Cover not available

Article published In: Digital Translation
Vol. 11:2 (2024) ► pp.116–139

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Exploring the official and unofficial paratexts of Chinese indie video games on Steam Pages

Paratextual functions and cross-interactions

ORCiD logo with link | Hong Kong Baptist University
Published online: 6 January 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/dt.24002.mor
Abstract
The present study explores Chinese indie video game Steam Pages focusing on two types of complementary epitexts on the Steam platform: “official” paratexts, authored by game creators, and “unofficial” paratexts created by game players. The functions of such official and unofficial paratexts are probed by following Batchelor’s authorial classification (Batchelor, Kathryn. 2018. Translation and Paratexts (1st ed.) Abingdon: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). The paper applies the concept of paratexts to discuss the empowerment of reviewers, curators and gamers and their texts (as paratexts) as essential components of the Pages, while attempting to cast light onto creator-gamer interactions. Tentative findings include both reinforcing and contradicting cross-interactions between official and unofficial paratexts, as well as differing functions that help shape Steam Pages into cohesive components inside Steam’s social ecosystem.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Conceptualisation
  • 3.Cross-interactions between different types of paratexts on Steam
  • 4.Methodology
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Functions of digital Chinese indie game paratexts on Steam
    • 5.2Cultural representation via official and unofficial paratexts
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Disclosure statement
  • Notes
  • References
References (37)
References
Aixelá, Javier F. 1996. “Culture-Specific Items in Translation.” In Translation, Power, Subversion, by Román Alvarez, and M. Carmen-Africa Vidal, 52–78. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aronczyk, Melissa. 2017. “Portal or Police? The Limits of Promotional Paratexts.” Critical Studies in Media Communication. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Batchelor, Kathryn. 2018. Translation and Paratexts (1st ed.) Abingdon: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berthouzoz, Marie. 2019. Localization choices in indie games: A study on the influencing factors [Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Geneva].
Boni, Martha. 2016. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Paratexts in a Flexible World.” In The Politics of Ephemeral Digital Media: Permanence and Obsolescence in Paratexts, by Sara Pesce and Paolo Noto, 213–227. New York and London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1986. “The Forms of Capital.” In Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, by John G. Richardson, 241–258. Westport, CT: Greenwood.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cai, Rong. 2005. “Gender Imaginations in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the Wuxia World.” Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique, 13(2): 441–471. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cao, Qilin. 2021. “Accommodating Paratextual Theory to Born-digital Literature Translation: A Case Study of “Wuxiaworld”.” Asia Pacific Translation and Intercultural Studies, 8(2): 148–162. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Capellini, Thomas. 2021. Crowdsourced translation in indie game localization. Case study: the community translation of Finding Paradise. [Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Geneva].
Carter, Marcus. 2015. “Emitexts and Paratexts: Propaganda in EVE Online.” Games and Culture, 10(4): 311–342. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chandler, Heather Maxwell. 2020. The Game Production Toolbox. Boca Raton: CRC Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cho, Eunil D. 2021. “From the Yellow Peril to the Model Minority and Back Again: Unraveling the Orientalist Representations of Asian Americans in the Age of Covid-19.” Journal of Pastoral Theology, 31(2–3): 175–192. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clarke, M. J., and Cynthia Wang. 2020. Indie Games in the Digital Age. 1st ed. New York/London: Bloomsbury Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Consalvo, Mia. 2007. Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. “There is No Magic Circle.” Games and Culture, 4(4): 408–417. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. “When Paratexts Become Texts: De-centering the Game-as-text.” Critical Studies in Media Communication, 34(2): 177–183. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dean, Brian. 2021. “Steam Usage and Catalog Stats for 2022” Backlinko, April 13. [URL]
Genette, Gerard. 1997. Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation. Translated by Jane E. Lewin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gray, Jonathan. 2010. Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts. New York: NYU Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hall, Stuart. 1997. Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London: Sage Publication.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hodapp, James. 2020. “Talking Books: The Paratextuality of African Literary Podcasts.” English Studies in Africa, 63(2): 123–134. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hutchinson, Rachael. 2019. Japanese Culture Through Videogames (1st ed.). London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jones, Henry. 2018. “Wikipedia, Translation and the Collaborative Production of Spatial Knowledge(s): A Socio-narrative Analysis.” Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, 381: 264–297.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, Sang-Bin. 2020. “Translators, Translations, and Paratexts in South Korea’s Gender Conflicts.” Perspectives, 29(1): 84–99. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lin, Dayi, Bezemer, Cor-Paul, Zou, Ying, and Hassan Ahmed, E. 2019. “An empirical study of game reviews on the Steam platform.” Empir Software Eng, 241: 170–207. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Luo, Tian, and Zhang, Meifang. 2018. “Reconstructing Cultural Identity via Paratexts: A Case Study on Lionel Giles’ Translation of The Art of War.” Perspectives, 26(4): 593–611. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Macksey, Richard. 1997. “Pausing on the Threshold.” In Paratexts: Thresholds of interpretation, by Gerard Genette, 11–21. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mukherjee, Souvik. 2018. “Playing Subaltern: Video Games and Postcolonialism.” Games and Culture, 13(5): 504–520. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Hagan, Minako. 2017. “Seeking Delocalization: Fan Community and Game Localization in the Age of User Empowerment.” The Journal of Internationalization and Localization, 4(2): 183–202. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pett, Emma. 2017. “Transnational Cult Paratexts: Exploring Audience Readings of Tartan’s Asia Extreme Brand.” Transnational Cinemas, 8(1): 35–48. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Steam. 2024. Steam Curators. [URL]
Styhre, Alexander. 2022. “Attracting Attention in Digital Consumer Markets: Marketing Indie Video Games Through High-Status Intermediaries.” In Status and Organizations: Theories and Cases, by Alexander Styhre, 121–144. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tahir-Gürçağlar, Şehnaz. 2002. “What Texts Don’t Tell: The Uses of Paratexts in Translation Research.” In Crosscultural Transgressions. Research Models in Translation Studies 2: Historical and Ideological Issues, by Theo Hermans, 44–60. Manchester: St Jerome Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
VG Insights. 2021. “Indie Games Make up 40% of All Units Sold on Steam.” VG Insights, September 1. [URL]
. 2024. “Global PC Games Market Report 2024.” VG Insights. [URL]
Walsh, Christopher and Apperley, Thomas. 2009. “Gaming Capital: Rethinking Literacy.” In: Changing Climates: Education for sustainable futures. Proceedings of the AARE 2008 International Education Research Conference, 30 Nov–4 Dec 2008, Queensland University of Technology.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zorrakin-Goikoetxea, Itziar. 2022. “The Use and Reception of Varieties of Spanish in Videogames.” Journal of Audiovisual Translation, 5(2): 93–113. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Zorrakin-Goikoetxea, Itziar
2025. Explorative study on how indie developers approach game localization. Digital Translation 12:1 ► pp. 62 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 8 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue