Digital Games and Orientalism: A Look at Arab and Muslim Representation in Popular Digital Games

Abstract

The cultural and ideological tools that enable the West to maintain the imperial and colonial rule over the East have been varied. With the help of Western-based digital technologies and communication tools, it is possible to produce, publish, and distribute all kinds of information easily and quickly. The western and Western perspective is also reflected in the media content, and all kinds of popular media texts such as films, music, newspapers, magazines, toys are the bearers of the political social, cultural, and ideological structure of the West. Media texts produce discourses, especially about the ‘East' and position the East as one other. In this context, digital games should not be considered independent of the political, social, cultural, and economic structure in which they exist. The aim of this study is to assess research studies focusing on the orientalist perspective in digital games. While examining the relationship between orientalism and digital games within the framework of the literature, especially the Muslim and Arab representations in the plays were examined.