Unexpected Audience, such as Brony fandom

[Atarifever1]

[QUOTE=Gentlegamer]A helpful chart

 [/QUOTE]

Where's the one of the 2600 or NES with a kid from the 80s there and then an old version of the same person when he's in his 30s/40s?

[ptdebate1]

Getting back to the topic of games:

This discussion of demographics got me thinking--do young'uns get interested in retro games? Being born in the year 2000 gives you a whole different perspective on fun than someone who was born in 1990 or 1980. But I wonder if there are any younger people (or parents of the same) on this site who can speak to this question of youth interest in old games?

[ZetaX1]

[QUOTE=Atarifever]
I have no time for this stuff.  Bullying judgements from geeks is bullying just the same. 
[/QUOTE]

I don't think anyone was bullying the Bronies, just stating opinions.   And yes, I'm sure a lot of people find adults that play video games are strange also.  Everyone thinks something is strange, but they're just someone's opinion.  Expressing an opinion is not, by definition, bullying.  Getting in someone's face, telling them that they're a loser a-hole, that's bullying.

I think as a society, we tend to take the opinions of others a little too seriously.  I'm sure the Bronies have heard the jokes and ridicule, that probably just makes them more zealous in their pursuit Pony Magic.  When someone says they think I'm weird for playing video games, I just throw a blue shell at them.  Problem solved!

[Bluenote1]

[QUOTE=Atarifever]Man, what is it with people and the brony topic?  I was at Sci fi on the Rock (the biggest geek convention in Newfoundland) last year and I had a furry (an honest to goodness furry with a tail) tell me they thought bronies were losers. 

I'll say the same thing to you guys I say whenever someone at SFotR talks to me about those "weird furries/bronies, whatever."  It is weird to be  concerned that your interests and the things you enjoy (as long as they hurt no one else) should be changed to suit other people. 

If you think Bronies are weird, remember someone out there thinks you are a complete toolbox for liking electronic toys made for children 30 years ago.  The Atari 2600 and NES are children's toys.  They were marketed to children, with cartoons marketed to children based on them, sold with commercials of children palying them, and if you still like them, maybe you need to be told you're creepy and to grow up. 

I am not a brony.  I have seen the show, because I have kids, and I find the art style and humour appealing in a "Pixar-light" kind of way, but I don't even watch it when it's on in the house.  However, if someone wants to fend off the despair of spiraling into oblivion by watching some funny little horses fly around a rainbow coloured world making friends, good for them.  If you think they shouldn't do that because it makes them creepy, perhaps it is a sign that there's something wrong with you.  Perhaps you should work out why other people's interests are so much of an issue for you. 

I have no time for this stuff.  Bullying judgements from geeks is bullying just the same. 

[/QUOTE]

Very well said.  I'm not into Bronies either, but I'm assuming I will one day watch it as my daughter is 4 and will soon discover it.

It's hilarious though, that people jump on them meanwhile it's perfectly acceptable for middle aged men to collect action figures and transformers, toys that are marketed towards 10 year boys.

Everyone has their own hobbies/interests, live and let live.  People on this board, if anything, should understand that.  I mean, I get weird looks at work when I mention that I still play NES games. 

[Atarifever1]

Back on topic, Scotland, I think you're original example of Animal Crossing is a great example of this.  

It is at the point now where on the Animal Crossing Community pages, there are forums specifically called "Grownup Gamers."  This lets you give your online information out without worrying a 10 year old will end up in your village or that you'll start PMing someone for advice and find out they're 12.  It's a response to that demographic existing in large numbers.  However, the existence of those boards within the main boards also implies we are not the average Animal Crossing gamer. 

I imagine Nintendo is well aware of the demographics in this game (and many of their others).  They know people like me and my wife play the same game as little kids.  Sometimes I think this is why Nintendo is more uptight with online infrastructure.  Sure there are 10 year olds on Xbox Live, but generally, if they're in the wrong place, that's their parent's fault.  If some kid is on Animal Crossing and comes across a 30 year old, that's really just both of their demographics ending up in the same place. 

Makes me wonder what the intent was of putting the old NES games in the original Animal Crossing.  Were they thinking they'd need a neat "retro" reward in their for older gamers, or were they hoping to give a new generation of kids fond memories of those games all their own.

[Gentlegamer1]

[QUOTE=Atarifever][QUOTE=Gentlegamer]A helpful chart

 [/QUOTE]

Where's the one of the 2600 or NES with a kid from the 80s there and then an old version of the same person when he's in his 30s/40s?[/QUOTE]They are the same person.

[Gentlegamer1]

Amendment to my reply to Atarifever - as you point out, they are the same person, so that's not something targeted at one audience but being adopted by another. The kids of the 80s are the adults of today. My use of that meme pic is meant to be humorous, pointing out that those who claim games like Call of Duty are for 'more mature' audiences are missing the mark. The Pokemon portion probably falls into a similar form as the Atari VCS and NES examples... the adult/older teen enthusiasts of Pokemon games were probably initially kids who loved Pokemon, and have grown up with them.

[img]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a70/PRaNgEl605/pokemon.jpg[/img]

This dovetails with what C.S. Lewis wrote:

“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.”

An adult can non-ironically appreciate something meant for a younger audience, or even an opposite sex audience, but when you make your fandom a term of self identification ("brony") with accompanying costumes, etc., you are entering the territory of fetishism, and that is seen as instinctively unhealthy by well adjusted adults.*

We often use the term "gamer" to describe ourselves ("Gentlegamer *tips fedora*") in a casual way relating to our common enthusiasm for video games. Nothing wrong with that. But if we took that enthusiasm and self identification to the next level, we become the type of stereotyped, basement dwelling, arrested development person ("man-baby"), whose primary social activity is Xbox Live or hanging out in GameStop chatting with the clerk and advising customers on the purchases. That's when enthusiasm turns into a fanaticism that is appropriate to be criticized.

You can apply that analysis to any type of enthusiasm.* I'm a fan of Star Trek and Star Wars, but there are people in that fandom that are embarrassing to be associated with. They have gone too far.


*The only group of enthusiasts in our culture largely immune are sports fans.

Anecdote about age:
Once upon a time, I played a lot of Star Wars Battlefront. I played online multi-player, first on PS2, then on Xbox before the Xboxalypse.

While playing on Xbox, a younger person that I had played a few rounds with added me to his friends list. I thought he was 17/18... turns out he was 13. I was 30 at the time, and I instantly felt like me being in an XBL party chatting with him without his parents' knowledge was asking for trouble.

[Vexer1]

Oh I would disagree about sports fans, I think they are the absolute worst in terms of fanaticism, it's downright creepy how obsessed some of them get with football, basketball, baseball, etc.

[Leo1]

In my defense, I didn't know that there was a modern show. I thought we had some mass rediscovery by men in recent years of the cartoon that was on circa 1986 or so.