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This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:chuappgame, author: etc.

"at that moment, I felt like I was finally recognized."

The release of Baird's Gate 3 has revived a topic that is often overlooked-many translators spend hundreds of hours working on the project, but their names are not on the list of game producers.

Some people think that since the translator has contributed to the development of a game, he should see his name on the list of producers. However, in the multi-party cooperation among game developers, publishers and localized companies, some contract terms and decisions often lead to the neglect of informal employees, non-managers or interns.

"I was able to appear in the 'special thanks' section of the list of producers for a game simply because I knew a director of the game …... apart from that time, at least 50 games didn't put me on the list." Naz Falls said. He is the head of public relations and localization at publisher The 4 Winds Entertainment and a board member of the International Association of Game developers (IGDA). "at that moment, I felt like I was finally recognized."

"these translators are looking for a way to build a personal collection. Without these to prove themselves, they will be trapped in an endless cycle: a meagre income and a difficult career development."

The developer of Baird's Gate 3 hired seven localization companies to translate millions of words of scripts into 11 languages, a task that took years. "in the gaming industry, many language professionals are freelancers. There are not many ways to prove your experience." Game localization expert Diego Peres added, "the translation of sample works is easy to forge, the number of years of work experience is only a number, and localization service providers do not like to write letters of recommendation." therefore, the list of producers in the game is still the most reliable form for translators to prove their professional knowledge and abilities. "

Altagram, a localization company in partnership with Larian Studios, the developer of Boulder Gate 3, has attracted public attention because it does not include all free translation names on the production staff list. As the incident simmered on social media, Larian asked for a complete translation list of his participation in the Boulder Gate 3 project immediately, and Altagram issued an apology promising to make a change. Mary Amigis, chief executive of Altagram, acknowledges that the company is at fault, but she also points out that localized teams are not the only ones with such "status" problems.

"this problem is common in the game industry, but Altagram has been trying to put translators on the production list for a long time." "as a company, we don't always appear on that list," Amigis said. second, it is not easy to put freelance translators on the list because some customers' internal policies do not allow that, or only the names of localized companies are accepted. "

For a translator, "status" can be very important. Peres revealed that he was involved in the localization of Square Enix's works, and that experience was very helpful to his career because Party A put the name of free translation on the list of producers. " As one of the translators of final Fantasy 7: remaking, I was given opportunities that my more experienced but lesser-known peers did not have. Localized service providers should try to change the status quo and persuade more publishers to do so. "

However, localization companies may not always like to see translated names on the list of game producers. "many companies worry that if translators communicate with each other and compare prices, they may demand higher pay, as well as worry that employees will be poached by other companies." A former Altagram project manager said, "these two concerns are real, but I personally think that this is still not a reason to remove the translation name from the list of production staff."

Another former project manager basically agreed: "the company doesn't want this information to be seen by other organizations, trying to avoid being robbed of talent." at the same time, the company is also worried that once the translator knows who has been involved in the same project with them, they will call to discuss the compensation …... I don't think this idea is reasonable because translators can communicate through forums or other channels. "

How did Amigis respond to the comments of the two former employees? " Once you put an interpreter on the production staff list, it is tantamount to disclosing very important information. We want to maintain continuity and ensure that everyone involved in the project is constantly learning and can produce higher quality results at a faster rate. Therefore, in order to avoid risks, most suppliers are reluctant to share any information, including localized service companies, dubbing studios, and so on. "

In addition, she revealed that other companies had poached freelance translators who worked with Altagram and were trained by the company to hire them to participate in the localization of a continuing project, but ended up paying them less. She hopes that IGDA will promote a common code of ethics in the industry so as to create a level playing field so that translators working with localization companies can be added to the production staff list without being easily poached by competitors.

"if another company knows that an interpreter is working on the project and that we have a great team, they may find ways to poach people as long as they can keep costs down. The competition in our industry is very fierce. In essence, translation is a commodity. Although translators have skilled skills and many people work hard, the salary is not high. Because customers think it doesn't matter who gives the project to do, they only look at the results. "

However, Amigis also stressed that she never worried about translators discussing their respective pay, let alone exclude them from the production staff list. " Freelance translation has formed a large community and is more and more willing to share information. We can always do better, but I don't think they will feel isolated. In spite of this, we still need to put everyone's names on the list of producers. "

Altagram has thousands of free translation resources and can provide localization services in more than 50 languages, but even such a large company cannot fully guarantee the rights of translators. According to Amigis, Altagram began to press ahead with the work in December last year, but the company decided to speed up the process after the controversy over Boulder Gate 3. To this end, the company has announced seven commitments to ensure that localized employees and freelance translators can see themselves on that list as long as they have been involved in a project.

So why on earth did Baird's Gate 3 leave out the names of those translators?

"it's not that we don't want to release the name of the translator." "We told Larian we would provide the full list later," Amigis explained. "but the workload of the project was so heavy that customers raised a lot of requirements until the game was officially released, so we forgot about it.... that's the real reason, and we never wanted to stop the translator from appearing on the production staff list."

Larian made it clear from the start that all translators' names need to be included in the list. We didn't refuse because the relationship between the two companies was very good. In the two and a half years of cooperation, we have translated 2.6 million words. In any case, it was our carelessness that made a big mistake. This is a dishonorable thing. But then again, it also gives Altagram and I the opportunity to talk about a topic that the gaming industry rarely pays attention to, that is, the 'status' of translators. "

What do other Altagram employees say about the company's mistakes in the Boulder Gate 3 localization program? "Management has been fighting for the status of the team, as do internal employees." "I wouldn't be surprised that they are named and criticized," says one former project manager. "at Altagram, people do talk about it a lot, but it always goes away very quickly."

