Gaijinworks?

ilovemyguitar · Post by **ilovemyguitar** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 2:47 am

So, apparently Victor Ireland has a new company in the works. How freakin' cool is that?

Post by **Kizyr** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:21 am

The name is way too off-putting.

Sure, I hope he can manage to do something with this, but just the name alone is already giving me a bad impression. KF

Darknight · Post by **Darknight** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 4:12 am

If I may ask, what is wrong with the name? Maybe it has some meaning I don't know or something.

Thanks

Kizyr wrote:The name is way too off-putting.

Sure, I hope he can manage to do something with this, but just the name alone is already giving me a bad impression. KF

LuciaOne · Post by **LuciaOne** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 5:22 am

Well, I'm not fluent or anything, but Gaijin in Japan means "foreigner", but it's negative and not polite. The polite term is "Gaikokujin"...

phyco126 · Post by **phyco126** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:19 am

Sweet! Though I don't know why he would try a different name and not just try to revive Working Designs.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 7:39 am

The Phoenix has arrived.

Rock on Vic!

YoshiMars · Post by **YoshiMars** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 1:25 pm

While the name is a bit odd if this means the company is "back" I am really excited! This could mean great things... =)

Post by **Kizyr** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:42 pm

The term 'gaijin' is a very rude term for a foreigner in Japanese. The polite term is 'gaikokujin', like Lucia said, and also the term 'gaijin-san', while a bit cruder, is still considered non-offensive (I did make the mistake of confusing someone's intent in using 'gaijin-san', but got some clarification later).

I don't mind 'gaijin' being used sarcastically or as a joke (see Outpost Nine for what I mean by that). But I have a serious problem with folks using it as if it's just another word--including folks who don't know Japanese--because it legitimizes use of it among Japanese as well. And, frankly, the only people I'd let call me 'gaijin' are the elderly and guys who look like Yakuza members. Because a) I don't correct the elderly, and b) I don't mess with Yakuza look-alikes. (Both situations have come up, if you're at all curious.)

This next part is going to be very blunt, so just know that I'm not meaning to offend anyone, but I do risk sounding that way.

The entire deal with why 'gaijin' was popularized, I figure to be because many white folks (primarily American, but to a lesser extent Canadians, British, and Australians) in Japan think it's all cool and novel to have a racial epithet that can be applied to them, too, and don't have a clue how to deal with it. It's not the same as blacks using n---a (because that's in a certain context where it's generally known who can use that term and when), but you get some whites in Japan starting to treat it that way.

The problem is that it legitimizes using the term 'gaijin' for Japanese who are prone to use it to begin with. So you have mainly white folks going around legitimizing a negative term that's applied to people both white and non-white. And the same folks don't get what the whole deal is, because a) they get both positive and negative discrimination (particularly white women), instead of just the negative, and b) they never dealt with actual racism before, and so won't realize what kind of actions would generally encourage it.

There, now you know why I don't like the word. Maybe Vic will get some sense knocked into him on down the line and change the name. Really, it's about as stupid as calling your company "Negroworks" and expecting that to fly. KF

Post by **GhaleonOne** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 4:20 pm

Kinda strange that Vic would use it then. I would think he'd know what it meant. (my biggest worry would be that Japanese developers don't find it funny and don't liscense games to the company). We'll just have to wait and see. Keep in mind, it's only a domain name and an brief mention to an Ebay user.

Post by **Kizyr** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:18 pm

GhaleonOne wrote:Kinda strange that Vic would use it then. I would think he'd know what it meant. (my biggest worry would be that Japanese developers don't find it funny and don't liscense games to the company). We'll just have to wait and see. Keep in mind, it's only a domain name and an brief mention to an Ebay user.

I have no doubt that he knows what it means, but I don't think he understands the complete context behind it. (Some folks who actually do speak Japanese don't understand the context behind it, either.) And, as far as I know, Vic doesn't really speak or understand Japanese that much, but is listed as a translator because of his work on the editing side of things. KF

ilovemyguitar · Post by **ilovemyguitar** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:50 pm

I'm guessing there probably aren't a lot of people involved with the project yet, since they don't even have a fully functioning website yet. I'm sure that once some more people become involved with it, including some qualified translators, it'll get straightened out.

LuciaOne · Post by **LuciaOne** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 7:12 pm

ilovemyguitar wrote:I'm guessing there probably aren't a lot of people involved with the project yet, since they don't even have a fully functioning website yet. I'm sure that once some more people become involved with it, including some qualified translators, it'll get straightened out.

Yeah, great point.

Maybe they'll need an artist........................

Imperial Knight · Post by **Imperial Knight** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 7:52 pm

phyco126 wrote:Sweet! Though I don't know why he would try a different name and not just try to revive Working Designs.

I can't say for sure but I'm guessing he can't use "Working Designs" since he was not the owner of the company.

Dragonmaster Lou · Post by **Dragonmaster Lou** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 7:56 pm

Imperial Knight wrote:I can't say for sure but I'm guessing he can't use "Working Designs" since he was not the owner of the company.

That probably was the case. If memory serves me correctly, Working Designs was originally a company that produced software for the trucking industry -- software for tracking shipments, driver logs, etc. Vic was just another employee (though perhaps a fairly high-ranking one, like a VP or something) who somehow convinced the owners that there was more money in this "translating obscure Japanese video games thing" than in trucking software (and for a while, at least, there apparently was), and the rest was history.

Imperial Knight · Post by **Imperial Knight** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:10 pm

Yeah, pretty much. The owner, BTW, was a venture capitalist named Sylvia Schmitt.

Zophar · Post by **Zophar** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:59 pm

Well as long as it means good games coming to America, I really couldn't care less about the name of the company.

phyco126 · Post by **phyco126** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 3:50 am

What, really? I was always under the impression that Vic was the owner. Well, in any evetn he was still the president right? Or is my info just all wrong? Oo;

Imperial Knight · Post by **Imperial Knight** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 3:53 am

phyco126 wrote:What, really? I was always under the impression that Vic was the owner. Well, in any evetn he was still the president right? Or is my info just all wrong? Oo;

Yes, he was the president.

Post by **GhaleonOne** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 9:08 pm

http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=6656

Clarification on the name, and more confirmation on the company. There's also some stuff on GameSpot, but I don't have the link handy (and I don't recall it really having anymore info that isn't in the above link).

Post by **Kizyr** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 3:08 am

GhaleonOne wrote:http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=6656

Clarification on the name, and more confirmation on the company. There's also some stuff on GameSpot, but I don't have the link handy (and I don't recall it really having anymore info that isn't in the above link).

Clarification on the name is pretty much clarification that Vic is a moron when it comes to picking names. KF

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