Indigenous gamers group aims to show how to make a living while uplifting culture

A group of Indigenous gamers and content creators have created a place on the Internet where they can be themselves and learn how to make money doing what they love. 

Kairyn Potts, a well-known Tiktoker from the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation in Alberta, teamed up with Shannon Baker, a Dakelh Dene Twitch streamer, two years ago to set up a Discord server called Neechi Clan.

Discord's website says it has over 560 million users. A server is a group of users who form their own community on the site.

Potts describes Neechi Clan as an online gaming community full of people who love tech, and adds it includes gamers, streamers and other content creators. 

Since its creation two years ago, the group has gained nearly 500 members, he said.

Recently, Sage Stillwater, one of Neechi Clan's members, was on a stream featured on the main page of Twitch, and they credit the connections they've made through Neechi Clan for the experience.  

At the stream's peak, about 11,000 people were watching Stillwater and other Indigenous creators talk about foods from their childhoods.

Several other members of the Discord have received sponsorships from EA Sports for an hour of live streaming themselves playing an expansion pack from The Sims. 

"We're already all on our computers all day as gamers, so why not just have cool people that are neechies who you can talk to," Potts said, adding "neechi" comes from the Ojibway word for friend.   

As a full-time content creator, Potts said he's excited to be able to mentor other Indigenous youth. 

"It's like a billion dollar industry. Esports and gaming is so, so lucrative for people who make careers out of it," Potts said.

But trying to make a career in the field is challenging, he said. 

"They have so many barriers. It's like they're running up a hill backwards against the wind," he said.

On top of things like limited access to Internet in remote communities, Potts said the online gaming space is known for being racist, sexist and homophobic. Even as a kid, he said, he was called slurs. 

"Gaming is probably the hardest community to be in. It's so incredibly toxic," he said

Neechi Clan, in addition to protection from harmful rhetoric, offers a sense of community, he said. 

"All of us two-spirit gamers who are out there … sometimes when you're on an isolated reserve, the only time you talk socially with friends is online gaming," he said. 

Other Neechi Clan members agree. 

"It's never just about gaming," said Stillwater. 

Stillwater, who's Taíno with roots in Borikén (Puerto Rico), said without Neechi Clan, they would have quit streaming after a bad experience in another server. 

"It's just very uplifting and there's a sense of teamwork there, always," Stillwater said. 

As a two-spirit person with a feminine-sounding voice, Stillwater said the gaming space can be "awful."

"Outside of Neechi Clan… people ask a lot of rude questions."

While gaming is a big part of things, Stillwater said there are also beading circles, crafting advice, life advice, language sharing and more. 

Group looks for funding

The group has organized events like gaming tournaments, online get togethers and even virtual movie nights with Potts describing it as "basically a summer camp."

They've also sponsored giveaways of items like headphones and keyboards to help members develop their online work, he said. 

Potts said he and Baker have mostly self-funded the server for the past two years, and Potts said he contributed about $2,000 a month.

The group is looking for grants to help fund their work but Potts said it's been a struggle so far. 

He said some funding applications ask questions that aren't necessarily relevant. A common one, Potts said, is to ask if the applicant consulted any elders. 

"No. They don't know what Fortnite is," he said.

"They don't know what Apex Legends is. I'm not going to consult an elder on a tournament that we're having for a video game." 

He adds that the server has a whole channel dedicated to language reclamation where the members share and learn, "but how do I explain to you that ... when nine of us are in a video game together all playing, and we play for sometimes like three or four hours at a time … there's so much mentorship happening." 

In the meantime, they've hired a grant writer to help the group secure funds to keep growing. It's an important online space for Indigenous people to maintain, Stillwater said.

"There's not a lot of places in this world where you can just walk in and unmask," they said.