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[JWK5]

i think most games already ARE for kids tbh especially action games that people would call "hardcore" today. i mean who other than a kid or a complete nerd would have the time and willingness to play one level 100 times until they finally beat the boss?

this isn't meant as a jab against hardcore games (i'm one of those nerds myself), but that's how i honestly see it.

Someone with an obsessive-compulsive disorder?

[C.A. Sinner]

good call

[DavidCaruso]

Kids actually have a higher tolerance level for stuff like hard difficulty than older people, I think. They get more frustrated but at the same time they're also more likely to not give up entirely. I'd still start them off on something relatively easy like Castle of Illusion or Sonic the Hedgehog or before having them play Contra tho. Of course then they'd come home from school and tell you about a new game their friends are playing at school where the gun is actually like front of your face in three dee and there's so much cool helicopters and blood and it'd be like "uhhhh."

As a kid I don't think I really played too many hard games (I remember finding some of them hard back then though.) It was mostly stuff like SMW, Sonic 3, Paper Mario, Pokemon Stadium 2, Donkey Kong Country, etc. (and mostly with ports/on emulators.)

i think most games already ARE for kids tbh especially action games that people would call "hardcore" today. i mean who other than a kid or a complete nerd would have the time and willingness to play one level 100 times until they finally beat the boss?

this isn't meant as a jab against hardcore games (i'm one of those nerds myself), but that's how i honestly see it.

truth.

Games for children are great anyway. Hell, the entire concept of "playing games" is inherently childish. I don't know what games for adults would even look like.

[Jasmine]

Games for children are great anyway. Hell, the entire concept of "playing games" is inherently childish. I don't know what games for adults would even look like.

Games are structured play. Play is not childish. On the contrary, it is shown to be essential for human happiness. Just that adults tend to do less of it than they probably should, which is possibly a factor as to why so many adults are depressive.


//edit
During the teenage years, there is peer pressure to steer away from play, due to a perceived stigma of it being childish.

But the stigma is nothing more than the peer pressure, making it an insubstantial vicious circle.

In terms of its effect on human happiness, creative play is more effective than non-creative play. Unstructured play is more effective than structured play. Social play is more effective than non-social play. (In this context, social means involvement with people who are physically present.)

It should be noted that playing computer games is often a structured/non-creative/non-social activity, which is the least effective combination.

[Μarkham]

Since my family wouldn't get a video game system until I saved up to buy my own, I grew up on PC games.  The Learning Company (Reader Rabbit, Treasure Mountain, Oregon Trail) made most of the good children's games, and looking back, I think I could still enjoy playing some of them with any kids I end up having in the future.  In general, "kids games" for the PC platform were either decent, obviously bad, or looked good until you actually tried playing them.

I also remember disliking the majority of "children's games" on the basis that they were children's games, assuming that the adults who made them thought kids were stupid and dumbed down their games accordingly.  Most of the games I liked as a kid weren't specifically children games at all, like Sim City, Theme Park, Cosmic Cosmo, and Commander Keen.  I sucked at them way more than Treasure Mountain, but I played them a lot more (or just watched my dad play them).  I also remember watching my dad play Catacombs II (pseudo-3D fantasy dungeon crawler that would later evolve into the first "Doom").  The health meter kind of freaked me out, though, as I was under the impression that the character's head actually was being progressively skinned from top to bottom as he got more and more wounded.

Kid Pix was awesome, too.

[Zest]

I remember loving the hell out of Humongous Entertainment's games, including the original Backyard Baseball. My favorites were Pajama Sam (in There's No Need To Hide When It's Dark Outside), Freddi Fish, and SpyFox. I later found out that the company was founded by Ron Gilbert, co-creator of Monkey Island. Those kid's games are probably the reason I got into adventure games at such a young age. My babysitter introduced me to The Dig and King's Quest, among others, which certainly made a big impression on me.

[thatshelby]

I really dig'd adventure games as a kid. I didn't really find them (though I now know they existed), but I always wanted to play more open, less linear games, where you could do a lot of stuff and run around, yet still have goals, have things to achieve. I didn't find DKC fun, except the third, which was a wee less linear than the other two. I really really liked the Legend of Zelda. I liked Kirby Superstar. I liked games where you could do lots of things, and games where there were open worlds. Games where you could choose what level you want to play instead of being told "world 1-1, then 1-2." I didn't like FPS games, and I wasn't a huge fan of strategy games, though I am now.

I still like these games, they're great.

[forwardresent]

As a kid I really liked games with engaging stories, Final Fantasy 8 was the first ridiculously long game I completed.

First game I remember playing was Alleycat on some Amstrad PC, before graduating to NES/SNES, Megadrive and the PSX, which came bundled with Doom, which I thought was the best thing ever, then I got Tomb Raider which terrified me so much I spent most of the time playing the house level. I remember the music for Robotnik scaring me so much I never finished Sonic 1. The Super Space Invaders music is still in my head after all these years, it was a simple game, but the music has made it stay in memory.

[Zest]

I remember playing Ocarina of Time a ton as a kid, but rather than complete the quest, I loved just running around Kokiri Forest and exploring Hyrule Fields. True terror was felt when I'd just barely miss the gates into Castle town as night fell- I knew those monsters were out to get me. It wasn't until this year that I actually completed Ocarina of Time, as I now actually own an N64 and a copy of the game.

On that note, I'm wondering if a key characteristic of good kids' games (and good games in general) is interactivity. One of the reasons I loved adventure games was that I could click on everything on-screen and something would happen. Even if it had nothing to do with finishing the game, getting to see some silverware burst out into song or a character comment on some alien hieroglyphics greatly pleased me.

Another anecdote: When I played my first adventure game, I must have spent ten minutes fiddling with the keyboard before I realized that the whole game was played with a mouse. My prior experiences with games had primarily been platformers, even on PC, so I was used to the idea of controlling a character with the arrow buttons. Needless to say, I felt a little silly when I figured it out.

Accessible controls + open "playground" environment + high amounts of interactivity = profit?

[Chromanoid]

Targeting children isn't that easy. Especially when there are franchises like Harry Potter, Sponge Bob, Angry Birds or Barbie... I think children often love massmedia stuff and unimaginative smooth gfx, that "indie" developers who want to focus on creative games dispise. Then there are the parents who either do not care or want educational games for their kids. I think this leads to a difficult market.

I grew up with SNES and DKC 1&2, Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore and Zelda. Some friends showed me games like Quake, Decent, Wolfenstein3D etc.

I don't think it is good to expose children to inappropriate games as an adult/supervisor. They have to discover them or at least fight for them (in a discussion with their parents) by theirself. Otherwise it's like helping a kitten to climb up a tree...

[John Sandoval]

What Games I Played as a Kid

Jump Start 2nd Grade (it had a shmup in it and also maths)
Jump Start Typing (fuck mavis beacon, this had robots)
Carmen Sandiego Word/Math Detective (yeah)

Pokemans
Kingdom Hearts
Final Fantasy X

[allen]

those last 3 gams were released like last year. what are you, 3?

I am obviously a math wizard

[John Sandoval]

FFX was released like

11 years ago

[allen]

I grew up on FF3 (aka ff6) which was released 17 years ago.

goddamn kids get off my lawn.

[Alevice]

I grew up with steroids, i mean asteroids.