Cultural Modelling: Literature review

This project explores the impact of culture on goal-oriented behaviour within a gaming environment. Culture consists of values, rituals, heroes, symbols, and behavioural practices and can be differentiated using five cultural dimensions Hofstede, 1991 cited in Dahl, 2005. These are power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity, and long-term orientation. Establishing how cultural diversity can be better represented within a simulation environment requires certain elements. The literature suggests several modelling techniques and requirements related to psychological fidelity. For the purpose of this project, developing a methodology to ensure that agents goals are consistent with their culture and showing differential impact of culture on people with differing status are critical. The proposed approach for modelling culture includes components related to the status of individuals, and the strength of the cultural dimension in play. In representing the impact of culture, a good model would also show agents to react differentially to external events e.g., an economic downturn. The proposed methodology for incorporating culture into the simulation environment as well as recommendations for a longer term project is presented.