As Younging (2018) points out, there are challenges that the publication of Indigenous text based works face, which I think also apply to the video gaming industry. Things such as cultural and language barriers, an Eurocentric focus, lack of Indigenous managed video gaming companies, and a lack of Indigenous game developers and programmers make it more difficult for Indigenous game creators. Add onto this the extra cost of having access to the technology tools for the actual production and distribution of Indigenous video games, and you can see why there hasn’t been as much discourse as there should be around Indigenous Peoples in the video gaming industry.

Public libraries have video game collections, some have had them for close to fifteen years now, but where are Indigenous video games in public library collections and how can we advocate for their inclusion? Calls to action by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015) around equity, education and language and culture, highlight the fact that libraries should seek to insure the inclusion and accessibility of Indigenous video games in library collections.

Yes, there are challenges around accessibility to Indigenous video games in many ways, for instance the games that many indie studios are able to produce are only available for digital download on certain platforms rendering them inaccessible as tangible objects that can be added to public library collections. There are other barriers around general awareness too, because Indigenous video games are often only reviewed in depth by other Indigenous Peoples or there is a lack of marketing effort due to budgetary constraints that can be put into regular gaming magazines and websites which creates in a way a fallacy of lack. There are many games that can be downloaded to personal digital devices too, if there is a greater awareness made that these games exist and are educational. Many are free, for instance LaPensée’s Invaders, Thunderbird Strike or When Rivers Were Trails, while others such as Never Alone are under $20, which is very affordable nowadays for a video game of downloadable content of such high production quality that combines real world storytelling in interactive narrative fiction.

As Easterling mentions in Yousefi (2017), part of the librarian hacker’s repertoire in libraries is making small corrective measures to library collections or in the setting up of alternative spaces. These actions can be taken with Indigenous video games and through this cycle of innovation lead to progressive change and equity in efforts towards decolonization. What needs to come about in library systems, in order for any real long lasting and systemic change to take place is for library professionals to recognize that Indigenous video games need to be made accessible and they need to be included in library collections. If we look to the University of Michigan’s (UM) Computer and Video Game Archive (CVGA) in Ann Arbor and its massive collection of 8,000 video games and 60 consoles. We can see that in settler colonial institutions,we need to be continually thinking about whose history gets archived and preserved (Panuncial, 2019).

The discourse around Indigenous video games is relatively new and my observations here are just scratching the surface of academic scholarship by Indigenous game developers and artists such as Elizabeth LaPensée and Maize Longboat. As Longboat (2019) mentions, Indigenous Peoples are bringing attention to the ecosystem of international video game development and contributing in many ways around how Indigenous video games are now being played, viewed, critiqued and researched. I’m excited to learn more about Indigenous video games and then through them Indigenous Knowledges and Indigenous Ways of Being as well. I see video games as being worlds immersed in a world that offers a potential for a safer space for learning, where game play is controlled by the Indigenous Creators shaping culture, so that we can all learn how to see things through an Indigenous lens and Indigenous experiences.

I hope that this website that supports my paper, Indigenous Video Games in Libraries will bring about a greater awareness and offer up more resources that bring merit and recognition to the important work that Indigenous video game creators and Indigenous developers are currently doing. As I research more examples of Indigenous Creators and Indigenous games in the digital world, I am seeing more work that is Indigenous led and that, as Elizabeth LaPensée in Carpenter (2021) mentions, gives me hope because, “true self-determination in games must happen from the code up.”

*Please see my slideshow on the homepage for suggestions on how libraries can be more inclusive and bring Indigenous video games into library spaces.