Cultural Appropriation

Cultural appropriation is an issue that is addressed often in these days of being a 'Global Village'. Many people feel that they a being robbed of their cultural aspects only to have them be abused and commercialized. In most cases this is true it seems, but in other cases it can be an acceptance and welcome of differences.
In the video game industry, cultural appropriation runs a full gambit from artistic and respectful to rude and offensive. This is primarily to help players identify with what's going on usually through stereotypes or cliches. This includes Mario (Super Mario Brothers - Nintendo) speaking in a New York/Italian accent, or having the black character rap during the credits (Gears of War - Epic Games, Call of Duty 4 - Infinity Ward). Games fall back on stereotypes time and again because it is easy, but is it right.
The sad truth is, no matter what you do, someone is going to get offended. Be it someone calling racist (Resident Evil 5 - Capcom), or complaining about representing holy symbols in games (Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Nintendo). Rarely are the arguments grounded, with ignorance of games and their plots/history still prevailent in news media. However, it goes to show that the best intentions and even non-intentions can go astray, often with a single opinion sparking the fire.
The are some games that take good approaches to introducing people the other cultures. Muramusa: the Demon Blade - Vanillaware is an action/rpg title for the Wii which explores classical Japanese mythology in a style meant to resemble traditional watercolours from ancient Japan. Another title is Assassin's Creed - Ubisoft. While it does take some liberties with the events of the Crusades, the different cultures are represented well with no side being clear good guys or bad guys, making the player question if they are doing the right thing along the way. On top of that, when the game is loading it states that the game was developed by 'a multicultural team of various religious backgrounds'. This was to show that research was taken seriously onto what aspects of the various cultures were depicted in the game.
I feel that cultural appropriation is alright so long as it is done with respect and consideration. If an ethical group does not agree with your depiction of them in a game, find out why to try to compromise. Unfortunatly, as strong as the push is for games to be 'art', they still stand as a business first, and with freedom of speech being what it is, studios can't really be stopped completely from doing what they want. Still, respect is a cornerstone to understanding, and should always be taken into consideration.

Sources:
wikipedia.org
gamesradar.com
IGN magazine
gametrailers.com