Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaleb.G
I've been too indecisive and meandering with my discussion thus far, so I'm going to tone it down to the essentials.
We already have a dedicated Romanized title field, as well as an option to show Romanized titles in place of the Display titles. It begs the true question: What is our ultimate goal with the Display title? Of course, it can't be complete accuracy, because the Original title is the most accurate.
If the Display title is attempting to make an easy read for English speakers, then it shouldn't be a Romanized title unless there are no other reasonable English alternatives. Most English speakers can't make sense of many Romanizations. Sure, they can read it (and maybe even even pronounce it), but it's gibberish to them. How will any typical English-speaking game music fan know that "Gacha Mecha Stadium Saru Battle" is actually "Ape Escape: Pumped & Primed"? Likewise, I've never heard of "Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow" referred to as "Akumajo Dracula Sougetsu no Juujika". It's just inconvenient.
And again, I am all for maintaining official information. But when we already have the Original and Romanized fields used up, what's left to use the Display for?
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And yet, even if all you're saying regarding the display field sounds reasonable, the practice of the database is often in reverse.
I'll try to reply each relevant point to clarify my stance (to myself, then to others).
"Of course, it can't be complete accuracy, because the Original title is the most accurate."
Yes, Original is the most accurate, but it requires the use of foreign (non-latin) alphabet. Therefore I think a good goal for the Display line would be "the most accuracy possible" without recurring to foreign alphabets.
"If the Display title is attempting to make an easy read for English speakers, then it shouldn't be a Romanized title unless there are no other reasonable English alternatives."
"If" - but this criteria loses some of its importance if, as Squirrel says, the search function does search in all the four title lines. In other words, if I am able to search "Castlevania" and obtain the "Akumajo Dracula" albums, it's not so vital that the Display line does look for English alternatives to romanization. If I search Ape Escape and I obtain Sarugecchu CDs, I most likely will have a look at them, learning something in the process.
"Most English speakers can't make sense of many Romanizations. Sure, they can read it (and maybe even even pronounce it), but it's gibberish to them."
I appreciate the idea to keep the site entry-level, although, let's not lose perspective. The average reader here has already a quite advanced knowledge of one or more of these fields: videogames, videogame music, videogame series, localization issues, and such. We are talking of a community geared towards obtaining soundtracks which, for the most part, are on the grey import market. I'm pretty sure the average Joe here has heard of Sarugetchu, and if he hasn't, it won't take long for him to go around that.
Am I advocating then to stay "obscure" and "niche" just for the sake of it? No, not at all - it's good to provide easy read and as many possible translations and options. But since it's a database focused on gathering information, it would be better to stay a little more strict to the album's information.
Likewise, I've never heard of "Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow" referred to as "Akumajo Dracula Sougetsu no Juujika".
It's not so uncommon, actually - at least in CV forums. But continuing on the example, I've never heard of someone calling the "Akumajo Dracula Best" albums "Castlevania Best". The majority of these albums has never reached officially west (think on the so many Castlevania related cds that are not specifically soundtracks) - it's a bit of a stretch to apply to these Japanese albums the official English name of the games they are based on.
I am all for maintaining official information. But when we already have the Original and Romanized fields used up, what's left to use the Display for?
In my view, Display should be basically Romanized. Either that, or based on English text already present on the album. I can reverse your question and say: when we have a fourth line for "alternative" titles (english translations, games' titles etc.) why do we have to mess around with the first Display line?
That's my two cent so far, although I still have some doubts myself. ^^;