for translators would be to acquaint themselves with the literary universe and the official translation of the books. There is no freedom in this case;
translators are constrained by pre-existing common knowledge and a body of fans with very specific expectations for the game universe and the way its inhabitants express themselves, etc.
Betraying those expectations with a translation that disregards the existing translated universe will probably result in discontent fans and poor sales. Translators will have to make use of their research skills, as well as their stylistic writing skills, so the text feels similar to something Howard might have written, had he been born in the translator‘s territory.
Related to all the reasons mentioned, the aims of this research are to justify the degree of freedom in adapting the carte blance strategy by the Indonesian translator in the translation of in-game text assets of MMORPG video game entitled Dragon Nest.
In-game Text Assets
There are 5 aspects in video game (Bernal- Merino, 2015), they are in-game text, voice over and cinematic (audio and video scripts), art (game logo, in-game texture embedded words, glossaries, and even the packaging and promotion. In this study, the researchers focus in analyzing the in-game text in the game. In game text assets is the assets of video game in form of texts that can be found inside the game. O‘Hagan and Mangiron (2013:155) explains further about in-game text in the table below:
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Table 1: In-game text assets proposed by O'Hagan and Mangiron (2013, p.155)
Relation to game world
Translation assets Text function and description
Non dia-getic User Inter-face Informative function for smooth navigation and gameplay.
Typically contains short text fragments
Non dia-getic Sys-tem Mes-sage Informative function for instructive pragmatic purposes.
Messages generated by the system, such as warning, instructions, and confirmation messages.
Dia-getic Narra-tive Text Expressive / informative function for imparting certain information in a dramatic manner. Literary passages used to engage the player in the game world or to a new level within the game. They contextualize and provide information about the game story, including a backstory.
Non dia-getic Expo-sition / tuto-rial Informative function with instructive and didactic messages. In- game tutorials may be used to explain game mechanics by way of demonstration and the player practice.
Dia-getic Un-voiced dia-logue scripts
Informative / expressive function mainly to provide information and elicit a certain action by the player. Dialogue which appears only in written form, ommonly used for Non-Playable Characters NPCs).
Research Method
This is a descriptive qualitative research which is conducted by collecting the data, analyzing the data and making conclusion from the research findings. This research focuses in analyzing the carte blanche strategy in the in-game text assets and its translation. The data were taken from an MMORPG video game entitled Dragon Nest North America version by Eyedentity Games and its Localized version by PT Kreon Gamescool. Furthermore, after the strategy has been investigated, it will be classified and analyzed based on its degree of freedom.
Finding and Discussion
A. Carte Blanche in User Interface (UI) There are 25 data of Carte Blanche strategy used by the translator in translating the user interface of in-game text assets.
Table 2: The data of carte blanche strategy in user interface asset
In-Game Text
Issue Degree of freedom
Number of data User
Inter-face (UI)
Menu Research 4 Creativity 1 Name Research 10
Creativity 1
Item Research 4
Creativity 0 Job/
skill
Research 5 Creativity 0
Based on the table 2 above, it can be seen that the translator tend to choose the degree of freedom by research rather than creativity.
The example of the data is as follows:
Figure 1&2: example of carte blanche in the in-game text asset
Source text: Target text:
The pictures above show about a place where the player can meet other players in order to do a battle. In the English version, the name is colosseum, a place where a battle of gladiator is taken place in the roman empire, meanwhile in Indonesian it becomes arena.
Practically those two names can represent a place where a battle is taken place. The translator may consider that not all Indonesian gamers know what is colosseum, so the translator translated it into arena instead to make it more understandable.
ISSN 2580-1937 (Print); 2580-7528 (Online) 29 However it is not based on the translator‘s
creativity when the translator translated this, instead the translator do a research. The translator must know the function and the definition of colosseum first before the translator can translate it
B. Carte Blanche in System Messages There are 29 data of Carte Blanche strategy used by the translator in translating the system messages of in-game text assets.
Table 3: The data of carte blanche strategy in system message asset
In-Game Text
Issue Degree of freedom
Number of data System
Mes- sages
System Information
Research 4 Creativity 13 Pop-up
Message
Research 0 Creativity 4 Game
Terminology
Research 1 Creativity 7
Based on the table 3 above, it can be seen that the translator tend to choose the degree of freedom by creativity rather than research.
