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French officials are told to stop gaming anger

31 May

The French language watchdog has advised officials of the government to use French gaming terms rather than English.

The Academie Francaise believes that “jeu vidéo de competition” should be replaced with “e-sports” and that “streamer” should be replaced by “joueur-animateur direct”.

France’s culture ministry told the AFP news agency that Anglicisms were “a barrier to understanding”.

However, some gamers have criticized the ban, with one saying it “completely useless”.

France frequently warns of the “debasement of its language” by the importation of English words.

Other official translations include “jeu video en nuage” which refers to “cloud gaming”.

The Academie Francaise was established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu and is the official custodian of the French language.

The forty Academie members even sport their own uniform with intricately embroidered details complete with a ceremonial sword which might not be completely out of place in a game such 2014’s Assassin’s Creed Unity.

The institution has long fought against the incursion of English words into French which technology has frequently promoted.

However, Thelocal.fr reported that a earlier attempt to replace “le wifi” with “l’access without internet” was unsuccessful.

On Twitter, a gamer opposed the ruling by writing: “I’m French and I find this absolutely ridiculous I’m sure no one will ever use those terms. This ban is absurd.

However, a number of others in the same set of replies to a tweet by Eurogamer, posted memes suggesting they thought that the French versions were more sophisticated than their English equivalents. Spiderman gaming

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