I want to compare The Oregon Trail and When Rivers Were Trails because I really loved this class activity. Of course it was a fun activity given that we literally just got to play video games, so thank you to Professor Andrella for that! But I also really liked this activity because it was such a nice mix of past and present. Even just The Oregon Trail as a game gives us insight into multiple historical periods. There is the information about the mid 1800s that the game teaches, and the depictions of Native people and settlers tells us about mainstream views of Native Americans in the 80s and 90s. The resistance to adding actual Native community names to the game that we learned about in class also highlights the cultural context of companies avoiding making diverse and accessible products for the sake of profit. This is a societal issue that I think has gotten better in recent years, but is still very much a problem.
The development of the games also gives us insight into the historical context of their times. Given that The Oregon Trail was originally made as an educational game, and that Native communities are not even named in the game, I think it is fair to assume that the mainstream education standards of the time weren’t (and to be fair, still aren’t) focused on Native American history. I only played the game long enough to encounter one Native person: a boy on horseback. He was portrayed in a pretty stereotypical way, as far as I could tell. He had some type of feather in his hair, he was riding bareback, and it looked like he was possibly in some kind of confrontation with a settler. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make out many details because of the graphics of the game. In comparison, my character encountered many other Native characters in When Rivers Were Trails. The nations that these characters belonged to were all explicitly named, and the characters wore a mix of traditional and European clothing. I did not play very long, so I did not encounter any white characters, nor do I know if there are any white characters in the game.
Hi Sage! Thank you for sharing these thoughts on the two games and I’m so glad you enjoyed the activity! It’s one of my favorites. I’m always fascinated by the backstory of The Oregon Trail as a game designed specifically for use in classrooms. It also involves far more math than history, in my opinion! I’m glad to hear that you had a much more engaging experience with When Rivers Were Trails, and I agree. It is simply more immersive and more informed, and this makes for a more educational experience. It is equally important to consider video/computer games as a mode for historical education. There are advantages as well as limitations, but undeniably, video games are a mode creating an interactive learning experience.