| Shadowblind said: I think the reason M games seem to appeal to kids more is because of how many of the high budget, great games coming out these days are rated M, not just because its ZOMG VIOLENCE. Maybe I'm wrong, but none of the people I have ever known get these games simply because they spatter blood and guts around, but because they are fun. If anything thats only ever been a turn-off for most of the gamers I know, though its negligible to them at best. |
I guess you weren't around when the first Splatterhouse, the first Mortal Kombat, or the first GTA came out.
People would argue that the Genesis version of Mortal Kombat was better than the SNES version for what reason? Better controls? Graphics? Features? No. One reason only, BLOOD. They didn't mind that they had half the buttons.
And the first thing I heard about Gears of War was "You get a gun with a chainsaw on it and you can chainsaw people on the ground and it's really gorey and awesome," followed by a "Oh yeah, and it plays better than Halo 3 with this badass cover system." So it hasn't really changed. And that's with my same group of friends at different ages.
| Non Sequor said: There's something I've noticed that I call the Saved By The Bell effect, named after a sitcom about high school that was targeted at preteens. Whenever a product nominally targets a given age range, it generally seems that the marketers are actually targeting a younger demographic that admires the older demographic. Small children admire preteens, preteens admire teens, and teens admire 20 somethings. |
Right on the money. And I love the name of this theory.
