Blog #9 – Izayiah H

It’s interesting to see the different viewpoints and stories that got the chance to be interpreted into games.  The Oregon trail game was intended for 8th grade kids in 1971 so of course it would be less in depth just for the sake of the age of the students.  Comparing the stance from then to the 2019 game created through collegiate efforts with When Rivers Were Trails is very stark because of how the “mainstream” idea has changed.  When Rivers Were Trails takes a much more dialed and focused approach with the stories of native people. By having the player get more personal with the NPCs, focusing more on survival efforts, and by giving more illustrations of who you’re communicating with provides a story in which the player can get involved rather than instructing and directing. The Native people are given a larger role in When Rivers Were Trails by being the avenue through which the player experiences the game while Oregon Trail treats them as ‘helpers’ or traders for more supplies and loot. Both games are great in their own way and together tell a common story however I do think that the time in between the two game’s development has allowed for narrative shifts and opportunities for more details to change the agenda for being created. I say this because the Oregon Trail provides a pretty obvious insight to the way settlers were portrayed in the 70’s and because of this presently obvious bias perpetuated a somewhat false narrative that greatly reduces the role that native people had.