Thai gamers' opinions towards English-to-Thai translation problems on mobile-based massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs)

As the mobile gaming market has been growing in Thailand, the need for game localization has increased. Despite quality assurance on translation, problems have been frequently found. This research focused on a popular type of mobile games called Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). It investigated the most frequently found translation problems in these games, and examined their severity levels in terms of language, accuracy and consistency as perceived by gamers. A questionnaire was distributed to 260 gamers in four Facebook Fan Pages including Avabel Online, Black Desert Mobile, Lineage 2 Revolution, and Dragon Nest M – Sea. It was found that the most frequent problem was consistency issues, but they were regarded as minor, while the most severe problem for gamers was mistranslation from the accuracy aspect. Game companies and translators should strive to avoid these frequent issues in order to deliver the best possible MMORPG experience for Thai gamers.