Gaming for development: introduction to localization and internationalization of educational games; paper presentation at the 43rd Annual Conference of ISAGA, the International Simulation and Gaming Association (Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2-6 July 2012); Pieter van der Hijden, Sofos Consultancy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Abstract Gaming for education and training can have a great potential for developing countries. Games can partially replace old and unattractive textbooks; they may compensate the lack of qualified teachers; and, last but not least, they give the children (and adults as well) the feeling to be connected to the modern world. Nevertheless, applying these games in this context, may lead to disappointing learning outcomes, especially when the games have been developed abroad. The main challenge for gaming in the context of developing countries is the lack of resources: gaming expertise, access to technology and funding. On the other hand, expertise on local conditions is high, crafting is widely spread and local labour is relatively cheap. The real challenge is finding the right balance in this mix of opportunities: developing games that can be applied in developing countries. One strategy is using games developed abroad, but adapting them for local use. Adapting these games to the local context (language, visualization, etc.) may improve their effectiveness and efficiency for learning. Such adaptation of existing games is called localization. In fact, during the building of the game, future localization should already be taken into account. This is called internationalization. Software firms paved the way in building applications to be used in different countries, languages and cultures. They in fact introduced the concepts of localization and internationalization in a rather straightforward way. In games, however, more attention has to be paid to the user experience and the use of multimedia. Localization and internationalization become more complex then. In this presentation we will introduce both concepts. We illustrate with examples the changes that might happen during localization. We reflect on converting an international symbolic solution into a local and concrete one and present some new insights on frame games and content. We conclude with an agenda for further research and development.

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ISAGA - International Simulation and Gaming Association
43rd International Conference – 2-6 July 2012
Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
GAMING FOR DEVELOPMENT:
INTRODUCTION TO LOCALIZATION AND
INTERNATIONALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL GAMES
Pieter van der Hijden MSc
Sofos Consultancy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Member of the ISAGA Advisory Council
Ex-chairperson of the ISAGA Board
Pieter van der Hijden (Sofos Consultancy) 2012 - Except where otherwise noted, content of this publication is
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
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AGENDA
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INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION – ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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INTRODUCTION – ABOUT THE THEME
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EDUCATION FOR DEVELOPMENT
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EDUCATION FOR DEVELOPMENT
 Causal model:
 Access to education &
Quality schools 
Skilled Citizens 
Social end economic
Development
 Current situation:
 Imperfect system
 Backlog
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EDUCATION FOR DEVELOPMENT
 Drop-outs 
Rural exodus 
Urban problems
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EDUCATION FOR DEVELOPMENT
 Focus on external factors
 Neighborhood, Parents,
Food, Transport
 Focus on infrastructure
 Building, Systems,
Furniture
 Focus on teachers
 Better teacher training
 Issue: Not enough teachers
 Issue: Migration after
diploma Source: Mitra et al., 2008
 Focus on learning
materials
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EDUCATION FOR DEVELOPMENT
 Focus on learning
materials
 Educational games
 Issues
 Localization
 Internationalization
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LOCALIZATION OF GAMES
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LOCALIZATION OF GAMES
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LOCALIZATION OF GAMES
WHY LOCALIZATION? Afrikaans - አአአአ - - Asturianu - Azərbaycanca
- Беларуская - Български - - Bosanski - Català -
Valencià (Català meridional) - - Čeština -
 More intense gaming Cymraeg - Dansk - Deutsch - Deutsch community -
experience Deutsch - Du - Deutsch - Kids - - Ελληνικά - English -
