What makes a game 'childish'?

blackmist · 1日前

Games aimed solely at children.

Skylanders for example. Disney Infinity. The only real challenge here is telling a kid, no, they can't have yet another fucking figure.

Games merely suitable for children are another category. Family games. Things like Mario, Rayman. They're like Pixar films. You can sit children down with them and everything will be alright, but you can also sit down at the weekends as a grown-ass man and play them as well.

shane71998 · 1日前

Usually a game that gets labeled as "childish" is one that gives off the impression that it was exclusively meant for children. Although this is not usually the case (The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker for example), people that are immature or don't play games can be fairly judgemental when they look over your shoulder and see what you're playing, and label you as a man-child for playing games that they think are "just for little kids". This leads to a lot of gamers feeling insecure and keeping themselves away from great games that have a cartoonish art-style because they don't want that stigma placed upon them.

Gloamite · 1日前

There are lots of things that can appeal to children and adults, but some things are only something children will really appreciate.

For example, the first ~3 seasons of Spongebob Squarepants were awesome, for anyone, having humor children and adults could appreciate. Many of the jokes have different levels, the surface being funny for kids while underneath there's a reference or sarcastic element to it that only adults will get.

Then there's a more typical children's show, where that type of subtle humor is basically absent because that's not something children generally understand. It's very matter of fact and reliant on other things - energetic, flashy, silly, with characters that lean much more toward caricatures.

But the thing with games is that if it has good gameplay, adults can still enjoy very simple games even if they are aimed at children.

JacksWastedTime · 1日前

To me it means no depth or substance. Like Pokemon has a very kid friendly outer layer but deep down it gets very intricate and complicated. Same with like Rayman, Mario and other platformers. You can easily just beat the levels and be done but to achieve 100% takes skill and patience that a child just doesn't usually have.

dogger6253 · 1日前

Childish, to me, is saying something is shallow or immature (crass). I expect a certain level of sophistication and maturity in mechanics and themes, if those levels aren't meant, the thing can come across as childish to me.

I can't speak intimately for Tearaway Unfolded, or Tearaway for that matter, but the game doesn't come across as childish to me. Utilizing the Vita features seems like a shallow gimmick on the surface, maybe, but I've been led to believe Tearaway was quite refined in its use of these features, perhaps the same will be true of this PS4 version (though I don't see the PS4 features as quite so gimmicky.) Its art style is very masterful, I don't get childish there either, so I'm not sure what the presenter meant, perhaps only that one would expect games featuring such unique "gimmick" mechanics to be shallow in its design? Outside of that, I think childish is a pretty inaccurate term to use for Tearaway/Tearaway Unfolded.

deijavu · 1日前

I definitely used to dismiss Minecraft in that way, purely because of its aesthetics. Then I actually bought and played it for myself and I understood that the visuals are just the entry point for a lot of younger players, and can misrepresent how complex the game actually can be.

SouperSausage · 1日前

what makes a person childish? lacking substance, reasoning, seriousness,...

Games without substance have no kind of progression, nothing below the surface, usually can consume all it's worth in one playthrough. Reasoning - lacking challenge, repetitive. Seriousness - no consequence for failure? What's a game that doesn't take itself seriously? - something without much work put into it?

I think childish is a pretty vague label to give a game, and I don't think it's inherently negative, some of the best games have 'childish' elements, although I can't think of an entirely childish game that isn't bad/mediocre.

adanfime · 1日前

IMO, people instantly tag a game as "childish" by just looking at the colors used and the characters involved.

For example, let's talk about Splatoon. The game has cartoonish characters inside a really bright and colorful world.

But deep inside the game's story, it talks about how human's lack of interest in caring for the planet has caused the water levels to rise and cause a "Great Flood", basically killing all human beings in the process. A few species managed to survive and managed to evolve in the course of around 14,000 years. The two main species are squid and octopus. These two were in a great war were many died. Eventually, Squids won and forced the octopus race to live underground.

