おい, 読者. (Hey, readers. )
Today I want to talk about a topic that I haven’t seen being talked about very often, but is still important enough to mention-whom are video games for?
The common assumption is that video games (along with anime and manga) are not only exclusively for kids, but are also an immature interest to pursue for an adult. This is bunk. While it’s true that kids are responsible for a lot of game sales, video games (along with anime and manga) aren’t completely tailored for kids by a long shot.
In fact, I’d venture to say-no, will say-when video games first came out, they weren’t for kids. For a very good (if slightly nauseating) example, let’s take the Atari 2600. Now what kid do you know that plays (or even knows) that? That’s not the point, though. The point is, the system had such wonderful, groundbreaking titles as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, and Custer’s Revenge. That last…I’m gonna warn you, it ain’t pretty. The premise is, you play as a caricature of George Armstrong Custer (yeah, the guy who massacred Native Americans) with a cowboy hat, a bandanna, and a giant boner. I told you it wasn’t pretty. And the object-dodge a bunch of arrows so you can have sex with (and most likely rape) a Native American woman tied to a pole. The box says “Adult Video Game” and “Not For Sale to Minors”. And when was this, this…travesty released? 1982. When did video games (officially) become a thing? 1972. So within ten years, people were making crap like this. No, actually, nine, as there was a text-based game for the Apple II called Softporn Adventure, where you tried to seduce scantily (or non-) clad women. And it only got worse from there, I’ll tell ya what.
But this isn’t a philippic on the wide range of sex games. It’s merely an accounting to make the point that video games (IN GENERAL) aren’t as kiddy as some would think. Now, some adults have expressed the opinion that it is impossible for kids to be gamers. That is fine; we, as citizens of the world, all have the right to opinions and sharing them, to a certain extent. But know that if you say that **** to me, I’m gonna disregard you. And anyway, half the people in question haven’t been serious gamers since the 80’s. Tempora Mutantur. Times are changing. What did they have in the 80’s? NES, Genesis, Master System, Game Boy, a crapton of Ataris, and the arcades. I invite you to look at an old NES or Gameboy commercial on YouTube. (Except for a rare occasion) when do you see adults enjoying and partaking in these things? Not often, I’ll tell ya what. Oh sure, you’ll hear the occasional story of “My parents had a NES/Atari when I was growing up. That’s where I started gaming.” Well, good on those parents for starting them off right. But that’s not a common occurence.
And to drive the final nail into this coffin, look at a walkthrough of Pokémon Red/Blue or Super Mario Bros. or go on a shopping website selling them, and what’ll you find? “So cool man, thanks for making this vid. I used to come home from school to play this when I was a kid.” Or “*Five Stars* Great game! Shipped fast with no problems! I got it so I can dust off the old Gameboy/NES and relive my childhood.” If you can’t tell by the bolded text, these statements are used to make the point that even then it was kids buying and playing these things. Balance. Balance is the word. Everything ain’t for kids, and everything ain’t for adults. Perhaps the most profound point I could make is about Pokémon and Call of Duty.
Pokémon’s intended demographic-children. I got so irritated once when I was reading Pokémon Adventures Vol. 1, peacefully, when this woman approaches me and snidely says “Pokémon? Isn’t that for little kids?” Why? Because that’s what she heard. It’s safe to say she’s never played a game. But because a lot of people said that (or because of her own twisted reasoning, or a nasty combo of the two), she chose to make that statement. The game, at its core, is strategy. And what I like to call “Mature Violence” occurs in the games. It’s a wonderful balance between nothing and gore. Anyway, the games (and cards, and anime, and manga, and clothing) have a sizeable adult following. Does this (playing with a friggin’ square piece of plastic) automatically make them childish, immature, or a dork? Methinks not. When I was a a kid, I had the pleasure of being mentored in the Pokemon Trading Card Game by a like, 40 year old bloke. He was nice. He had a family and stuff, and he was only there on Saturdays and Sundays, but he was into it, he was a collector. Not a dork, immature, or childish. Also, he was the first person to respect and encourage my love for classic Pokémon stuff. If you want to find a childish Pokémon fan, I suggest you look at a child Pokémon fan.
