How Arabic Games Are Fighting The War On Error
OPINION
For a long time, the Western side of the world has been positioning the Arabic countries as an enemy through the use of media. Games are no exception, but now we see a backlash from the Arabic game development community. Their work seems to hold an important lesson for us all.
A Persian Flavour
Initial glances from the eyes of various gaming communities and press alike perceived Saudi Arabian-developed Unearthed: Trail of Ibn Battuta as nothing more than a shameless Uncharted clone. No arguments here; the game is a complete “rip off” as has been said by many people. Interestingly, though, there has been a slight divide in the reactions to the game. Some have mentioned being “flattered” by the mimicry, while others have gone so far as to “feel offended” by the clone. This outraged reaction is no accident; it seems gamers do not like it when one of their gaming treasures is outright stolen. However, the game’s Saudi Arabian developer, Semaphore, is conducting a move that is much more than simply a successful, albeit shameless, marketing tactic.
What is the significance of taking a Western game and making this influence obvious, and then replacing it with Arabic characters, locations and history? Arabic game developers are attempting to stage a cultural comeback after having been unfairly and wrongfully portrayed in video games. Most significant is the injection of actual Arabic history rather than a fantasy timeline of events. Ubisoft Montreal is arguably the only Western studio that has really given Middle Eastern countries a positive portrayal in video games. The Prince of Persia and Assassin’s Creed series’ have both explored the rich culture offered by the Middle East, yet even they have only managed to do so by constructing myths and false realities. The difference being made with a recent trend from Arabic game developers is to use actual historical figures, events and legends in their games. Unearthed is a game that does exactly this, and the advantage of using the globetrotting formula of a game like Uncharted is that it grants the capacity for the developers to inject a narrative that explores Arabic history. It is also great for marketing too. But whereas Uncharted originally focused on the pursuits of Sir Francis Drake, Unearthed chases the travels of the equally adventurous Ibn Battuta. The historic scholar Battuta is famous for embarking on an epic 30-year journey across Africa, the Middle East, parts of Eastern Europe and even to China.
Unearthed is a game that deliberately plagiarizes in what seems to be an attempt to change the perspective of an American game and give it an Arabic identity. In a sense, the developers are simply swapping roles with American developers by taking an American story (Uncharted), but seeing it through their own eyes. Ahmad Jadallah, the Director of Development at Semaphore and the game's writer and director, said the following on the subject:
We are story-tellers at heart and we feel that we have a lot of great stories that are based on actual Middle Eastern history in this region and we strive to tell them using the very best in modern technologies.
The aim of the game therefore is to create an Arabic voice, to be heard and to share specific Arabic stories in order to carve an Arabic identity on a medium that, up until now, only represented the entire population through foreign eyes. This not only goes towards a more equal and just representation of different cultures in games, but also helps to provide a sense of identity for a population that has undergone a lot of recent media-led discrimination. This may become the primary way for countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran to communicate their own identity, rather than one that has been constructed by foreigners and broadcast across the world
Garshasp The Prejudice Slayer
Unearthed is not the only Arabic game fighting the cause, as there are at least two other noteworthy efforts to reinstate Arabic history, culture and identity through computer games. Met with a critical dismissal upon its release, Garshasp the Monster Slayer is a third-person action game based around ancient Persian mythology – a God of War rip off, if you will. The graphics and gameplay and many other technological aspects of the game are not great, and in all honesty, Unearthed looks to be heading the same way. Still, the game is playable, and for a developing native industry that so desperately wants to find an identity, that is enough. The typical promotional lines for the game are less about how good the game looks or plays (mainly because it isn’t that good), but instead focus heavily on the game’s adherence to traditional and historical Persian culture. In an interview with gamestar.ru the lead director of Garshasp, Amir H. Fassihi states the most pertinent line that sums up the cause of the Arabic games industry:
…we have access to lots of great Persian Mythology, we always believe that there is a huge resource of art, literature, mythology in Ancient Iran which has never been converted into modern media such as movies, animations or games. We wanted to try and portray part of this culture to the modern world.
He then goes on to rectify the difference between games like Prince of Persia and his own game, Garshasp:
Prince of Persia has been inspired by the book of 1001 Nights, this is not Persian mythology. Some stories related to a time after the Arab invasion and this is why everything in Prince of Persia has an Arabic and Indian theme to it also, not the pure Persian.
Persian settings appeal more to our Iranian audiences and at the same time bring a rather new experience for the western world.
Persian settings appeal more to our Iranian audiences and at the same time bring a rather new experience for the western world.
The game has been in development by Fanafzar Studios since 2006 and eventually saw its release in May 2011. Looking at the game purely as a critic, the result seems to be a waste of time due to the inexperience of the developers and the pale comparison to the blockbusting God of War series. But the mere fact that the game exists and is available to buy and play around the world is significant within itself, despite the actual quality of the game. As Fassihi states, the game will be one of the very few that uses Persian mythology and will consequently appeal to Iranian audiences who may enjoy playing games like Modern Warfare, but will ultimately not be able to identify with the Western perspective of these games.