Atuatanga @Techweek

Atuatanga VR had a fantastic response from Rangatahi during Techweek 2024. We set up at Te Kura Māori o Porirua for two days to showcase Atuatanga with the older taiohi. With an age range of 13 to 16 year olds, this was a great testing ground for Atuatanga VR and a great way to receive feedback and responses from a section of our target age group.

The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive, we heard things like;

‘I’ve played a lot of games and this is up there with the best of them.’

I liked that it was a Māori game, with Māori characters and graphics.’

‘Ko te atua, te whakamahinga o te reo, te momo taiao ki roto i te kemu, i te mutunga i pai te katoa, ko te mauri, te ahuatanga o nga ringa”

The Gods, the use of reo, the environment in the game, in the end it was all really good, the energy / spirit, the design of the hands. I was scared and excited”.

Gaming, social media and other platforms are a large part of our young peoples lives. Atuatanga VR is a way of engaging our taiohi in stories that are relevant to us as Māori while also holding onto and sharing our reo, tikanvalues as Māori.