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I'm trying to translate a tweet from a Japanese account but I'm not able. I know almost all the words, but can't understand the sense.

My Japanese teacher didn't understand it very well neither and she couldn't give me a correct translation into my language (Spanish).

ゲーム業界のパイの喰い合いに本気出すよりも可能なところはみんなで人類みなゲーマー目指したほうがハッピーだと思うけど、最終的にその世界人口にも限りはあるから数十手先まで関連する以上何が正しいか判断付かない。

These are the main problems I have (but not the only):

  • What does よりも mean here?
  • 可能なところ: Possible place?
  • Is みな the same as みんな?
  • I think 数十手先 is any kind of chess term, but I'm not sure.

My translation:

More than getting serious on eating together the pie of the games industry, I think the possible place is all the humanity trying to be a gamer to be happy, but finally, as there are limits for the population of that world, there's no correct relationship more than see ten turns ahead

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  • This ところ is not a place but a relative pronoun and 可能なところは can translate to "concerning what's possible" = "as far as we can".
    – user4092
    Apr 6, 2017 at 12:32

2 Answers 2

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Context: The person who said this works in the game industry, and this is a comment on a certain Japanese pro-gaming team that apparently is in trouble. Sadly, professional gaming is not yet widely recognized in Japan.


  • ~するよりも means "(rather) than doing ~"
  • 人類みなゲーマー is a parody of a famous phrase 人類みな兄弟 ("All human beings are siblings"). みな is, yes, みんな. So 人類みなゲーマー(を)目指す literally means to try to achieve the everyone-is-a-gamer situation.
  • 数十手先 is a chess/go/shogi term. "(what happens in) several dozens of moves ahead".
  • 可能なところは in this context means "where possible". It means either 可能な会社 (companies that may try to achieve 人類みなゲーマー) or 可能な分野 (fields where people can try to achieve 人類みなゲーマー).
  • This verb + 以上 is not "more than" but a conjunction meaning "since ~" or "so long as ~". See this.

I think I understand what this guy is trying to say, but the following "translation" may be very rough due to my limited English skill.

ゲーム業界のパイの喰い合いに本気出すよりも、
Rather than scrambling for a piece of the game industry pie,

→ Rather than competing hard in the existing game industry,

可能なところはみんなで人類みなゲーマー目指したほうがハッピーだと思う
wherever possible, I think it's happier to strive together for the world where everyone is a gamer.

→ if the situation permits, it's probably better to try to increase the number of gamers itself.

けど、最終的にその世界人口にも限りはあるから
However, ultimately, there is a limit to the world population,
数十手先まで関連する以上何が正しいか判断付かない。
and since things in dozens of moves ahead are concerned, I cannot judge what is correct.

→ But the number of potential/future gamers are limited anyway, and you cannot expand the game market forever. Since predicting the long-term future is very difficult, I don't know what is the correct strategy.

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You can understand よりも as rather than. So, ゲーム業界のパイの喰い合いに本気出すよりも means "Rather than eating each other parts of the game business". (パイ is verbatim for pie and 喰い合う is eat each other sth)

みんな and みな are the same thing. Except that almost nobody uses みな anymore. But here is an exception 人類みな~ is a play on 人類みな兄弟 (All people are brothers and sisters).可能なところは means a possible thing to do.

All together, ゲーム業界のパイの喰い合いに本気出すよりも、可能なところはみんなで人類みなゲーマー目指したほうがハッピーだと思うけど means "Even though I think it would be better if we first think about gamers rather than trying to conquer each other parts of the game business".

手 means move as a move in chess, go, othello or any strategy game. So n手先 means n moves ahead.

何が正しいか判断付かない means "can't decide what is right" and 数十手先まで関連する以上 means "from what we can read from some dozens of move ahead".

When we put all pieces together:

ゲーム業界のパイの喰い合いに本気出すよりも、可能なところはみんなで人類みなゲーマー目指したほうがハッピーだと思うけど、最終的にその世界人口にも限りはあるから数十手先まで関連する以上何が正しいか判断付かない。
Even though I think it would be better if we first think about gamers rather than trying to conquer each other parts of the game business, since at last the world population is finite we can't decide what is right from just reading what happens some dozens of moves ahead.


Nevertheless, "we can't decide what is right from just reading what happens some dozens of moves ahead." sounds a bit funny as a conclusion (according to what comes before) so I might have misunderstood something.

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    I can't talk for other games than Go, but in Go I've only seen 手先 used for moves, and only by non-Go players (Go players just say 手, with a certain number in front). When talking in general about some kind of move or more specifically about a certain move, the term 一手{いって} is used (which probably just comes from 一手先{ひとてさき}).
    – a20
    Apr 5, 2017 at 16:52
  • @bjorn you're right. I realize that just now but 数字+手先 means 数字 moves(手) ahead(先) so as you said move is 手. Thank you! Apr 5, 2017 at 16:57

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