Primary Research - Gathering first hand info!

So, as far as I've looked, it's a scarcely explored topic - culture within games that is. There's plenty of information on video games as a culture, and the difference between games made by different cultures (that well known contrast between Western games and Japanese games in particular!). However, there isn't much on games that take inspiration from different cultures.

I guess it should speak for itself, but honestly, there could be more to it - like whether unique cultural influences really do or don't have a particular impact on game-character relation. At the moment I'm talking more broadly, because ultimately the whole scope of the game would affect the characters within it. 

Anyway, my point is that the best way forward is to gather information first hand from people who have played games I know are pretty heavily influenced by one culture or another. So I'm making a couple of surveys that will identify whether people are impacted by, value or even notice the presence of the inspiration from a culture. By gaining some statistics, it will help me to evaluate the necessity in focusing on this particular topic.

Screencap of survey in progress.

One example that I know has a fairly obscure inspiration origin is the Prince of Persia series. Obviously it's easy to see that it's set around Persia (duh!) but I've paid particular attention to the 2008 'reboot' of the series. Prince of Persia is set completely separately to the trilogy (Sands of Time, Warrior Within and The Two Thrones) however they all have their roots in the Arabian Nights tales. It just so happens that, as the producer Ben Mattes (Kotaku, 2008) stated: 'there are hundreds of tales in Arabian Nights'.

Strictly speaking, Prince of Persia 2008 is majorly influenced by Zoroastrianism (Persian Mythology), an ancient Iranian religion. That seems quite niche, and though people will see the obvious, the stereotypical if you will, it will be interesting to find out whether the deeper influence impacts more players than not.

The same will go for the other games I will investigate through the power of survey! Bwah ha ha!