The game starts with "The Great Zapfish" being stolen by the octolings. This zapfish is the main source of electric power in the game's setting. After the story mode, you retrieve said zapfish and basically, doom the entire octopus race to stay underground and most likely perish and/or become extinct.

Now, people wouldn't usually expect such story coming from Nintendo, I mean, look at the game's boxart. But sadly, that's the stereotype that has been assigned to Nintendo as a whole. They can't release anything new because poeple instantly tag it as chidish.

Epicshark · 1日前

What makes a game childish is the same for most other media - a cute/cartoony art style with saturated, easily identifiable colors, or child-looking characters. Mario games are often seen as children's games on a superficial level. The TLOZ series also gets this quite often. I'm pretty sure nintendo's main audience is younger people - so they stick to this style.

And don't talk about it like it's a bad thing, childish can be beautiful!

I don't think there's much that can be done about it, most consumers have been trained to respond to these design choices in a certain way. If anything's to be done, it's to subvert expectations and break stereotypes, so that consumers get retrained.

fiwer · 1日前

Usually when someone criticizes a game for being too childish what they're actually saying is "I'm 15 and edgy, I feel a constant need to prove how mature I am and I believe maturity means excessive violence and language my parents won't let me use"

TheWarriorDude · 1日前

I generally find that all that means is that people are insecure about being treated as adults, so they take whimsy as being an affront to their own insecurity.

Other than that, a game that lacks any depth beyond a simple mechanic can be childish. To that end, I think that a lot of shooters are childish even if they have the veneer of being "mature."

Anon_Amous · 1日前

Well that's a subjective thing. The same game can be childish to one person and not to another.

That said my own definition would be a game that lacks the ability to be challenging for an average adult or a game that is deliberately and self-evidently aiming at a very unfinished skill set (I'm thinking about the Mario's Early Years! series specifically).

I don't think a game like Splatoon is childish, I mean it's undoubtedly youth-centric but I'm hesistant to call games like that childish, rather than calling them 'for everyone', you know what the E rating is supposed to mean? Just because a film is PG13 doesn't mean it can't be enjoyable for an adult and the same goes for the ESRB ratings.

I've played lots of games rated M or T that weren't engaging and lots of E rated games that were.

But again, the bottom line is, it's subjective. I might make an argument that Call of Duty is childish because of the fact it attracts huge numbers of underage players (in spite of its rating) and has done so since Modern Warfare came out. I don't think I would call it that but you get what I'm saying, there are different ways to define a game as childish and different people will do it their own way.

mrTlicious · 11時間前

“Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” ― C.S. Lewis

Karo2theG · 1日前

I get the same reactions when I show people Ratchet and Clank. Yeah, looks silly. No blood. But you get to enjoy subtle adult humor writing and blow shit up!

bzzhuh · 1日前

I don't know if I have a template but I can give an example one my biggest disappointments where it turned out the game was too childish.

Spore.

You evolve your creatures and then go around either attacking other creatures, with the most dumbed down and limited point-click RTS mechanics ever. Or... you can sing and dance to the other animals and they sing and dance with you. That's about as well as I can describe my disappointment. TLDR: Childish.

jeezlouise123 · 14時間前

With a passing glance, a childish game is usually defined as a colorful game. Some of the promotional images from Team Fortress 2 make it look like a "childish game."

I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I think there might have been a slight uproar when the color palette was changed from Team Fortress Classic to TF2, making it look "childish". So, basically one of the major factors of a childish game is color.

omar1993 · 1日前

Personally, I think how "childish" a game is begins and ends with its aesthetics and plot(or rather, its complexity/implications) and has nothing to do with a game's difficulty, learning curve or gameplay style(since kids can adapt to difficulties, play styles and curves of various kinds anyway)

An example of a game that would fall under these criteria would be NiGHTS into Dreams, and it sequel Journey of Dreams.

