Replaying Colonialism: Indigenous National Sovereignty and Its Limits in Strategic Videogames

Abstract:This article examines the pitfalls and potentialities of the recent inclusion of indigenous nations in the strategic videogame series Europa Universalis and Civilization. By making protagonists of dynamic indigenous nations—and putting them on the same plane as the nations of Europe and Asia—newer entries in these series encourage players to think of indigenous polities as sovereign, active, and independent. This is a seeming break from earlier iterations that portrayed them as alien Others. However, both series remain reliant on settler colonial mechanics of play, portraying Native nations as dynamic, future-oriented, and modern only via universalized, Eurocentric metrics of achievement, and participation in the conquest of an "empty" world. The newer versions of Europa Universalis and Civilization encourage players to consider aspects of indigenous sovereignty, but remain freighted with a colonizing vision that "sees" only national and imperial power as legitimate. These games allow for indigenous sovereignty only within that lens. While there is potential within the genre to communicate messages of indigenous sovereignty and dynamism in ways unusual in popular media, these game series (and the genre of which they are a part) remain mired in settler colonial assumptions.