MIAMI, Okla. (AP) — The chief of the Shawnee Tribe grew up playing video games, including hundreds of hours colonizing a distant planet in the 1999 title Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri. So when that same game studio approached the tribal nation with a proposal to make a playable character out of their historical leader Tecumseh in the upcoming game Civilization 7, Chief Ben Barnes felt a rush of excitement. Meier’s Civilization series remains the bestselling franchise in a strategy genre it helped launch in 1991. But society’s understanding of cultural appropriation and the importance of accurate historical framing has changed. To properly represent the Shawnee leader, game developers looked for the input and blessing of the Shawnee people.… Continue Reading