Sapir-Whorf and Game Design

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis states that thought is limited (the Strong version) or at least strongly influenced (the Weak version) by language. Game designers must consider their target culture in order to make a successful game, but I think that currently the extent of that cultural consideration is mainly in the choice of game themes/archetypes, perhaps some cultural references in translations, and avoidance of taboos. In other words, there doesn’t seem to be much consideration of how a player’s language influences his thoughts while playing. Designers could use experimental results from cognitive science to improve their games; for example, in-game tutorials/instructions may need to be structured differently to match the style of thinking imposed by the player’s language, information on the screen may need to be presented differently, and levels may need to be laid out differently.