Can video game subtitling shape player satisfaction?

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on video game translation from the vantage point of player experience. In our study player experience is operationalised with the use of the Game User Experience Satisfaction Scale (GUESS-18) which comprises nine experiential sub-scales. Drawing on an experiment with control and treatment groups, this article examines the (in)stability of player satisfaction by involving two groups who played the game Distraint: Deluxe Edition – either with or without typographic spelling errors deployed in the Polish translation of the in-game texts. The participants remotely installed and executed the game program on their local computers, then filled in our online questionnaire on their experience with the title. We find statistically significant differences between the two conditions in terms of Usability/Playability and Personal Gratification. Importantly, typos were also found to impact the composite score of gamer Satisfaction. Given these results, we conclude that user satisfaction is relatively malleable and can be shaped by aspects of translation. At the same time, a caveat is that we have not found evidence to indicate that typos specifically shape most of Satisfaction’s sub-constructs – like Audio and Visual Aesthetics, Play Engrossment, or Enjoyment – when considered separately.