Censorship as Part of Localization : Practice and Perception of Regional Changes in Japanese and Western Video Games

Regular online outrage about changed content in regional editions of video games has brought our attention to the concepts of censorship and localization. Game Rating Systems have their fair share of critics among those debating the details of localized content and prove to be in a peculiar position between developers and the end-user. The current state of the industry shows that alterations are made to regional versions of a game, especially with regards to sensitive topics such as violence, nudity, and sexualization. A survey to gauge end-users’ perception on these topics has been spread amongst residents of Japan and Western regions. Japanese respondents show to be more accepting of legislation surrounding video games whereas Western respondents tend to display a severe dislike for any sort of legislation, and often see not only censorship, but also localization in a negative context. Censorship, self-censorship, and localization are complicated and nuanced topics that turn out to be complexly intertwined with the practice of game production