A Visual Ethnographic Study at Cultural Spaces to Identify Character Creation Opportunities

Anthropology, defined as the scientific study of human development and societies, can play a critical role in the design of (video) game mechanics and aesthetics. Especially religion and culture are seen as fundamental components in building communities, societies, and human evolution. In this paper, we present (1) a case study using UX methods such as ethnography, grounded theory, participatory design, and user interviews to develop and evaluate design spaces generated from cultural spaces, (2) this design space in the form of paradigms and syntagms and (3) how this design space can assist in the construction of novel and culturally sensitive characters.