Abstract
This project explores theories of play as they pertain to video games, Indigeneity, and queerness. Recent research into Indigenous video games tends to focus on the developer side, but an indigenized theory of play is necessary to account for movements through colonized artforms and spaces. Introducing identity back into play can help both illuminate how one plays themselves onto a game and how to critique and resist gaming normativities by altering or disengaging gameplay. This project considers games from several genres, geographies, cultures, and colonial engagements, as well as sovereign games developed from Indigenous perspectives to read back onto colonization.