Abstract

The dis­cus­sion about iden­ti­ties is one of the the­mes addres­sed in the book Trans­la­ting and Inter­pre­ting the Public, pri­ma­rily from the pos­tu­la­tes of para­trans­la­tion. The issue of iden­tity is currently at the fore­front of con­tem­po­rary trans­la­tion stu­dies. Reflec­tion on the cons­truc­tion, accep­tan­ce, or bana­li­za­tion of iden­ti­ties is clo­sely rela­ted to the dis­cus­sion about the public and the pro­vi­sion of public ser­vi­ces and trans­la­tion. Such ser­vi­ces must undoub­tedly take into account the alte­red, uns­ta­ble, and always chan­ging iden­ti­ties of a mul­ti­pli­city of users who are increa­singly in con­ti­nuous dis­pla­ce­ment. Iden­ti­ties in cons­tant trans­for­ma­tion must also be con­si­de­red in loca­li­za­tion pro­ces­ses aimed at adap­ting pro­ducts to dif­fe­rent mar­kets; these pro­ces­ses inevi­tably rely on the iden­tity per­cep­tions of the con­texts they aim to enter. We could cri­ti­ci­ze this as a mani­pu­la­tion stra­tegy for con­sum­ption, but it is also a force that dri­ves the eco­nomy of a society and that beco­mes part of, whether we like it or not, the idiosyn­crasy of a social group. This is the case with video games and the nume­rous variants of various natu­res that inter­ve­ne in their pro­duc­tion and effec­ti­ve­ness.