"I have quarreled with management countless times and I think putting translation names on the list of production staff is the most basic thing I can do for them. this is a very competitive industry for which companies pay ridiculously low pay but high demands. in this way, we can at least show our respect for translation."

It is worth noting that Altagram is not the first company to be criticized by public opinion for translating "status". In January this year, a localization worker in a previous life revealed that the staff responsible for translating French, Italian, German and Spanish in French, Italian, German and Spanish were not on the list of producers.

Many works that have been transplanted, reproduced or rereleased ignore the "identity" of the original translation team. One game localization expert estimates that those employees have translated at least 1 million words, and he is glad that the matter has attracted the attention of the media and players. Another interviewee agreed: "the situation is changing, and on social platforms, people are calling for game translators to be given their due status."

Others praised Altagram on the grounds that they sometimes ignored the rules of publishers and insisted on putting the names of certain translators on the list of producers. "the communication between Altagram and translators is always friendly and respectful." "when we allow translators of the same project to communicate with each other, we always get a positive response," said a former project manager. people are enthusiastic about the project at hand, but I think that may be part of the reason why translators choose to accept it-they are worried that they will never have a chance to participate in similar projects in the future. "

Amigis believes that the working atmosphere of Altagram is quite good. The translator is willing to discuss any topic frankly with the management, even telling each other that there are peer companies or publishers who are in direct contact with them. According to her, not long ago, Altagram employees were poached by a client they had worked with.

Earlier this year, Amigis publicly apologized via social media for failing to include all translators involved in Diablo 4 on the list of game producers. According to her, Blizzard has a long-term policy not to share freelancers' names. "I don't think this situation will last forever, and by communicating with Blizzard, we have won more rights, such as ensuring that freelance translators can publicly say that they have participated in the project."

Fars has been involved in the localization of Portuguese in many popular masterpieces such as final Fantasy 7: remake, watchdog: Legion, and Ghost Line: Tokyo. "I hope to find a better solution, but I can't make any commitment yet. because we are not developers or distributors, we are still just an intermediary."

As contractors, companies like Altagram have to be subject to a series of terms if they want to sign contracts with game publishers and developers-for a variety of reasons, customers don't recognize the work of outside teams and don't even want to see them mentioned. Nowadays, outsourcing has become a standard part of game development, but publishers and developers are often reluctant to recognize the credit of third-party teams.

"most studios have no specific rules on which names should be added to the production staff list, or the policies are outdated and have too many defects." "when formulating policies, people may not consider online service games or similar products," Fars said. For example, games like World of Warcraft launch an expansion every few years, and the list of producers needs to be updated, otherwise players will only see the names of the developers who were 17 years ago. "

Diego Peres, a game localization expert, agrees. "in this regard, publishers and developers definitely have to share some of the responsibility. After all, IGDA sets the relevant guidelines to solve a long-standing problem in the game industry." According to him, some publishers explicitly require localized companies to mention only internal employees on the production staff list, and publishers don't even want to see any translators' names.

"developers want to find an intermediary to take care of these things, because they are already busy enough." "in this case, they have all the say and can decide what to do or how much to pay," says one former Altagram project manager. "they tend to choose the worst schedule and make a lot of demands. They could have done more to take responsibility for ensuring that the contribution of the translator was recognized."

Fars feels the same way. "developers and publishers should take the first step in the right direction. They need to sort things out and formulate reasonable policies. When they talk about cooperation with localized service companies, they can tell each other what policies they need to follow as a condition of signing a contract."

IGDA has rules on employee turnover, minimum employment time, reset or transplant games, signature rules, and so on when compiling the production staff list. Amigis notes that, perhaps under the pressure of public opinion, publishers are actively changing some of their practices. " The situation is changing, and publishers want players to like their games, so they have to solve this problem. But we know very well that some policies are difficult to change, otherwise the names of all translators would have been on the list of production staff. Publishers need to consider many factors, such as who has been involved in the project, how long it takes, how much work has been done, and so on. "

This kind of change is by no means overnight, and localization workers have to face a long and arduous struggle. A translator said that because localization is usually the work of the final stage of development, their time is often the most tight and rigid. However, the translator also sympathized with the publisher because he knew that the publisher was also very busy in the final stages of the project cycle. Therefore, in a sense, game publishers, developers and localized companies need to understand each other, balance the needs of all parties, and increase support for each other.

In April, IGDA updated its guidelines on the list of game producers and worked to make them a common standard for game companies. "We want to provide a clearer and easier-to-understand policy for freelancers, interns and students." Fars said.

"over time, we realized that there were problems with some of the standards of the past. According to previous standards, only people who have been involved in the project for at least 30 days can be included in the production list, but most of the localization and translation work in a single language can be completed within three weeks and then taken over by other departments such as QA. In addition, there are many interns who spend a year working on a project but are unable to appear on the list simply because of their status as interns. In many cases, game publishers outsource their business in order to save costs, and the subtext is,'We want to hire you to do this job, but we don't want to pay so much tax'. "

According to Fars, several large studios have adopted IGDA guidelines as a standard. He believes that over time, more companies will follow suit and treat translators more fairly than in the past.

This article is compiled from: https://www.eurogamer.net/why-are-localisation-workers-regularly-left-out-of-game-credits

The original title: "Why are localisation workers regularly left out of game credits?"

Original author: Tom Phillips

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