When The Oregon Trail was first being tested with 12-to-14 year olds at the Carlton College, the school faculty reacted negatively to offensive portrayals of Native American people in the game as tomahawk-wielding savages inspired by cowboy movies. While the developers of the game were initially offended by the prospect of changing the depiction, they eventually realized it was the right thing to do after questioning how an indigenous descendant would react to having to fight members of their race in the game.