An MMORPG or ‘massively multi-player online role-playing game’ is part of the evolution of online gaming, which has come about through the birth and unprecedented growth of the internet. Not so long ago, it would have been a dream to play a computer game against an opponent in another part of the world, but now, for many, it is a reality.
So what makes and MMORPG massive?
Fundamentally, there are two things that separate an MMORPG from a normal online role-playing game, and they are; volume of players and the creation of a permanent virtual world. In MMORPGs the virtual setting of the game remains active even when a player is not physically playing, creating, if you like, a sort of parallel sub-reality.
‘World of Warcraft’ is probably the most famous and popular MMORPG, with over 10 million users, and when ‘Star Wars: The Old Republic’ was released, in 2011, it became the fastest growing, with over a million users joining up within the first three days.
Despite the universal popularity of such gaming platforms, the one giant obstacle, that gaming translation services are striving to overcome, is language.
MMORPGs and Language
With such virtual world’s aiming to connect users all over the world, communication is a crucial aspect of their appeal, and increasingly social networking capabilities are enhancing this. The one missing piece of the puzzle, however, has been how to connect a diversity of languages over one platform.
Initially, Google Translate was used in an attempt to do the gaming translation service automatically, simply by using a plug-in within the chat facility. This, however, came up against the usual problems associated with automated translations, in that it was riddled with inaccuracies, cultural insensitivities and regularly produced nonsensical interpretations. Fundamentally, this approach didn’t solve the problem to an acceptable standard.
There are other platforms, such as Achaea, however, who have overcome the problem of language in another way; by using a unique language (Achaean), which, loosely based on Old English, users have to learn in order to communicate in the game.
Multi-Lingual Developments in MMORPGs
Many of the recent multi-lingual developments, in games such as; Glory Wars, Holy War, Tagoria, A.I. War and Cabal online, have been connected to the games user interface, as well as general chat room language. Professional gaming translation services have been hard at work trying to ensure that the usability is the same regardless of language.
With automated gaming translation services still a long way off from offering an effective solution, for now at least, it seems that user communications, however, will remain largely in English. Indeed, many people are even suggesting the use MMORPG platforms as a unique approach to second-language learning.
With such a vast amount of money, well in excess of $1 billion, being made from such gaming platforms, however, it is likely that when increasingly sophisticated real-time translation tools are developed, MMORPGs will be one of the first places to utilise the technology.