Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
lack of understanding about how video games work and who plays video
games. Books, music, and movies were constructed as less threatening
because of their lack of interactivity and because examples of that kind of
content with adult themes are not perceived as being targeted at children.
Perhaps most importantly, other media forms were not as scary precisely
because they are well understood by all those involved in the case. Without
assigning a particular value judgment on either side of the argument, this
law centered concerns about video games on children, reifying the status of
video games as kid's toys, even when these games are explicitly designed to
only be played by 'mature audiences.'
ADAPTING WORDS: CHANGING THE
TERMS OF THE DISCUSSION
The primary way to shift the discourse about kids and video games is to
witness a long-term, ongoing alteration of the observed target audience of
video games. Debates about children and video games are likely to shift at
the point when the general public reaches a level of understanding about
video games similar to the current knowledge about other media forms,
like topics and television. Quite simply, the lingering implications of chil-
dren's prominence as a target audience for games persists because of a lack
of fi rst-hand information, the residual power of anecdotal evidence, and
sophisticated marketing campaigns. Currently, the best example of a poten-
tial for seismic shifts can be seen in the advertising for Microsoft's Kinect
and Nintendo's Wii.
Similar to the ads for the Nintendo Wii and
Wii Sports
discussed in
Chap-
ter 1,
advertisements for Microsoft's Kinect feature a wide range of people
interacting with the game. Instead of focusing on showing game action, the
ads focus on who plays these games and how they are played. Snippets of the
dif erent games that can be played are shown, but the bulk of the ad is fi lmed
from the perspective of the television that looks out on to the players. This
makes sense, given that both the Kinect and Wii are based on changing the
mode of gaming toward motion and away from button pressing, but the most
fascinating part of the ads are
who
is shown playing. These ads typically
feature pairs of players, often demographically mismatched dyads, interact-
ing with the games together. In altering who is shown playing the games,
both the Wii and the Kinect seek to shift the demographics of gamers away
from the traditional construction of who plays games toward something new,
something dif erent, something that is demographically diverse. In so doing,
they also of er the potential to redefi ne public conceptions about what video
games are and what constitutes an appropriate standard bearer of 'video
game player.' A deeper look at the promotion for Kinect of ers a chance to see
how newer developments in words, design, and play of er the opportunity to
leave the rhetoric of 'kid's play' behind.
