{"id":116357,"date":"2017-03-25T12:30:31","date_gmt":"2017-03-25T10:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=116357"},"modified":"2017-03-24T16:13:15","modified_gmt":"2017-03-24T14:13:15","slug":"how-video-games-can-teach-players-about-indigenous-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/116357-how-video-games-can-teach-players-about-indigenous-culture","title":{"rendered":"How video games can teach players about indigenous culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Video games are robust forms of creative expression merging design, code, art and sound. Unfortunately, many games misrepresent or appropriate from Indigenous communities<\/a> by falling back on stereotypes or including cultural content without involving Indigenous people in the development process.<\/p>\n

But done right, games have the potential to be self-determined spaces, where Indigenous people (meaning First Nations, Inuit, M\u00e9tis, Native American, Maori, Aboriginal and similar communities) can express themselves on their own terms.<\/p>\n

As game designer Brenda Romero<\/a> points out, game mechanics \u2013 the systems that determine gameplay \u2013 can give players an experience<\/a> teaching deep and powerful lessons<\/a>. Her game \u201cThe New World<\/a>,\u201d for example, puts players in the role of a slave trader navigating the Middle Passage as a way to illuminate the experiences of slaves.<\/p>\n

But when games like \u201cAge of Empires<\/a>\u201d focus players\u2019 attention on \u201cdiscovering\u201d or \u201cclaiming\u201d land on a map, they are inherently reinforcing colonial views of the world. That ignores Indigenous approaches to mapping waterways and placenames, as seen in the Indigenous singing game \u201cSinguistics<\/a>,\u201d which portrays the Americas as Turtle Island<\/a>, a term recognized in many Indigenous communities.<\/p>\n

There is a strengthening movement of Indigenous game designers and developers<\/a> working to portray Indigenous storytelling, teachings and ways of knowing for their own people<\/a> and the wider world.<\/p>\n

As an Indigenous game developer and scholar of Indigenous games<\/a>, I want to see more Indigenous people creating games that are simultaneously engaging and informative. Above all else, I hope to see genuine representations as well as compelling games with design inspired by Indigenous ways of knowing.<\/p>\n