JP / NA / EU Language Barrier inhibits Gameplay Moral and Coop.

[Greezy]

Dear Square Enix and FFXI development Team,
My fellow Comrades and I have had an in-depth conversation about some of the limitations to FFXI. The greatest of which it seems as "JP Racial Profiling" due to the underdeveloped <Auto-translate> System. We all Agree that JP players only play with JP players due to this features Inadequacy to communicate effectively. This Topic is a Hot Commodity, however, unless we as players bring this issue to your attention, nothing will progress towards a better player community. If you feel you require more background on this thread please follow the thread on FFXIAH.com for further details, and how the resolution came to determine the correct course of action to fix JP/NA/EU players language barriers.

http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/32058/jp-racial-profiling/

[Aldehido]

Can't tell if serious.

[Kalilla]

I don't think anything we say will help honestly.

This is an issue the japanese community will have to be involved in. No... not because SE only listens to the JP community..., but because we don't have the knowledge or experiences to suggest any potential fixes that would make the auto translate system just as convenient for them to use as it is for us.

[Aldehido]

Dirty gaijins.

[Sekundes]

I don't think anything we say will help honestly.

This is an issue the japanese community will have to be involved in. No... not because SE only listens to the JP community..., but because we don't have the knowledge or experiences to suggest any potential fixes that would make the auto translate system just as convenient for them to use as it is for us.

Light the Elmer signal? I'm sure that communities on all sides of this are frustrated with the way it "doesn't work". Perhaps we can get a joint effort together for all the supported languages and help improve it.

Anyhow, I agree that the auto-trans needs some work. I enjoy playing with people from all over the world but I have a hard time getting my point across when it's critical. It's sad when you can't find a good way to communicate about in game terms because half of them aren't in it.

[Aldehido]

Light the Elmer signal? I'm sure that communities on all sides of this are frustrated with the way it "doesn't work". Perhaps we can get a joint effort together for all the supported languages and help improve it.

Anyhow, I agree that the auto-trans needs some work. I enjoy playing with people from all over the world but I have a hard time getting my point across when it's critical. It's sad when you can't find a good way to communicate about in game terms because half of them aren't in it.

It's not SE's fault. PS2 users burden the system with some limitations. The autotranslate limitations are one of them.

[Aldehido]

Adding to my post before anyone comes and say remove some of the terms; it's pretty hard to do that just based on thought. There has to be some research done on which are being used and which are not, and if they're being used accordingly and serving their purpose.

[Kalilla]

The one suggestion I can make, being a player that only knows english, is make it so the japanese players only have to put in the abbreviated version of the word.

For example...

Instead of typing out all of Black Mage, 黒魔道士, they could type 黒, hit tab and it would be a recommended option at the top of their list. There would have to be some scripting involved, possibly even an auto-complete system to work around the auto-translate system limitations so they don't have to add 2 versions of a word.

I think it would help honestly. They should have data on most used translations, possibly even separated between which ones japanese players use the most, which ones NA players use the most, etc.

I think SE could make this work. I think the main issue is not that JP players flat out don't want to play with NA players, it's just that it is stressful using the system when it wasn't designed for the japanese language. The system was designed in anticipation for the NA release and wasn't improved to make it easier for japanese players to communicate to others.

[Greezy]

It's not SE's fault. PS2 users burden the system with some limitations. The autotranslate limitations are one of them.

Hopefully this can be implemented with the new upcoming expansion, which, wont be ps2 supported i dont believe.

[Aldehido]

Hopefully this can be implemented with the new upcoming expansion, which, wont be ps2 supported i dont believe.
Only Japan is getting PS2 support for the expansion. NA & EU players don't play that much on PS2 to make the expansion for PS2 users.

[Aldehido]

The one suggestion I can make, being a player that only knows english, is make it so the japanese players only have to put in the abbreviated version of the word.

For example...

Instead of typing out all of Black Mage, 黒魔道士, they could type 黒, hit tab and it would be a recommended option at the top of their list. There would have to be some scripting involved, possibly even an auto-complete system to work around the auto-translate system limitations so they don't have to add 2 versions of a word.

I think it would help honestly. They should have data on most used translations, possibly even separated between which ones japanese players use the most, which ones NA players use the most, etc.

I think SE could make this work. I think the main issue is not that JP players flat out don't want to play with NA players, it's just that it is stressful using the system when it wasn't designed for the japanese language. The system was designed in anticipation for the NA release and wasn't improved to make it easier for japanese players to communicate to others.
I really don't think they have the data on the most used translations but I do agree with you with that it's stressful for JPs to use the translate.