Although it is certainly not everything to a game, representation means a great deal to me...Playing full-on Indigenous-made games like Elizabeth LaPenseé’s 2D adventure game, When Rivers Were Trails, gives me the chance to see myself and my people in a good way—which up until this point has been a rare case in video games.
Tony Brave, Media, Culture, and Communication doctoral student and Sicangu Oyate descendant, was the lead writer and cultural consultant for portrayal of indigenous people in Age of Empire III.
In this Q&A with the video game producer, Brave discusses the changes he introduced to the representation of the Lakota people.