The Chinese studio granted early access on the condition that topics like “feminist propaganda” and “Covid-19” go unmentioned. What followed is the Streisand effect in full force.

“I feel that it only served to bring more attention on Game Science’s culture of sexism,” linktothepabst says. “All they had to do was let the game speak for itself, but it came off, to me, like an own goal, effectively stoking the flames between the people who were using this game as weapon against ‘wokeness in games’ and those who can level-headedly either enjoy the game and criticize GS or just ignore the game altogether.”

It’s the Streisand effect in full force: Try to hide something, and it becomes all the more visible. “Nobody was going to bring up Chinese politics unprompted,” Zhong says, “but the topic was there as soon as they released those guidelines.”

    • baseless_discourse@mander.xyz
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      2 months ago

      You comments are probably not sexist, but they are likely misinformation. The comments in IGN are likely not mis-translation, since the Mandarin-spwaking community also had pretty big reactions to the comments and histories of game science. See: https://m.douban.com/note/776087909/ and https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/710811.html?amp (you can try to use google translate to read the article).

      The screenshot in the IGN article, to the best of my knowledge, correctly translated. The comments listed has as much sexual implication as the translation.

      I use both Mandarin and English on a daily bases, and can translate between them pretty well. It would be great for me and others, if you can be more specific on which parts of the developer’s posts are mistranslated.

      • parpol@programming.dev
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        2 months ago

        So to your best knowledge, “getting licked” is literal, and not figuratively “recieving praise”? Just want to confirm this, because this is what changes the meaning from something sexist to just something unprofessional. It is the basis of my entire argument because this is what my sources all say. I’m not saying the developers weren’t unprofessional. I’m saying they weren’t sexist.

        • baseless_discourse@mander.xyz
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          2 months ago

          It is in between, getting licked is the figurative speech for “unjust praises” with a hint of submission in the tone.

          English also have a similar expression like “licking one’s boots”, but in Chinese it is more sexual, as it typically refers to licking something else. An alternative is “跪舔”, which means “kneel and lick”.

          • parpol@programming.dev
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            2 months ago

            So how is what I said misinformation, then? If what you said is true, then that still means the journalists claiming sexism are wrong.

            • baseless_discourse@mander.xyz
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              2 months ago

              From my point of view, the IGN article doesn’t seem to have mistranslation, as you claim in your original article.

              As for whether using clear sexual language in a professional environment is “sexism”, I think it could be up for debate.

              • parpol@programming.dev
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                2 months ago

                OK, I understand where you’re coming from.

                This might only be my opinion, but if you translate something without either providing a translation note explaining the figurative meaning, or using an English equivalent (like “ass kissing”), isn’t that purposefully altering the meaning of a translation? And is that not mistranslation?

                • baseless_discourse@mander.xyz
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                  2 months ago

                  I see, you are right, but translation are typically limited by space, and can never be 100% accurate without pages to explain the cultural context. Thus, it is typical for translator to choose the cloest translation that is also concise.

                  I claim that IGN translation is accurate, because I believe it is within the conventional bound of “meaning loss”. The statement certainly reads as edgy in Chinese as they are in English. Yet, I can see an argument that the translation can be misleading to some.

                  • parpol@programming.dev
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                    2 months ago

                    OK, so with all this in mind. Nevermind that it was a very unpopular comment, was my comment really misinformation then? Because I am still unconvinced it should have been removed. As it is now, some could argue sexism, and some could argue no sexism regarding the comments from the devs. It is my opinion that with the context and figurative meaning included, the English equivalent would be something like “getting ass kissed until I can’t sit anymore”