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Topic: Can a game be both "kiddy" and "mature"?

Posts 1 to 20 of 33

TheMisterManGuy

It seems in the gaming industry, a game has to be either kiddy or mature. But, do you feel a game can be both? As in a game having cartoony visuals and light-hearted tone, but with characters, gameplay, and serious moments adults can enjoy. With the existence of Ratchet & Clank, Kid Icarus: Uprising, and Smash Bros., It's definitely possible, but it seems the industry wants games to be lobsided. You can't be both kiddy and mature, you have to be one or the other. It's a mentality I'm personaly against.

TheMisterManGuy

CaviarMeths

Covert Majora's Mask thread?

So Anakin kneels before Monster Mash and pledges his loyalty to the graveyard smash.

Retro_on_theGo

It's all your perception really. But if by "kiddy" and "mature" you want to say can a game targeted towards children present mature ideas, then yes. For example Majora's Mask and a better example would be the show Steven Universe targeted very much towards kids but carefully treads a decent amount of mature ideas every now and then and has steady character development.
Hm, kind of wish I hadn't changed my avatar before making this post now. I must look very biased lol.

SMEXIZELDAMAN

A thing cannot be both A and ~A at the same time. However, with games you could say some aspects are kiddy or some are more mature but the principle of non-contradiction holds.

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Jacob717

Five Nights at Freddy's, well at least for the kids who don't get nightmares easily.

Jacob717

Jaz007

Dipper723 wrote:

Five Nights at Freddy's, well at least for the kids who don't get nightmares easily.

A lack of gore doesn't mean something is a kid's game.

Jaz007

DefHalan

Depends how you define "kiddy" and "mature"

@TheMisterManGuy
You should seriously consider starting a blog. Most of your posts are expressing opinions rather than starting discussions

People keep saying the Xbox One doesn't have Backwards Compatibility.
I don't think they know what Backwards Compatibility means...

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Jacob717

Jaz007 wrote:

Dipper723 wrote:

Five Nights at Freddy's, well at least for the kids who don't get nightmares easily.

A lack of gore doesn't mean something is a kid's game.

I never said it's a kids game, I said kids could play it.

Jacob717

Jaz007

MorphMarron wrote:

Well, kids can play anything. Being little humans and all.

Yeah, it wouldn't be a good idea to let a little child play FNaF though.

Jaz007

DefHalan

MorphMarron wrote:

Well, kids can play anything. Being little humans and all.

kids play Call of Duty and Battlefield all the time and those are rated mature

Edited on by DefHalan

People keep saying the Xbox One doesn't have Backwards Compatibility.
I don't think they know what Backwards Compatibility means...

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Sleepingmudkip

conker's bad fur day? would that count

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Neoproteus

To be honest the first thing I thought of was Happy Tree Friends... not exactly the best example. Then there's stuff like Conker.

I think what you're asking is for Nintendo to do something a little more like Disney. They have everything from Frozen to The Avengers, Star Wars, and Pirates of the Carribean, and that kind of stuff just doesn't limit itself to an age demographic. It's for everyone, no matter how old.

I guess for Nintendo to appeal to all ages they would have to take their writing a bit more seriously and stop using kiddy art styles as much. By all means keep the color and don't aim for M ratings, but they should take themselves more seriously. No one's asking for Nintendo to be like Quentin Tarantino or Michael Bay, just to grow up as much as Disney has.

Neoproteus

TheMisterManGuy

Neoproteus wrote:

To be honest the first thing I thought of was Happy Tree Friends... not exactly the best example. Then there's stuff like Conker.

I think what you're asking is for Nintendo to do something a little more like Disney. They have everything from Frozen to The Avengers, Star Wars, and Pirates of the Carribean, and that kind of stuff just doesn't limit itself to an age demographic. It's for everyone, no matter how old.

I guess for Nintendo to appeal to all ages they would have to take their writing a bit more seriously and stop using kiddy art styles as much. By all means keep the color and don't aim for M ratings, but they should take themselves more seriously. No one's asking for Nintendo to be like Quentin Tarantino or Michael Bay, just to grow up as much as Disney has.

Not exactly. The best example is something like Adventure Time or Gravity Falls. Where it's something that's good for kids to watch, but doesn't feel too childish or cutesy, and has humor, stories and characters adults can enjoy as well. Something that's just as much for kids as it is for Adults. That's what I'm talking about.

TheMisterManGuy

Freelance

Sure, it's entirely possible. I am probably the only person though who doesn't view swearing as 'mature,' especially if someone is doing it constantly. I've never played Conker but I doubt it's actually 'mature.' What is mature and what is kiddy is probably going to be different for everyone.

Freelance

Kaze_Memaryu

That's an entirely mental thing. Games have certain audiences, but that doesn't mean people from outside these audiences couldn't play these games, either.
A popular example would be Pokémon, which vastly appeals to young people with a generous learning curve, appealingly designed fantasy creatures, and a high emphasis on adventure, which is an extension of curiosity. Nonetheless, things like perfect breeds, EV training, and competitive movesets most likely are too much information for kids to really understand and take advantage of.
A different example would be Kid Icarus: Uprising. The game constantly switches back and forth, coming off as incredibly silly in one instance, just to take a turn for the mature kind of humor that young players wouldn't get.

This black-and-white-labeling of games as either "childish" or "mature" is generally dumb. If it's fun, who cares?
The only exceptions are themes that strictly appeal to an adult audience due to complex and/or children-unfriendly content (crime/violence, sexuality, social dissonance, drug/medication-based themes, or realism in general), most of which is stuff they normally also don't get confronted with in an intense way until reaching adulthood (or discovering the internet).

Donjwolf wrote:

Sure, it's entirely possible. I am probably the only person though who doesn't view swearing as 'mature,' especially if someone is doing it constantly. I've never played Conker but I doubt it's actually 'mature.' What is mature and what is kiddy is probably going to be different for everyone.

I don't see swearing as mature, either, but at the same time, it's also nothing childish.
And Conker isn't fully "mature", but has some pretty dark humor that kids wouldn't understand.

Edited on by Kaze_Memaryu

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