Notes

    Hollywood vilified Arabs throughout the years. It did so one way by recreating the stereotypes created by the Orientalist Artist of the 18th and 19th of Europe.

    As for Game Art and Design, the same tradition is carried on especially in games that lie heavily on Narrative. And since the game industry is fairly new, it relies heavily on the concept of remediation. drawing on the film industry for Narrative and inspiration.

    It is interesting that for a game character like Assassin's creed "Al Tair" (Arabic for "the flying oe" or "bird" depending on the context),  the creative choice was to dress the character in medieval eastern garments inspired by his Arabic name, to make him look like a bird (an eagle specifically) as he jumps from roof top to another within the game's most appealing gameplay feature.
So the character is without a doubt is designed to be Arab from the near East, but what is very interesting he has nothing of the Arab demeanor nor behavior.

    So that was another choice the Designers and Art Directors made. so the question is why? especially that his obvious all American hero behavior and demeanor was highlited by the contrasting NPCs of the game who had the Arab behavior patterns and demeanor.
    So it is clearly that decision was not based on lack of knowledge but on a conscious choice.
Could it be in the attempt to have the character relatable to the American and Western Audiance?
But if the creators of the game knew that without a doubt their choice of story will attract the Near East and Arabic audience, given the sensitivity of the time frame and place they chose for that Game world : Jerusalem, Damascus mainly, so why did they still make that creative choice and alienate the Arab player and destroy their suspension of disbelief ?!
 
   So what does that mean in terms of character design? was it a conscious choice to make the character relatable to the American audience since the Arab character is so vilified in the American and more so the worldwide consciousness  was the Arab person so repulsive by the constant act of vilification by the Entertainment and  Media that it became impossible for Western players to relate to it even if the creators of the games considered to stay authentic to the culture.Thus demanding changing his attitude and demeanor to western behavior in order to be relatable and accepted by the Western audience. no matter if that choice will compromise the Eastern player immersive experience.

   So where does that leave the artist? create a true cultural hybridization for such charcters or resort to total modifications in the direction of the favored target audience??!

   Will the game industry merely repeat Hollywood's negative stereotyping; vilifying and dehumanizing Arab men and Women?

   One Angle: to prove remediation: video games carry on the same tradition of negatively stereotyping Arabs men and women