Runescape in other languages

[Ltje]

On wednesday the 14th of Februari, Jagex has released the BETAversion of Runescape translated into German.

 

 

 

Time for a discussion. Was this a good move from Jagex? Or will it 'destroy' even more of the community? How will this affect our gameplay?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you think?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My opinion: From the view of Jagex, this is a brilliant step. They open up a whole new market, whereas Germans did tend to play not as much Runescape as Swedish or Dutch people do. By releasing it in German, they can earn much, much more, and grow even bigger.

 

 

 

That's kinda obvious, I must say.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But what it will do to the community is far more interesting. For the first time, much people will not be able to understand this new German players. Where first the Swedish, Finnish and Dutch people had to learn English, to understand the game, and therefore being able to interact in English, this new generation can play without understanding one single word of English.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I do think there will be 2 kinda communities. One 'old' and 'normal' community, and a new, German one. And later if Jagex releases Runescape also in even more languages, even more communities will be added.

 

 

 

I do also think that these new communities will develop there own new trading world, etc etc. Although world 1 and 2 will still be in use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides that, I think it will be kinda strange. Untill now I could always ask, and even more or less demand from a player to speak English to me. But now there is this knowledge that I simply canÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâôt understand some people. Feels a bit weird.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, whatÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâôs your opinion?

[Solidus_77]

I see two benifits and no real downside

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

first of all, this obviously allows for a new market for runescape and more people = more cash = more improvments (like more staff for cs or more servers for worlds) which could be benificial to us. Runescape tends to have more advertising than other games and so being introduced to Germany with a full german interface is likely, in my opinion, to bring about all the benifits that Jagex was looking for. As I love to bring about economic terms and theory, I would call this an example of economies of scale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

second of all, and this concerns us directly, I have had personal experiences with people speaking dutch or other languages and me having a very hard time communicating. This will help them of course, but will also help me and other non-german speakers interact together

[Timetohide]

I don't know but wouldn't this kind of seperate the Germans from the non-Germans? I don't like that idea...

[hellbellz]

I think that the forums should be seperate in different languages. I don't like having someone speaking German in a forum full of English speaking players, would you? I do say Jagex has done a great step with BETA German =D>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I'll be on German servers and try to learn German there, lol. :XD:)

[whizkid338]

I like the idea of seperate language servers. People can hang out with people and speak their own language without getting yelled at for speaking another language besides english (yes I have seen that happen). I hope they come out with a spanish one. I could use it to learn more spanish (I take spanish class in school).

[mikeb912]

I don't know but wouldn't this kind of seperate the Germans from the non-Germans? I don't like that idea...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They don't have to use the german servers. It just makes it easier for the german people so they don't have to know english or have a translator just to know whats going on. They can still use the other servers if they want to so it doesn't really seperate them.

[Jake_Corsair]

Also, not sure if this will be a permanent feature (wouldn't see why not), but the players on those beta servers can still talk to other players on the original servers. So it won't seperate other language speaking people that much. They just won't be on the same world as their friends (or some of their friends).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remember reading that they were going to be making different language versions. I think it's a great idea, as others have pointed out, it opens up new markets for Jagex. Someone who isn't very fluent in english(or at all) may have seen RS from a friend or advertisement and wasn't interested since they couldn't understand it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And it won't break up the community too much, as any english speaking person can go to the german servers (when public) and play with their friends if they wanted. Except for the chat, most everything else would be recognizable due to placement. For example, you'd still use the same runes for casting spells, so you wouldn't need to know what the word for chaos is. And the spells will be in the exact same order, so while you may not know the German name, you'd still be able to figure it out.

[zyrm]

i liek the idea that they are releasing it on other languages even though it really wont affect me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

im just surprised they started with German because i didnt think rs had that much of a fan base in germany...or perhaps this was to increase the # of german players

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

still it seems pretty random when they could have started with any of the other numerous languages

[Gin_and_Tonic]

I did say this in another thread;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAGeX are looking into countries where they see potential investments and players, so by doing this, they're making Runescape more user-friendly for them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only downside is, every other non-germ/american little kid is whailing because they made the first language in German, and not in every other language.

[Danqazmlp]

I think that the forums should be seperate in different languages. I don't like having someone speaking German in a forum full of English speaking players, would you? I do say Jagex has done a great step with BETA German =D>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's one problem that may arise from this, do we know if the forums are translated?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If not, and germans had to have a seperate forums, just think how hard this would make it to buy/sell items. Usually you can find at least 2/3 posts that can help you, but at first at least the german community would be very small, and making it vry hard to buy or sell any items at all, and the game would probably be very solitary.

[Jake_Corsair]

Why german though? i've seen so many more dutch people playing runescape. Maybe the germans are lazy and dont want to learn english..?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why do they have to be lazy? If RS came out in a language you didn't know orginally, would you learn a new language just to play the game? Maybe they don't have a reason to learn English.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But back on topic, You've seen more Dutch than German people, then maybe that's the reason. As stated in a similar thread, maybe Jagex's idea is to increase their fanbase by releasing a language pack that doesn't have a lot of people currently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, as I pointed out in that thread, maybe German was the first one they were able to finish. When they decided to translate RS, it's not like pushing a button and BAM, translated. They have to hire people that speak those languages. Maybe German applicants were in the majority, making it able to be done first.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jagex will get around to other languages, instead of complaining about which languages come first, maybe compliment them on their actions to include non-English speaking people into the game.

