Civilization 7 Devs Ensure „Authentic and Sincere” Representation of the Shawnee. Tribe Leader's Passion for Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Also Helped
In Civilization VII, one of the available leaders will be Tecumseh, the leader of the Shawnee. Firaxis studio ensured their „authentic and sincere” representation in the game.
Firaxis Games partnered with the Shawnee tribe to ensure a correct and accurate portrayal of their leader Tecumseh and culture in Sid Meier's Civilization VII.
Authentic representation of a culture
This decision may be related to the addition of the Cree people in 2018 to the sixth installment, which did not please the actual leader of this community, Milton Tootoosis, at that time. He stated that the way they were portrayed in the game was "very harmful".
One of the creators of Civilization VII, Andrew Johnson, suggested that this time they contact the Shawnee tribe. As it turns out, their leader, Ben Barnes, is a huge fan of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, and he really liked the developers' proposal.
For us, it's really about the proper expression of cultural hegemony. Why not us? Of course, we should appear in the game. Of course, we should see ourselves in every medium. So we took the opportunity for our star to shine.
The result was months of collaboration that helped ensure an "authentic and honest reconstruction" of Shawnee culture in the game. It encompasses not only its past but also a potential future represented in objects such as a library or a university. Barnes was even surprised by how scrupulously the creators approached their work.
Firaxis asked questions about language that we would never have even thought of.
As part of their collaboration, Firaxis and 2K Games will donate money to programs and institutions aimed at preserving and revitalizing the Shawnee language, which will be used by the character of Tecumseh in the game.
Sid Meier's Civilization VII is coming to PC, PS4, PS5, XOne, XSX/S and Nintendo Switch. The title will debut on February 11, 2025, and you can already familiarize yourself with its hardware requirements.
