Getting Clear on Culture

A while ago I mentioned a book that would be ideal for me to look at regarding my area of research. Better Game Character By Design dedicates a chapter to discussing culture and its involvement in games and character design. 

So I read up on this a week or so ago, and only just got round to writing up my notes into the blog! Woops! I found quite a lot and it led me onto another book as well, so this might be a long entry as I write up the many notes I took. :P 

Anyway, it mentioned a number of interesting points that I wasn't aware of, and it's tugged in a slightly unexpected direction in its mentioning of localization of characters according to the culture of the region in which a game is intended to be released.

The entire chapter was enlightening though, backing up what I initially thought about this subject not being explored enough. As I've already reflected upon before, it's dangerous territory when directly taking inspiration from culture by culture or for culture, because there's always the risk of running stereotypes. That being said, I've started exploration on how this might be combated and how audiences might prefer to see characters in terms of cultural influences i.e. more subtle references, maybe even fantasized versions of existing cultures. (How many times can I type that word in one paragraph?!) 

Not entirely sure what I've written about my findings from this so far, so I'll recap: culture is defined most commonly as national identities, however ethnicity is not so black and white. There are subcultures within those cultures and old and new traditions and customs that may or may not have intertwined in recent years. Once distinguishable cultures are becoming a blend of many. So this is one of the reasons that cultures in games and surrounding games is becoming a little more complex. Isbister covers this as an intro.

Three points are made, regarding stereotyping and why to go about avoiding stereotypes - for one thing, nowadays people might get easily offended! 

Nothing stays the same, and that makes 'culture' very hard to define, be it a fictional culture based upon a real one or a character inspired directly by an existing (or once existing) culture. This again runs the risk of stereotype. 

However I read upon a useful statement, that: 

'Designs that address basic human issues and qualities can be appealing when [...] appearance and behaviour come from an unfamiliar subculture' (Isbister, 2006). 

This, in my opinion, suggests that character relation to players goes deeper than just how they look. For example, as is pointed out in the interview with Hasegawa and Tsurumi, Japanese audiences hate Master Chief not only for his physical design, but for his apparent independence, as they are far more accustomed to 'collectivist cultures [...] value the harmony of the group and protecting each person...' (Isbister, 2006). 

Tidus and Yuna from Final Fantasy X is the example used here. 

They maintain Japanese behaviourisms, including looking out for and supporting each other as well as how they address each other with bows. The entire game involves Tidus supporting Yuna and others throughout the game.

One game that comes to mind for me is the Legend of Zelda series. Link always has a supporting character, whether it is Navi the Fairy from Ocarina of Time, or perhaps more notably Midna from Twilight Princess - in the end she in particular supports Link to the end despite ulterior motives in the beginning. The point is, Link can't complete his quest without her aid.

I learned that physical identity is important in 'social perception and interaction', Isbister says that ethnic similarities between player and character are 'perceived as more socially attractive'. This is particularly true for player-characters as they are a social substitute, effectively an avatar for the player in the game. (Isbister, 2006). So perhaps this is why it is difficult for characters and games to transfer regions without making changes, although apparently Japanese games transfer more easily to Western cultures.
 

This might explain why non-human characters seem to succeed globally. Just look at the phenomenon that was and still is Pokemon. It transcends cultural borders because it is so wildly adrift from reality that the cultural presence is almost unnoticed, despite it being typically Japanese. 

'Social roles are important to character design because they shape a player's expectations about how characters should interact more with one another in the game. If a character has a particular social role, the player with unconsciously apply his or her own cultural expectations for fulfilling that role and may be confused [...] if the character diverges from these expectations without explanation. This may be especially true if the character looks as if she or he belongs to the player's own cultural group'. (Isbister, 2006).

This passage particularly intrigued me because it seems to claim that a character is more relatable to a player, so long as BOTH the character's physical identity AND interactions/behaviours coincide with the player's own. But is this always true? For a character with a strict cultural identity that is closely related to the players, then most likely, however you cannot identify how far this truth stretches, in my opinion.  although I will agree with the statement that 'cultural and subcultural backgrounds have a profound effect on how [the player] perceives the game because of these existing expectations'. This is something that I could explore!  In fact, I am already looking into differentiating between what is good character design for people from different backgrounds. 

 Again, another questionable statement is made, regarding whether characters behaving a certain way can appeal and engage people whose customs include the same values. I could flip that, and ask what about those who don't have the same values. Are they automatically rejected or disregarded as being able to relate to those characters? Other reasons could constitute a relation between player and character, although I will agree with the statement that 'cultural and subcultural backgrounds have a profound effect on how [the player] perceives the game because of these existing expectations'.

I have already established that there's no easy way to design a good character, as it is very subjective to different groups and even individuals within those groups, but the end of the chapter provides some design pointers, a couple of which I would be very wise to heed: 

• 'Consider avoiding real races and cultural movements'
• 'Use simple human universals in character relationships'
• 'Be true to localization of your characters in their own world'

(Pages 60-61)

This has been pretty lengthy, analyzing what I researched back then. I will discuss what I learned from the following interview with Hasegawa and Tsurumi from Sony Entertainment Japan in a separate entry. And then obviously what this has led me onto, further regarding the necessity, hindrance and impact of culture. I have been currently reading up on a similar topic in the book 'The Business and Culture of Digital Games'. This too emphasizes how it is an important presence and the effect it has, however it has a wider scope, focusing on the entirety of games. It is good for me to get a view of the whole thing. 

Perhaps I will gain a bigger insight into other cultures beyond the obvious, and the biggest affect it might have on marketability.