I really don’t know why I’m so bad at blog writing. I actually enjoy it, but I know that every time I sit down to tap out an update to recent events, I end up blabbering on for two hours. It’s that loss of time that paralyzes me with apprehension any time I think about it. I don’t know how to be brief, which regrettably makes Twitter and I utterly incompatible. Who knows, maybe once I have a smartphone I’ll dive right into the swirling vortex of “to-the-minute” blurbs and proceed to broadcast every inconsequential thing that pops in my head to a whole host of people who couldn’t care less. And then won’t you be in for a treat.

My landlady is friendly and cheerful whenever I happen to see her, and she still doesn’t speak a single word of English, not even the easy ones like “yes” or “no more sexy parties”. 

The new job is going swimmingly, and it occurs to me that only a select few know what it is that I actually do. In a nutshell, I rid the world of Engrish. Wait wait, put down the torches and pitchforks, your precious “HURRY UP THE CAKES” t-shirts are in no danger. As a serious localization company, Latis doesn’t deal with small-time marketing drivel, such as clothing or public restroom signs. We translate manuals and technical documents, internal-yet-transcontinental memos and dialog scripts. Our clients include Samsung, Hyundai, NC Soft, WebZen, etc.

The office is sweet. In what I can imagine is traditional Korean style, everyone takes off their shoes at the front and dons slippers while they’re inside. Everyone, including visiting clients, which is what makes me believe this is a pretty normal thing to do. I love it, and if I ever have my own business in the US, I’m totally bringing this cultural nugget with me, along with kimchi jjigae (김치찌개) and ddukbul (뚝불) served in under 3 minutes at the canteen. Mmm…

We have not one, but three fingerprint scanners, which is total overkill. Admittedly one is for clocking in and out, but the other two are for two different doors, and I just don’t think corporate espionage is that much of a threat to warrant this weird airlock structure they’ve fashioned for us. Yes, the airlock has a table and chairs, a little fountain with guppies, and beverages for visitors, but it’s still a bit silly to lock the outer door. Is someone going to come along and steal our teabags?

Learning Korean is still going horribly slow. It’s a shame, really, given that I listen to it and read it every single day. Osmosis decidedly doesn’t work for me. I’m just not sure where I’m going to cram it into my schedule. I’ve played WoW and Rift once each in the last three weeks, so I cancelled both my subscriptions and feel quite liberated by that. Work hasn’t been all that horribly busy, either. No, what I’m filling up all my free time with is research. If I want to do this game design thing as a career, I’ve got to start being more proactive about it. This job is a legitimate break into the industry, which has me fiercely fired up. We’ve finally started this new AAA title, and through the translation work we’re doing on it, I have a fascinating look into the process of design. It’s the stuff fanboys would murder for. And I’m also taking on additional responsibilities-if the client agrees-to help make the localization more palatable to the (incredibly picky and unforgiving) Western audience.

And how am I researching? Well, how does a filmmaker or playwright research? By investigating their medium, picking existing examples apart and analyzing what works and what doesn’t. What’s popular to broad swathes of the players, what’s popular to small pocket demographics, as well as what’s unpopular and why. Would this particular game be improved with X or Y change? What made the developer go this direction in the first place? I’ve got about 50 GB of games on my plate to go through yet before hunting down another batch. Hopefully I’ll remember to put some of my analyses up here and promote some discussion.

It’s also a lot of reading. My parents probably remember how voraciously I read as a kid, especially that myth phase I went through. I devoured every book I could find on European mythology. Buuut I didn’t step outside that much. I don’t know much about folklore from the other continents, and I really need to remedy that. Unfortunately I don’t know of a single English library here, and the only bookstore I know carries 70% modern fiction, 30% travel guides. If anyone has suggestions on where to find a library with English books, let me know!

I started this post with the intent of discussing the legitimacy of my favorite medium, but it’s running a bit long as it is. Sufficed to say, I want to see video games understood better by the general public and not feared. I want to see them welcomed as an art form alongside movies and books. I want to see a New York Times headline lauding an expression of meaningful creativity from this medium, and not just the latest uneducated Fox “News” savaging of a tasteless war-themed shooter. I want to help create a game that will make my mother proud.