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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The study of playability through the case of Slavic lore for immersion in English and Spanish editions of the game / JOANNA KUSNIEREK

Swansea University Author: JOANNA KUSNIEREK

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Abstract

The video games industry is, undoubtedly, one of the most profitable industries. Each year, video game companies release hundreds of different titles, participating in the race for critical acclaim and fans' recognition. Video games are subject to a complex localisation process, allowing intern...

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Published: Swansea 2021
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Master of Research
Degree name: MA by Research
Supervisor: López-Terra, F. ; Fernandez-Parra, M.
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58633
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first_indexed 2021-11-12T14:16:30Z
last_indexed 2021-11-13T04:25:42Z
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spelling 2021-11-12T15:56:40.8841494 v2 58633 2021-11-12 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The study of playability through the case of Slavic lore for immersion in English and Spanish editions of the game 9fed2aa0f631a803fb3487a9b15438d5 JOANNA KUSNIEREK JOANNA KUSNIEREK true false 2021-11-12 The video games industry is, undoubtedly, one of the most profitable industries. Each year, video game companies release hundreds of different titles, participating in the race for critical acclaim and fans' recognition. Video games are subject to a complex localisation process, allowing international players to fully benefit from their entertainment value, regardless of the language they speak. Building on the concept of playability as the crucial measure of localisation quality, this thesis investigates how localisation affects playability, its key factors and their implication on playability itself. This research focuses on role-playing games (RPG) in which the narrative relies significantly on a given (authentic or fictional) (langua)culture. In this investigation, a handful of scenes from the Polish game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt were selected to compare how the Slavic elements interplay in different languages. A selection of scenes was analysed in the Polish, English, and Spanish versions. Following the Grounded Theory Method, the scenes were analysed with the application of the theory containing concepts such as othering, self othering, going native, and languaculture. The theory was then compared with the players' experience of the game, displayed on international fora such as Reddit.com or the CD PROJEKT RED forum. The results presented in this thesis show that the gamers' cultural immersion can be compared to the three steps of scientific fieldwork proposed by Malinowski and that it is achieved not only by the mentioned concepts but also by cultural connotations. Moreover, the study suggests that playability depends on gamers' participation and gamers' engagement. It also indicates that the informative and operative text types are used to create functional information; meanwhile, the expressive text category is being used to build the ambience of the game. The multidisciplinary approach and the results can be crucial in improving players' experience in localised games. E-Thesis Swansea video games localisation, playability, Slavic folklore, Polish, English, Spanish 12 11 2021 2021-11-12 A selection of third party content is redacted or is partially redacted from this thesis due to copyright restrictions. COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University López-Terra, F. ; Fernandez-Parra, M. Master of Research MA by Research 2021-11-12T15:56:40.8841494 2021-11-12T14:12:35.2325607 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - Modern Languages, Translation, and Interpreting JOANNA KUSNIEREK 1 58633__21512__20aa996aa565454983e9d807521461b8.pdf Kusneierek_Joanna_MA_by_Research_Final_Redacted.pdf 2021-11-12T14:41:26.3904397 Output 13768990 application/pdf Redacted version - open access true Copyright: The author, Joanna Kuśnierek, 2021. true eng
title The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The study of playability through the case of Slavic lore for immersion in English and Spanish editions of the game
spellingShingle The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The study of playability through the case of Slavic lore for immersion in English and Spanish editions of the game
JOANNA KUSNIEREK
title_short The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The study of playability through the case of Slavic lore for immersion in English and Spanish editions of the game
title_full The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The study of playability through the case of Slavic lore for immersion in English and Spanish editions of the game
title_fullStr The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The study of playability through the case of Slavic lore for immersion in English and Spanish editions of the game
title_full_unstemmed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The study of playability through the case of Slavic lore for immersion in English and Spanish editions of the game
title_sort The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The study of playability through the case of Slavic lore for immersion in English and Spanish editions of the game
author_id_str_mv 9fed2aa0f631a803fb3487a9b15438d5
author_id_fullname_str_mv 9fed2aa0f631a803fb3487a9b15438d5_***_JOANNA KUSNIEREK
author JOANNA KUSNIEREK
author2 JOANNA KUSNIEREK
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2021
institution Swansea University
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - Modern Languages, Translation, and Interpreting{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - Modern Languages, Translation, and Interpreting
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description The video games industry is, undoubtedly, one of the most profitable industries. Each year, video game companies release hundreds of different titles, participating in the race for critical acclaim and fans' recognition. Video games are subject to a complex localisation process, allowing international players to fully benefit from their entertainment value, regardless of the language they speak. Building on the concept of playability as the crucial measure of localisation quality, this thesis investigates how localisation affects playability, its key factors and their implication on playability itself. This research focuses on role-playing games (RPG) in which the narrative relies significantly on a given (authentic or fictional) (langua)culture. In this investigation, a handful of scenes from the Polish game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt were selected to compare how the Slavic elements interplay in different languages. A selection of scenes was analysed in the Polish, English, and Spanish versions. Following the Grounded Theory Method, the scenes were analysed with the application of the theory containing concepts such as othering, self othering, going native, and languaculture. The theory was then compared with the players' experience of the game, displayed on international fora such as Reddit.com or the CD PROJEKT RED forum. The results presented in this thesis show that the gamers' cultural immersion can be compared to the three steps of scientific fieldwork proposed by Malinowski and that it is achieved not only by the mentioned concepts but also by cultural connotations. Moreover, the study suggests that playability depends on gamers' participation and gamers' engagement. It also indicates that the informative and operative text types are used to create functional information; meanwhile, the expressive text category is being used to build the ambience of the game. The multidisciplinary approach and the results can be crucial in improving players' experience in localised games.
published_date 2021-11-12T04:15:18Z
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score 10.999161

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