Call of Duty’s intended demographic-late teens to adult. Actual majority demographic-kids. If you are a member of the world of gaming, you’ve surely heard of the infamous 7, 8, 9, and 10-year-olds who inhabit the microphones of FPS games like Call of Duty, Halo, etc., yelling non sequitur obscenities and racial slurs at their opponents. There’s even a name for them-squeakers. The term refers to any very young child who hangs around a (usually adult) video game atmosphere while performing such actions as seen above, and generally making (bigger) fools of themselves. I’ve never played an FPS in my life, m’self (want to play Goldeneye 007 for N64 though), but I do feel bad for these people having to endure their favorite games being given a bad name on account of squeakers. I can see it now.
Jim– “Hey Tim, wanna come over and play some COD later?”
Tim– “I dunno. Isn’t that a kiddy game?”
Jim– “No! Those stupid squeakers keep getting on! *rages*”
This isn’t an interaction I’ve witnessed myself, but I’m sure this has happened/is happening. See that? Like so much water flowing around and eroding a boulder, over time, FPS’ demographics have changed. By squeakers. But you know what’s crazy? If they were to pander to their real demographics, sales would probably soar way the heck down. It’s a delicate balance, I’ll tell ya what. Man, I’m sure saying “I’ll tell ya what” a lot, I’ll tell ya what.
So to those of you with the patience to cut their way this far into the narrative, you probably want to know what my stance is. And it is this—kids and adults share an equal amount of “attention” (my word for the state of being pandered to) in the gaming industry. For every COD game being made, there’s a new Mario in the works. It’s two-sided-like yin and yang or some junk. I will say, however, that, much like our impending incineration by the sun, video games are sloooooooowlyyyy leaning toward adults. Teens/late teens, at the least. But hey, Tempora Mutantur.
What do you think? Whom are video games for? Agree or disagree with the statements above? Lemmeknow downbelow, bro (or sis).
That doesn’t rhyme well at all, but I’m trying to communicate that females are welcome. Get the point.
thelinguistgamer 
Nice write-up, but I feel that you missed a key point. Adults generally don’t post comments to Youtube videos for games they played as adults, because as adults, it wasn’t a formative experience. It doesn’t mean that kids are the only ones playing the games, or that they were the largest demographic of players, or even that the games were made for kids, it just means that a kid’s memory of something is often exaggerated to the point that they feel a connection to the game that adults probably don’t.
Back in the late ’70s through the early ’90s, games _looked_ like they were for kids because the hardware couldn’t support much more than sprite-based characters and animation… but the players were of every age. Even in the early ’80s (the Atari/Arcade era), adults played tons of games, and there were even television shows devoted to adult gaming. In 1990, Nintendo published their NES user demographics (I don’t know where to find them, but I remember them), and while 50% of users were between the age of 7 and 15 years old, fully 30% were over the age of 18, and presumably, the remaining 20% were 16 and 17 year olds (which seems very likely based on my experience).
By 1990 adult players already represented a larger demographic than children, and by the end of the decade, represented twice the market of children. The Sony Playstation is a great example of this. Released in 1995, it’s target market was 18 to 34 year olds, and was the first console to specifically target adults. Similarly, the Sega Genesis, released in 1989 had a target demographic of 14 to 29 year olds. Even though both of these systems had far larger number of teens, twenty-somethings (and older) playing them, you rarely see “I just nostalgia’d” posted to videos for either system, because the adult players were already accustomed to new gaming experiences. They enjoyed the games, but they weren’t formative.
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Hello, Dan-san. Thank you very much for reading and replying! You’re very correct in your point-even though it’s a blatant fact, I completely forgot to say anything about the “mature” systems. I call the PlayStation and Xbox “The Burly Systems” because they’re so “heavy”, i.e. more mature. And never forget, gratuitous blood doesn’t mean mature. What’s the difference between excessive blood and a ton of fart jokes, when it comes down to maturity? You’re also right about people not commenting on their adult games, but I must disagree about them not being formative. If you played it as a kid, sure, but if you really, really like a game, and it made an imprint, then I say it’s formative no matter what the age.
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You know, that’s a good point that a game can be a formative experience for adults. I had forgotten the feeling I had playing some of my favorite games from my 20s and 30s, and how even the music is a permanent part of my psyche – just as the themes from Pac-Man or Dig Dug are. I guess commenting may have more to do with social expectations, and maybe the level of excitement that a game recalls. Anyway, great post!
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Thanks! Keep on playin’!
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