Devs for Horizon Zero Dawn Respond to Backlash Over Depiction of Tribal Culture
On February 28, a Native American writer solicited public and developer attention to the appropriation of Native American terms in Horizon Zero Dawn. Specifically, this individual wrote an essay criticizing the portrayal people in the game and the words used to describe them. The exact words in question are “savages,” “braves,” “primordial” and “tribe.”
The artificer of the essay, Dia Lacina, points out negative connotations beneath such words and how they perpetuate a racially charged view of indigenous peoples. Therefore, she argues a lack of foresight on the designers’ part and a lack of social consciousness on the part of reviewers for making no mention.
“Video games have been appropriating from Natives both blatantly and obliquely for decades,” Lacina wrote. “And as much as we’d like to hope — it’s probably not going to stop anytime soon.”
However, Narrative Designer John Gonzales compellingly responded to Lacina’s criticism. According to him, during an interview with Waypoint, Guerrilla Games set out to be as racially conscious as possible and never sought to offend anyone. Moreover, they undertook extensive research in order to avoid racially charged rhetoric and offensive terms. He even points to the word “brave,” which their research turned up as a venerated title; thus, they used it in the game to distinguish a class of warriors in honored standing. Ultimately, Gonzales pointed to a prototypical issue in this industry and beyond when it comes to fictional storytelling:
“That said, with the kind of culture of the internet that we have right now, it’s impossible to predict what it is that may offend. Certainly, we were not intentionally being insensitive, or to offend in any manner.”
The difference between Guerrilla Games and other past usages of the word ‘brave’ is that Guerrilla Games isn’t emblazoning the image of a red-colored native on top of the word. As a matter of fact, the game clearly makes distinctions between what are ‘savages’ in the game and what are braves or tribes. Braves are noble warriors and their depiction of tribes quite strictly adheres to the anthropological definition:
“A notional form of human social organization based on a set of smaller groups (known as bands), having temporary or permanent political integration, and defined by traditions of common descent, language, culture, and ideology” – Britannica
Nevertheless, Lacina wrote that Guerrilla’s response was about what she expected. Also, she wrote that studios will hopefully think twice about using certain language.
Horizon Zero Dawn is out now and available for play or your post-colonial review. Let us know your thoughts about this debate in the comments. And for more of the latest, stick around. Happy gaming.