[Wachtwoord]

Why german though? i've seen so many more dutch people playing runescape. Maybe the germans are lazy and dont want to learn english..?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Germans (just as French) tend to don't want to learn foreign languages. Opposite to dutch and scandinavian countries, who are pretty good in that. So Jagex don't need to create a whole translated runescape for them, they're playing anyway. But Germans, who can't speak english very good, actually need a translated runescape, otherwise it would be very hard to play for them. It's very logical IMO.

[Risika66]

I'm scared that having different-language servers is going to split the game community apart by language. I love being able to meet people from all over the world, and introducing the game in different languages will mean that everyone is just going to stick to their own server. I like the idea that I can meet someone and become friends with them even though they live on the other side of the planet. For me the release of other languages also presents the particular problem that if they release Dutch servers I'll have to choose which language I'm going to use in-game. I like having a home world that I always play on because it makes meeting people much easier, I don't want to be forced to choose between a world with Dutch people and an international world.

[Zygimantas]

The problem with this is that when the beta ends and everyone can play the german version. Alot of people will test it out and there might be more English players then people who speak German.

[godofheaven4]

Jagex has finally put their heads together and have announced the creation of new language worlds. Brilliant ideas finally. Soon, there will be ALOT more players coming, even though it's in the BETA. More money for Jagex, which means making more language worlds. (PLEASE MAKE A GREEK WORLD!!!!!!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jagex, nice job guys, keep pulling it through.

[GrimHams]

 

Why german though? i've seen so many more dutch people playing runescape. Maybe the germans are lazy and dont want to learn english..?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Germans (just as French) tend to don't want to learn foreign languages. Opposite to dutch and scandinavian countries, who are pretty good in that. So Jagex don't need to create a whole translated runescape for them, they're playing anyway. But Germans, who can't speak english very good, actually need a translated runescape, otherwise it would be very hard to play for them. It's very logical IMO.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dont they all learn english in school?

[Ledusskapis]

There are only 2 problems with diferent languages(in my opinion)

 

 

 

1,-it will seperate players

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2,-just some of the words sound realy bad and complicated in diferent languages...for example stat restore potion in latvian(every1 who finds latvia on map can have a cookie)-prasmju atjonosanas dzira-that just sounds awful dont it?I bet there arem many words in german that just cant be normaly translated...so there might be some problems about that #-o

[brave]

Everyone here is assuming that because Jagex has created a specific world to test its German version that there is always going to be a specific "German" world. Having a dedicated world for each language wpuld be very expensive and a waste of server resources.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMO the number of worlds (ie servers) will not change. What will happen, again IMO, is that when you log into a world you will get a language selection screen so that you can choose what language you want to have the RS interface displayed in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other words as far as the community goes nothing much will change as there are effectively "foreign language" communities already, all that will change is their ability to see the NPC conversations etc. in their native tongue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With all this talk of language support when, I might ask are they going to make an American version as most Americans do not speak English :lol:

[supercanon14]

ain't that why thay put worlds in dirfent spots for dirfent people ot play one world in germay has a hole bunch of germ people in it duh

[inspike13]

You don't expect everybody to speak english do you? Otherwise there will be no sense of cultural diversity.

[warren211]

Besides business, there is the matter of how players use the servers. 100-200 people per world. FIVE people on the german forums on a WEEKEND. Now, you may think thats horrible and the game will never kick off in German. However, the original runescape originated similar to this. The game styarts small, but it grows and grows. Now that german players can understand it, we're sure to get more players! Besides, english players use the servers if they want to avoid the troubles of a larger server.

[dutycalls5609]

I think it's great. I support more languages (and namely, switching from the applet itself). The German RuneScape has helped me in learning German.

 

 

 

I want a Russian one myself (*points to sig*).

 

 

 

This allows access for more people, thus broadening the culture and profit of the game.

 

 

 

Though unrealistic, it'd be nice to have on on-the-fly translation for PM and CC, translated automatically (with a disable feature) into the language fitting the translation for the server you're on.

 

 

 

EDIT: People, stop saying Germans! The Austrians, Germans, some Czechs and many other countries speak German, not just Deutschland!

[meol]

I don't know but wouldn't this kind of seperate the Germans from the non-Germans? I don't like that idea...

 

They'd also eventually separate Germans, Frenchs, Latinamericans/Spaniards, people talking in English, Finnishs, and so forth, so this wouldn't be a real problem.

[GrimHams]

The thing is, i know mostly dutch and finnish people on rs (who aren't british) and they speak better english than most english people. (especially finnish people). I dont know if germans learn english in school but if they do they should be good enough to understand it (considering rs is 13+). Having said this when on a foreign server you usually see people talking in their own language so its not like they need rs (and all the npcs etc) actually in their language. Maybe the germans just dont like learning english or refuse to :lol:

[Foodfight13]

Nowhere in any place in the Runescape Website does it say that you are required to know English or German to play the game. Now it is very obvious that not knowing either language will become a major blockage to having fun in this game in ways such as trading, making friends, doing quests, completing mini-games, participating in random events, and other activities that require some degree of reading. It'd almost be the same as someone who didn't know how to read playing the game. You don't have to be able to speak/read/understand German or English to play the game, but if you possess that ability it will greatly increase your access throughout the game and decrease the level of difficulty. I don't think the German servers will tear apart the community. If anything, it will bring our fellow German speaking players together.