Gamers Alliance REPORT
Spring 2003 Vol. 2 No. 6
EDITORIAL
Losing Something in the Translation
We live in a global world linked by communications of all sorts. In our part of the world, the World of Games, games are our links from continent to continent, country to country, gamer to gamer. It continues to amaze me that English language rules are the exception, not the rule, in European games. These European game companies who fail to provide them are losing something. For example...
Last issue, we featured an excellent game called Moderne Zeiten. Our review was based on an English language translation done "freelance" and "voluntarily" by an interested gamer. The game played well following the translation. The thing is: the translation was incorrect! Turns out that the endgame is actually DIFFERENT when following the actual rules! (Specifically, where the translation stated that players could race along the playing track and end the game by vaulting ahead, the actual rules require all spaces leading up to the finish line be occupied!) This difference creates a different set of strategies and, in essence, changes the shape of the game play. The irony here is that the freelance translation created an excellent variant of the game. After all, it played well enough to be featured and recommended in GA REPORT! But the point is: the vision of the game as it should be played was LOST IN THE TRANSLATION! But that's not all.
On one of the online lists to which I subscribe, a gamer reported contacting one of those European game companies to inquire about an English translation to one of their releases. The (unbelievable) response received was that the company was "too busy" to do an English language translation. Too busy??? They weren't too busy to negotiate with the author to get the rights to publish. They weren't too busy to design and print the graphics. They weren't too busy to market it to the gaming community. But they were too busy to add English language rules to their game! The point is: the potential for attracting new customers to their game (and their company) was LOST IN THE TRANSLATION!
It makes me wonder what these people are thinking? You have an English speaking population in the United States which numbers in the hundreds of millions. (And let's not forget out friends in the United Kingdom!) You have a strong (and rising) population of gamers who are actively seeking AND BUYING games which have an adult slant - and that particularly fits the mold of the European games featured in our pages. Why ignore such a potentially huge market? Why ignore such a market when it costs you virtually nothing? Most of these games are language neutral. The cards and components use graphics of one kind or another to explain their functions. All you need add is a page (or two or four) of rules and, possibly, a play aid or two. A very minor expense (if an expense at all) when compared to the possibility of profits generated by making the game more easily accessible to your buyers. The point is: huge potential profits are being LOST IN THE TRANSLATION!
Bottom line: Columbus discovered America in 1492. It's five hundred years later. It's time the European game companies discovered America too.
In this issue of GA REPORT, we go Asian and battle over territory, then go Western and battle across the Mediterranean Sea. Al Newman takes flight with a great new two-player game while Steve Kurzban in his K-ban's Korner begs, pleads and wheedles his way across a fast paced game. Plus, the return of Game Classics! And, of course, much more.
Until next time, Good Gaming!
Herb M. Levy, President