Consistencies of Ludification Techniques in Translating the Side Quests in Genshin Impact
Main Article Content
Yukiko Elfa Mahari
Nafisa Wafiq Machlis
Nowadays, video games increasingly rely on detailed stories and rich cultural atmosphere, making translation is indeed important to preserve a sense of immersion across languages. Side quests (tasks or missions in a video game) constitute significant part of open-world Role-Playing Games (RPGs), games set in imaginary worlds where players control individual characters as their primary means of engagement, with those characters growing and developing through the choices the players make. In this paper, the authors examine the application of ludification-based translation methods, approaches aimed at preserving playfulness and player engagement, to the localization of side quests in Genshin Impact. Our goal was to observe how these approaches make the Indonesian version as playful, immersive, and culturally relatable as the original. We have used a subset of English and Indonesian quest dialogues and qualitatively analyzed them to identify the primary types of ludification and their actions. We have discovered that referencing and para-localization are frequently used by translators to engage players and retain the emotional impact of the original text. In general, the paper demonstrates that ludification may overlook the linguistic fidelity with player experience in game translation, and indicates that future research should focus on how it can preserve narrative integration and culture-specific resonance.
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Yukiko Elfa Mahari , UIN Raden Mas Said Surakarta
Yukiko Elfa Mahari is an English Literature undergraduate at UIN Raden Mas Said Surakarta, Indonesia. She has a strong research interest in translation and localization studies. She also enjoys learning about language, culture, and communication, and She looks forward to contributing to future research in these fields.
Nafisa Wafiq Machlis , UIN Raden Mas Said Surakarta
Nafisa Wafiq Machlis is an undergraduate student in the English Literature Department at UIN Raden Mas Sa'id Surakarta. She is passionate about translation studies, game localization, and culture. She aspires to contribute to research and practice in the field of translation.