It's literally as childish as it can get, where the main characters are children and an immature carefree purple flying jester, who fly about in a dreamland fending off nightmares.

The plot isn't especially detailed(although it is a meaningful coming of age story, in a sense), the aesthetics are nice, and kid-friendly and the gameplay is something anyone can like(it's why I freaking LOVE both games).

That's my opinion anyway...

ukjohndoe · 23時間前

Simplistic, menial gameplay and a very basic story.

Those games where you need to collect all coins/bolts to unlock the next level/scene. Menial tasks such as: "Go get X and place it in Y and I'll give you 1 Z-item". This makes you waste tons of hours doing menial tasks and usually developers have these quests/requirements to extend the gameplay hours to their games.

A simple (not necessarily bad) plot includes no character development, no back stories, no motivations: "Bad guy is bad because he hates smiles!", "Good guy is good because having fun is THE BEST THING EVER!", "I look like a bad guy on the outside but I do good things so I'm EXTRA cool."

Aesthetically bright colors and big noticeable button inputs are childish to some people. Anything that STANDS OUT. Like you're walking in the open world and a huge button overlay shows up in front of a ground herb. Just a HUGE "[PRESS A TO HARVEST THIS HERB]" sign.

Minimalism in games can be linked with mature and stylish gameplay because of their self-explanatory nature; so having huge over-explained inputs is childish. Also HUGE font or icons in menus, so people don't get lost and are able to find everything easily.

Contextual story-telling can also determine if a game is childish. A game can be self-aware of it's childish design, sometimes even make it childish looking on purpose, but if the story has elements of deep story telling, character development, themes such as death, famine, then a game is contextually mature even though it's graphically made to look like a "kid's game".

Stop-Hanging-Djs · 1日前

Honestly I think the label childish is a useless pejorative to dismiss games by people who think they're too good for the game. It doesn't really give any insight into aesthetics, gameplay, narrative or otherwise. A game with "childish" aesthetics can have deep gameplay and a gritty "mature" game can be braindead as all hell. The same goes for every other element. In short I don't think there's much merit in thinking or worrying about what makes a game "childish"

Eddy_Sc · 1日前

I think what makes a game "childish" is the presence of bright, colorful graphics with the lack of emotional depth and/or gore and adult themes.

Some people mention lack of challenge as a measure of "childishness" but Mario can be very unforgiving and yet it still is considered rather childish.

NumeroDeux · 1日前

Perspective.

People who game are going to say games x, y, and z are childish based on their personal definitions of what makes a game childish. Which is why you're seeing people say pokemon/mario/rayman are childish in some comments and then others saying that they have a lot of depth if you look more into them in other comments.

Then you have people who don't game who think any sort of gaming is childish.

It all comes down to personal perspective, and I'm not sure much, if anything, can be done about it. Maybe as some of the stigma between gamers and non-gamers or "hardcore" gamers and "casual" gamers decreases.

tocilog · 1日前

Presentation and humor. If a game appears to be whimsical, childish looking (as if coming from a children's book), and the music is...I guess nice is the best way I can put it, matching the art style, no gore violence etc. The humor is, well, rated-G.

I think the main issue is that people correlate childish to simple and easy. Which, if you ask me, isn't fair. There are games presented to appeal to children (like most of Nintendo's offerings) that can be really challenging and fun. If it doesn't appeal to you, well then, I guess that's fine. But there's no point in dismissing it as childish, simple and easy if you haven't tried it at all.

On the other hand developers making simple games for kids and adults labeling certain games with adult theme as unfit for children aren't being fair either, I think. Kids can handle difficult games as a lot of us did who grew up in the arcade/8-bit/16-bit era. Sure, maybe gore and ultra-violence should be censored, I think though that kids can handle games with themes of death, sacrifice, war, horror, some toilet humor even, as we did in the arcade/8-bit/16-bit era.

