Imagine what life would be like if the Shawnee people could flourish on their original homelands — operating Shawnee-styled colleges and banks and Shawnee spoken fluently in the region. Early next year, that vision will be brought to life when the newest edition of Civilization is released to the public.
Civilization VII was created by Firaxis Games, which has faced criticism for its depictions of Indigenous people. Its leaders wanted to change that this time around.
“I think, in Civilization, we've totally simplified the North American Indigenous presence, and there was a Native American civilization that was sort of a conglomeration of all that together,” said Ed Beach, the creative director of the Civilization franchise. “And so we've been trying to elevate our game the whole time these last 15 years, step by step.”
So, they reached out to the Chief of the Shawnee Tribe, Ben Barnes, to seek the tribe’s collaboration. Barnes jumped at the chance.
“It was culturally imperative for us to participate in this, because, absolutely, we should appear in every type of media we can,” Barnes said. “So we saw this as an opportunity to participate in lifting ourselves up, making our star shine.”
Working together to create a Shawnee world took about four years and included different areas of expertise, including archeology, language and cultural knowledge.
Both game developers and Shawnee leaders wanted to ensure accuracy down to every detail. Even the Shawnee names of the rivers in the Ohio River Valley are used in the game.
“The Shawnee bank, we didn't want it to be like other banks where there might be, like, lots of money and things like that,” Beach said. “So we have corn and pumpkins, and another artist of ours, made a wampum generator.”
The partnership has also influenced Civilization Art Director Jason Johnson. Growing up in Ohio, on the ancestral homelands of the Shawnee people, he never heard anyone speak Shawnee until he met Chief Barnes.
“One of the things that I didn't really realize growing up was the language being written,” Johnson said. “I'm from a town called Wapakoneta, and I had no idea that was a Shawnee word.”
Johnson said he is proud to be a part of creating the game and amplifying knowledge people may overlook. He hopes other media companies follow suit.
As for Barnes, he’s thrilled to see his community and ancestral history portrayed in a popular game.
“My children and grandchildren, and everybody else's children and grandchildren, and even some older folks [are] excited by this game, just so that they can see themselves reflected in this in the world,” Barnes said.
Multiple periods of the tribe’s history will be showcased in Civilization VII, allowing for a more nuanced depiction of the Shawnee people.
“One thing that we have done that's different is that we are dividing our game up into ages,” Beach said. “There's sort of the ancient antiquity era, and then you move forward to the exploration age and the modern age.”
Dividing the game into ages also allowed both the developers and Shawnee representatives working on the project to imagine what the world would look like if the tribe had a chance to prosper.
“I think when people think about American Indians, they think of American Indians in the past,” Barnes said. “And for those of us that are part of that 1% of the population that aren't that are citizens of a tribal nation, we don't see ourselves in the past. …So seeing ourselves being able to go into the near future, within the timeline of civilization, is very exciting.
The game comes out on February 11, 2025.
