Well, you can guess our initial response to critics who think our game series is offensive.
But, we also let Spirit Lake Sioux educator and tribal consultant Dr. Erich Longie address this topic on our parent company site.
Dr. Longie previously served his Spirit Lake tribal people as a tribal college president, reservation school board president, and activist. He was also a key member of the 7 Generation Games development process.
Dr. Longie writes, “[What] is most important to me is that the game’s theme is based on our Dakota culture. Students will be exposed to our culture from my, a Dakota wicasa’s (Indian man’s) point of view. Not the romanticized version, not the ‘Indians-are-uncivilized savages’ version, but my version… The game successfully combines culture, math skills and entertainment to make learning math interesting and fun.”
You can read his full take here.
Unlike many companies or individuals who embark on a “Save the poor Native Americans” campaign, we’re not out to be saviors to anyone. We have worked with tribal people for more than twenty years. We understand our young video game players’ needs. Never in our 20-plus years have we had Native people come up to us and ask to be “saved.”
Our goal is to do what we do best: we provide educational resources in an effort to foster effective learning outcomes and help teachers raise student scores that reflect true growth without teaching to any kind of test.
Many of our staff are familiar with our target audience. Some of our staff have come a long way from disadvantaged, under-served, or marginalized communities and care about helping kids learn.
That’s why we are especially driven to serve and give back to those communities.
We at 7 Generation Games truly believe all students are capable of learning and excelling in the classroom if they are given the tools for success.