Thread by @metasynthie

If you want to know what Kojima was actually trying to communicate in that tweet, here's my attempt at a de-mangled translation
(and for the record, I've been credited as the lead designer/writer/producer on a team project or two, but have never supported the idea of auteurism)

This is basically just "I haven't and won't let Konami put my name on the games they own that I just worked on the early stages of / same will apply to other collaborations going forward" right?

Or to put it another way, with a little more interpretation on my part: "I don't just slap my name on things because partners think it's valuable -- if I put my name on a game, that means I pitched in for all sorts of aspects from beginning to end."

Although to be fair, apparently his other games will still be "Kojima Productions" games even if he only wrote a draft, since that's the company.

As a name-brand egoist he still has 10,000 light-years to go before reaching the level of "Stan Lee presents" on every single issue

All of y’all getting excited by this translation:

a) don’t use my words to neg those who read the earlier translation as monstrous ego, it’s understandable c.f. Kojima

b) don’t reply to people about translation issues who’ve already got 18 such replies, you look like rude fools

Since this is *still* rolling on: more clarifications. No, I don't really stan Kojima? I like maybe four of his games. (Snatcher!) Here's my opinion of him: woah this cyberpunk film-buff glam-fan sure does have some zany counter-immersive ideas... and sometimes they're even fun!

There are some advantages (for teammates, even) in promoting yourself as a legendary brand, but the risk in succeeding is that even your strong, original creations can get unfortunately overrated, doing the work a disservice in the shadow of a name.

The game industry would be better off without the bogus spectre of auteur theory, since even successful "solo indie games" tend to be built with a ton of help and contribution. But it'd be far worse off if it was ALL anonymized labor, products without creatives' names & faces.

Some publishers & megastudios prefer it this way, of course! Rarely elevating a creative voice for recognition. (Just consider which franchises you don't associate with any human name?) For power reasons: anonymous means replaceable + less bargaining ability for creative workers.

With hyper-industrialized games taking 1000s of hands, being "recognized" simply means your name is adrift in a sea of a 30-minute credit roll. Of course, the alternative to this shouldn't be "one big ego gets all the credit" either, right?

Although as Bennett points out, Kojima is actually *relatively* better at crediting than most of his neighbors, he still plays the "this work has one primary face" auteur game (for bargaining power and PR benefits, but also certainly celebrity, right?) Fans eat it up, ofc.

And part of the reason it's so easy to get irate when it seems that a large ego like Kojima is taking credit is precisely that the recognition structure of games is messed up, and grows more so at scale. There's a lot of barely suppressed upset to go around.

For some more thoughts on this topic and comparisons to other art forms and media, see @bfod and @helvetica's talk on why you should put your (singular...) name on your game:

Overall I tend to agree with @BRKeogh's thoughts in this thread, including that recognition should be more widespread.

https://twitter.com/BRKeogh/status/1175904297793421313?s=20

Wacky idea: maybe gigantic games have some severe built-in disadvantages for creative recognition of all the work going into them?

Implicit in this @xpatriciah piece is not just a consumer argument ($60 is so pricey!) but also the inverse, that $60 is a weird and unsustainable revenue-point that doesn't support mega-development without all sorts of post-purchase shenanigans. polygon.com/2019/9/19/2087…

@xpatriciah Lastly: no, I don't think it's problematic to offer a second translation for a famous non-native-English-speaker's words, especially when the earlier "official" translation is massively amplified and in no way destroyed by mine?

Nobody's perfect at translating thoughts to a foreign tongue (especially one learned later in life) which is why translators help, and why multiple translations are great! It can be very meaningful to triangulate; if interested in this I recommend 19 Ways: theparisreview.org/blog/tag/ninet…

I started learning to find cross-language nuance and address awkward mis-translations over three decades ago while helping my mother translate her own writing and that of other Japanese women writers. thanks mom
amazon.com/s?k=yukiko+tan…