French officials told to abandon gaming anger

31 May

France's language watchdog has urged officials of the government to make use of French gaming terms rather than English.

The Academie Francaise believes that "jeu video de compétition" should be replaced with "e-sports" and that "streamer" should be replaced with "joueur-animateur direct".

France's culture ministry has told the AFP news agency that Anglicisms were "a barrier to understanding".

But gamers have criticised the ban, with one calling it "completely ineffective".

France frequently issues warnings about the "debasement" of its language due to the importation of English words.

Other official translations include "jeu vidéo en nuage" which means "cloud gaming".

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

The 40 Academy members wear their own uniforms with embroidery details and a sword for ceremonial use. This outfit might not be out of place in Assassin's Creed Unity 2014.

The institution has been opposed to the infiltration of English words into French for a long time. Technology has helped facilitate this.

However, Thelocal.fr reported that a earlier attempt to replace "le wifi" with "l'access without internet" failed. minecraft

On Twitter, one player was against the latest ruling by writing: "I'm French and I find this ridiculous I'm sure no one will ever use those terms. This ban is absurd.

In a series of replies to Eurogamer's tweet, several others shared memes that suggested the French versions were more sophisticated than the English.

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