Gamers keep saying how Nintendo needs to make more realistic looking and "mature" games. But I'm starting to wonder if this is less about Nintendo, and more about cartoonyness and the Animation Age Ghetto in general. Now there are a lot of gamers out there who are avid fans of animation as a medium, myself included (in fact, I have an idea for a cartoon I hope to pitch someday), but they're more niche and experienced gamers. Lets look at the average mainstream gamer, the average age is around 20-35 years old. These gamers are mostly into Call of Duty, Forza, Halo, Mass Effect, God of War, Dead or Alive, Splinter Cell, etc. All realistic, gritty, and serious. To these people a game like Mario, or Cuphead wouldn't appeal to them that much, as they either think they're kids games, or feel they've outgrown cartoons and want something more adult looking. If they do watch any cartoons, it probably mostly just the raunchy sitcoms on Fox/Comedy Central/Adult Swim.
There are exceptions to the rule of course, but the general consensus seems to be that the average "core gamer" (god I hate that marketing term) just isn't interested in cartoons. Its fine to not be a big fan of animation, but it saddens me when a good chunk of the average gaming community continues to shove animation into the kiddie box. Because of this, great games like Klonoa get ignored, Zelda continues to be hated on for cel-shading, and good ideas like Overstrike, get changed and screwed with due to focus groups and executives.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying realism and seriousness don't have a place, InFamous was one of my favorite games last gen. I would just like to see bright colors, cartoony visuals, and light-hearted tones be more accepted amoung the average gaming community. I think the root of the problem lies within the Animation Age Ghetto. While we've made progress, we still aren't at the point where animation is accepted as a real art of story telling like film is.
Your average young adult male isn't interested in Animation, last I checked. I'd love to be wrong, though. Nothing wrong with some moving pictures, you know?
You won't get a realistic answer here as from what I have seen, most of the users on NL tend to be into anime or ponies.
Of all the people I know who play games (myself included) none of us have any particular interest in animation.
Ah yes, because just because we like certain things doesn't mean we can't have an opinion that actually makes sense. No, all we're gonna say is crazy talk, because if you like anime or ponies, you're just as unrealistic as possible! (Sarcasm)
You won't get a realistic answer here as from what I have seen, most of the users on NL tend to be into anime or ponies.
Of all the people I know who play games (myself included) none of us have any particular interest in animation.
Ah yes, because just because we like certain things doesn't mean we can't have an opinion that actually makes sense. No, all we're gonna say is crazy talk, because if you like anime or ponies, you're just as unrealistic as possible! (Sarcasm)
No, it's because you guys are the minority compared to the average gamer/person, but probably make up the majority of this website. Might not be the best group to ask for an unbiased opinion (I think the guy posting above who tried to insinuate that anime is not animation helped prove this point...).
Is basically what you just said there. You think we don't know when we're not in the majority? FFS, a lot of us have to keep our animation interests from our friends and family just so we don't get made fun of...
Maybe it's because I'm 24 and am long past the point of caring about those type of people, but I would not talk with people (or at least keep to a bare minimum) who would unironically disrespect my hobbies or interests like that. People like that are not worth my time. It's honestly less to do with the actual disrespecting and more to do with what I think of someone who would actually be pathetic enough to act that way beyond high school.
Is basically what you just said there. You think we don't know when we're not in the majority? FFS, a lot of us have to keep our animation interests from our friends and family just so we don't get made fun of...
Wait people make fun of you cause you like animation?Wow
The Harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.
I love animation. It's pretty much one of the reasons why I try to better my suckish art skills. Anyway, I kinda stopped caring if people dismiss it because "it's too childish" or whatever it is that they say. It's a really cool artistic medium.
My little brother and I like animation, but we're also aspiring game devs ourselves so we don't count...
Also probably shouldn't count any of my other friends from ATC or Art school considering their interests as well...
I do have one casual (read: only really likes/good at only one type of game) gamer friend, and they don't care for animation so, yes?
Hell, I remember a bunch of kids in the back of my class during my senior year of high school only really played Xbox, and only really liked super mainstream games, none of them involved animation unless we're talking Nintendo (which was rare).
I'm not particularly into animation (as in, actual cartoon TV shows). I love Futurama, for example, and loved old seasons of Simpsons and South Park. I'll watch the odd Family Guy episode every now and then. But I wouldn't describe myself as an animation enthusiast; I was never too into anime and my favorite shows tend to be live action stuff such as The Sopranos, The Wire, Seinfeld, Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad.
Which is in stark contrast to my preferred video games, by the way: I'm all for colorful, cartoony Nintendo magic and tend to dislike the majority of gritty, violent titles (with exceptions such as the Elder Scrolls series, for example).
I'd reckon that's because I look for different stuff in each of those mediums; I watch TV series to experience great writing / acting / directing. Conversely, I play games to experience well-crafted gameplay first and foremost, and I've found Nintendo games appease me more than anything as far as that's concerned. I guess I should also mention that many popular realistic games feature incredibly crappy writing, and even those that do well in that regard (like The Last of Us) still got nothing on the actual best-written TV shows or movies. So, even if I wanted to experience great stories more than anything in gaming, I'm not sure I'd really be able to.
TL;DR: I'm not sure if those are related. They may be, but if they are at least I'm a complete exception.
I don't know of any actual adults who worry about being "made fun of" for liking animation. I, myself, proudly display my Pony toys in full view of anyone who is over to appreciate them. If they don't like it, they can keep it to themselves or mess off.
I think most of the people who complain about the aesthetic of Nintendo games are younger guys who are insecure in their masculinity.
Forums
Topic: Is the average gamer not interested in animation?
Posts 1 to 20 of 29
This topic has been archived, no further posts can be added.