The examples of the data are as follow:
Figure 3&4: example of carte blanche in the system message asset
Source Text:
Target Text:
The pictures above show menu where the player can choose the specialization of the chosen character. In the English version, the name is specialization, meanwhile in Indonesian it becomes lihat class specia…
added with extra popup information that tell the complete form. In this case, the translator failed to bring a good translation since the translated version exceed the space limitation set by the programme. In term of degree of freedom, the translator tried to give explanation if the players click that button by giving its function. It is purely based on the translator‘s creativity when the translator translated this, instead doing the research.
However, the creativity of the translator is not good enough since the space limitation is not met the space requirement.
Figure 5&6: example of carte blanche in the system message asset
Source Text: Target Text:
This data is another example of carte blanche in term of creativity rather than research. The translator added the emoticon T_T based on the mood of the picture where tell that the character is sad to see the player is leaving.
C. Carte Blanche in Narrative Text
There are 13 data of Carte Blanche strategy used by the translator in translating the narrative text of in-game text assets.
Table 4: The data of carte blanche strategy in narrative text asset
In-Game Text
Issue Degree of freedom
Number of data Narra-
tive text
Backgroun d
story
Research 4 Creativity 0 In-game
story
Research 8 Creativity 1
Based on the table 4 above, it can be seen that the translator tend to choose the degree
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of freedom by research rather than creativity.
The example of the data is as follows:
Figure 7&8: example of carte blanche in the narrative text asset
Source Text:
Target Text:
The pictures above show about a naration when the players choose their character in the first time. The phrase ―dark power‖ is translated into ―darah, kecepatan, api dan bayangan‖ in Indonesian. In the term of RPG literature, the term dark power or dark magic basically is a power to attack the opponent.
Thus, the form is usually an element that can deal a damage. In this case, the translator translated with using research because the translator choose to translate with using the game world literacy.
D. Carte Blanche in Tutorial/Exposition Text
There are 60 data of Carte Blanche strategy used by the translator in translating the tutorial/exposition text of in-game text assets.
Table 5: The data of carte blanche strategy in tutorial/exposition text asset
In-Game Text
Issue Degree of freedom
Number of data Tutorial/
Exposition Text
Guide Research 1 Creativity 2 Descriptio
n
Research 17 Creativity 40
Based on the table 5 above, it can be seen that the translator tend to choose the degree of freedom by creativity rather than research.
The example of the data is as follows:
Figure 9&10: example of carte blanche in the tutorial/exposition asset
Source text: Target Text:
The pictures above tell about the guide on how to play the game. In the English version, the name is chat room, meanwhile in Indonesian it becomes Buat Chat R…
without added with extra popup information that tell the complete form. In this case, the translator failed to bring a good translation since the translated version exceed the space limitation set by the program. In term of degree of freedom, the translator tried to give explanation if the players click that button by giving its function. It is purely based on the translator‘s creativity when the translator translated this, instead doing the research.
However, the creativity of the translator is not good enough since the space limitation is not met the space requirement.
E. Carte Blanche in Unvoiced Dialogue Text
There are 66 data of Carte Blanche strategy used by the translator in translating the unvoiced dialogue text of in-game text assets.
Table 6: The data of carte blanche strategy in unvoiced dialogue asset
In-Game Text
Issue Degree of freedom
Number of data Unvoice
d Dia- logue
Key Dialogue
Research 6 Creativity 40 Supporting
Dialogue
Research 2 Creativity 18
Based on the table 6 above, it can be seen that the translator tend to choose the degree of freedom by creativity rather than research.
The example of the data is as follows:
Figure 9&10: example of carte blanche in the unvoiced dialogue assets
ISSN 2580-1937 (Print); 2580-7528 (Online) 31 Source text:
Target Text:
The pictures above is quoted from a character named illusion, who is basically a ghost. The translator translated the sentece ―welcome to the party‖ into ―..huhuhu‖. At first glance, this translation is nonsense because ―huhuhu‖
has no corellation with party. But this is the translator carte blanche. The translator use his/her creativity in this case. Illusion, who is a ghost, is laughing like kuntilanak, a kind of ghost believed by Indonesian people. Thus, the translator tried to maintain that aspect to Indonesian gamers.
Conclusions
Based on the results and findings, it can be concluded that in translating in-game text asset, the translators applied two degrees of freedom or carte blanche: more research than creativity and more creativity than research.
In the case of Dragon Nest video game, the translators translate with using research more (23 data) than creativity (2 data) in user interface asset, using research less (5 data) and more creativity (24 data) in system information asset, using research more (12 data) than creativity (1 datum) in narrative text asset, using research less (18 data) and more creativity (42 data) in exposition/tutorial asset, and finally using
research less (8 data) and more creativity (58 data) in unvoiced dialogue asset,
References
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