English - Pirate - en_kids - English - United States -
Español - Internacional - Español - Argentina - Español -
 Motivation España - Español - Mexico - Eesti - Euskara - -
 Authentic learning Suomi - Filipino - VakaViti - Faroese - Français - Français
- Canada - Gaeilge - Gàidhlig - Galego - - -
environment - Hrvatski - magyar - Հայերեն - Indonesian -
Íslenska - Italiano - 日本語 - ქართული - Қазақша -
Kalaallisut - - - 한국어 - Latin - Laotian - Lietuvių
 Understanding - Lithuanian (university) - Latviešu - Māori - Tainui -
 Transfer Māori - Waikato - Македонски -
- Bahasa Melayu -
- Монгол -
- Nederlands - Norsk -
 Correctness nynorsk - Norsk - bokmål - Norsk - Aranés - Polski -
Português - Portugal - Português - Brasil - Romansh
 Cultural issues Sursilvan - Română - Русский - - Slovenčina -
Slovenščina - Samoan - Soomaali - Shqip - Српски -
 Historical issues Српски - Српски - Srpski - Svenska - Finlandssvenska -
sw - Tamil - - - Thai - አአአአ - Tagalog -
 Create greater market Tongan - Türkçe - татар теле - Українська -
O'zbekcha - Vietnamese - Wolof - 简体中文 - 正體中文 -
-
isiZulu
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LOCALIZATION OF GAMES
STEP-BY-STEP EXAMPLE
Source: Maas, 2008
Game 0 Game 1
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LOCALIZATION OF GAMES
STEP-BY-STEP EXAMPLE
Background by A. Fienieg, 1992
Game 1 Game 2
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LOCALIZATION OF GAMES
STEP-BY-STEP EXAMPLE
Game 2 Game 3
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LOCALIZATION OF GAMES
STEP-BY-STEP EXAMPLE
Game 3 Game 4
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LOCALIZATION OF GAMES
STEP-BY-STEP EXAMPLE
Game 0 Game 4
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LOCALIZATION OF GAMES
LEVELS OF LOCALIZATION
Levels of localization
Learning goals
Learning styles
Game patterns
Actions
Objects
Visualisation and sound
Language
Box and docs
No localization
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INTERNATIONALIZATION
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INTERNATIONALIZATION
 Internationalization = Making a game
independent of a specific context and easy to
localize
 Language
 Visual
symbols
 Sound (voice-over / sub-titles)
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FURTHER R&D
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FURTHER R&D
 What are the costs and benefits of localization
at various levels?
 Which target groups need their own
localization?
 Nationallanguage, local languages, 2 languages?
 Urban area, rural area, interior areas?
 How to broaden the target groups, i.e. How to
learn to learn in a less localized context?
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CONCLUSION
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CONCLUSION
 Localization / internationalization increases the
impact of educational games
 Localization / internationalization usually is
limited to translation and multi-language
logistics
 Side effect: localization mechanism also useful
in enforcing learning elements in games
 Gaming for development requires more
research
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REFERENCES
 Chandler et al. 2012 – The game localization handbook; 2nd edition; Heather
Maxwell Chandler and Stephanie O’Malley Deming; Jones and Bertlett Learning;
Sudbury (MA), USA, 2012
 Localization Summit; Game Developers Conference; San Francisco (CA), USA, 2012;
see: http://www.gdconf.com/conference/gls.html.
 Maas, 2008 - GameMaker4You [NL]; Diepenmaat Uitgeverij & Ontwerpbureau; The
Netherlands, 2008.
 Mitra et al., 2008 - Sugata Mitra (Newcastle University, UK), Ritu Dangwal and Leher
Thadani (The NIIT Institute of Information Technology, India); Effects of remoteness
on the quality of education: A case study from North Indian schools; Australasian
Journal of Educational Technology 2008, 24(2), 168-180. Full text:
http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet24/mitra.pdf.
 Schell, 2008; The art of game design, a book of lenses; Jesse Schell; Morgan
Kaufman, 2008.
 Van der Hijden, 2011a - GS4D - Gaming/Simulation for Development;
building and applying games for developing countries; Pieter van der Hijden;
presentation at ISAGA 2011 annual conference, Jachranka, Poland, 2011
 Van der Hijden, 2011b - Gaming for Development - building and applying
gaming/simulation in the context of developing countries; Pieter van der Hijden;
presentation at JASAG autumn conference, Sapporo, Japan, 2011
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SOFOS CONSULTANCY
Thank you for your attention!
Pieter van der Hijden MSc
pvdh@sofos.nl
Pieter van der Hijden (Sofos Consultancy) 2012 - Except where otherwise noted, content of this publication is
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
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