The Quickening: Videogames are for kids (too)

Honestly, there’s not a bunch of good games for kids nowadays. Let’s look at some of the great releases of 2017.

They’re all games for adults. Why? I really don’t know for sure, but I have theories.

Works for adults have more credibility and draw more attention because, the truth is, the media have never presented videogames as something mature. And you know it’s true!

Videogames have been always associated with kids and we all have known that guy who thinks it’s too old for playing videogames.

I mean, my father reads archeology magazines, likes classic cinema (even if he’s a Trekkie at his core) and he’s a sports fan. Those are elements associates with adults, but videogames... let’s take a look at this scene.

Smith is a young worker who is with his friends in a coffee break,there are laughs, quotes and commentaries about the appearance. The guy is new, so his friends ask him:

"Hey Smith, tell us. What do you do in your spare time?"

And Smith answers with:

"I play with my PS3!"

...

Whether we like it or not, videogames are still for the younger generations, so they’ll have released a game for them, right?

This is what I’m talking about! All the important games, those which have hype and attention, those which have production values and important names behind them are FOR ADULTS! We complain about the kids playing Call of Duty, but we never think that they’re playing that because that’s the only interesting thing they have!

Forgive me, I thought you were the worst.

This is bad because this gives the media power to defame videogames. Jack Thompson said at the time that GTA 4 is a murderer simulator and teach kids how to kill. That’s rated M! Kids are not supposed to play that!

A high limit is being set

I know Gen X (the one who was born between 1960 and 1980, not the sixth Gen of Pokémon) grew up with Doom, but there were other titles available, and those titles were for all ages. Kids nowadays are going to play God of War or Uncharted or Halo if their parents permit them.

But this carries other problems. Nintendo and its followers have had to deal with the “Nintendo is just for kids” stereotype. And I think this stereotype originated since the first PlayStation appeared (and it aggravated with the first XBOX). When Sega rivaled Nintendo, both companies were kid friendly and had titles for all ages. But nowadays, everyone thinks a gray, murky palette is “mature” and a colorful one means “kiddie stuff”. Even nowadays this continues. Nintendo has its kid franchises (Mario, Kirby, Pokémon) and mature franchises (Zelda, Metroid, Fire Emblem), but both can be played by the opposite group because they’re accessible enough to include everyone and everyone can enjoy it. Heck, Splatoon is the perfect blend between kids and adults: it has childish aesthetic, but not enough to scare adults away and it’s from a genre that adults play, but kids can play too for its accessibility.

I know there are games out there: Little Big Planet, Minecraft, Jak and Daxter, Portal. But there are few and far between. This year’s most anticipated games follow the same trend.

None of them are for kids. How can we fix that? Honestly, I don't know, but the best I can assume is that, when a very anticipated family game comes out, buy a copy. After all, our purchases say which franchise continues to live.