So we blur the line between which games are for adults and for kids. Sometimes we just need to let people get exposed to different genres, themes, difficulty and gameplay.

darkjungle · 1日前

To me, it's forced humor. That's the reason I didn't enjoy Lego Marvel as much as the others. So many of the jokes fell flat and the puns were God-awful.

ginja_ninja · 21時間前

Well for me the biggest thing is simplicity. This can be in terms of either gameplay or story depending on the genre. I think Halo is a decent example of both elements. The gameplay is fairly simple and the characters are all pretty standard. This isn't to say adults can't enjoy it as well because the games are fun and one hell of a spectacle, but it's also why I loved them when I was 13 and why so many kids love them. They're easy to play, understand, and you don't need to read a bunch of stuff to do so.

The other big thing that affects it for me is voice acting. If the voicework sounds like it's from a kid show or is just really poorly delivered, it kinds of makes the game plot seem more trivial to me. Final Fantasy X is a good example here. A lot of the main characters' voice actors make it pretty difficult to take seriously and generally feel like you're watching some anime for preteens. The story itself isn't terrible, but the voice acting removes almost all potential gravitas from most scenes. Compare with something like FFVII or IX who have much less realistic artstyles, yet still manage to feel more complex and mature from being text-based. Or look at FFXII, in addition to a much more complex plot that doesn't revolve around a teen romance like FFX, most of the voicework and direction is spectacular and only gets better the more times you play the game.

As for what it seems to mean to most people in general though, it usually gets thrown around as a knee-jerk when something looks cartoony or cel-shaded. A lot of times this isn't true, although when the entire premise of the game turns out to be "run and jump and look at the graphics" then I would say it's deserved (shoutouts to 90% of Nintendo games in the last 15 years).

TbanksIV · 20時間前

This is a great question OP, you're getting some killer conversations here.

For me the only thing I would deem a game childish for, is if it is specifically marketed towards children (I can't remember but there were a few Wii and DS games that mentioned kids in the title, or were like really easy brain teasers and stuff.)

This also includes the bulk of, "Movie - games" which have all but disappeared except for the child market, for games based on Disney movies and the such. (That being said there are noticeable exceptions like the SNES disney games which were fucking impossible, and despite being mainly marketed towards children, were often purchased by those who heard they were difficult.)

But aside from that, I don't think any game is childish. People have different tastes, I don't like Nintendogs or anything like that but some people dig on that shit, and I won't judge. Some people don't like Dark Souls, Silent Hill, or League, and while I think everyone should try those games, it's cool if they don't.

Most people use it as an insult, and that's just a totally dismissive thing to do.

NekoiNemo · 18時間前

People call games childish because of their own biases, issues and insecurities. Those people are immature and afraid that people will see them as such so they preemptively bash the game to show how they're "proper adults and above such childish things".

baalroo · 10時間前

I guess it depends on who you ask and the context in which the term is being used.

For me there are two components:

a game can be "childish" if it appears to be made specifically for, and marketed towards, children. Things like Pokemon, Animal Crossing, or just a lot of Nintendo games in general come to mind. These games may still be fun and enjoyable, but they have a certain cartoonish aesthetic, are "non-threatening," and have relatively simple game mechanics.
a game can also be "childish," but still slightly more "mature." A lot of "AAA" titles fall into this category for me. These type of games may have slightly more "gritty" aesthetic values, but are still very cliche, with simplistic stories and gameplay. In a way, using the term "childish" in this manner is meant to be at least somewhat derogatory. Things like Infamous or Destiny fall into this category for me. In other words, games that are made for and marketed towards slightly older children in the 13-17 range.

Noggin-a-Floggin · 52分前

Childish games are ones that are very simple, not particularly challenging and don't require a lot of critical thinking or a set of skills. The only people that think Wind Waker or Rayman or Mario are "childish" are immature 13-year olds trying to sound tough and hardcore by only playing M-rated games or swearing at people on XBox Live.

I'm thinking Skylanders in particular which is a very simple and easy action-RPG like game.

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