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Is Blizzard really pandering to the 12 year olds ?
OkhamsRazor
Member Posts: 1,047
I see a lot of comments in these forums about Blizzard aiming this new expansion at the 12 year olds . Well I've got nephews of 11 and 12 years old and neither of them would want to play a game as a Panda partly because they would see it as a game for really young children . They are much more into things like Halo or Company of heroes .Things with a bit more grit and realism to them . My point is the average 12 year old boy at least would find a Panda very uncool and be a bit embarrised to play one or a game with one in and certainly would never tell thier friends about it because they would be teased mercilessly at school.
I did ask my 13 year old neice what she thought of it .she said they were "cute but a bit silly" so I'm not sure how female gamers of that age range would respond to it either .
So love or hate the Pandas its diffcult to see what demographic it would appeal to . Its hard to see a lot of mature older gamers wanting to play one so maybe Blizzard are trying to appeal to a very young market (younger than the 12+ rating). Or maybe its the asian market that love things like this .
Whoever it is . Its not the kids around the age of 12 .
Comments
Hey,
you seem to be under the impression that we're living in a world were there aren't thousands of 20+ year olds watching "My Little Pony" as if it's the coolest thing ever.
That Pixar movies are aimed purely and solely at little kids and contain no elements whatsoever which may appeal to adults.
That 'gritty' and 'realistic' are more mature and adult then any other art-style.
However, that's not the world we're living in.
There's plenty of people out there who don't give a rat's ass about whether or not the videogame they play is considered mature by the good folks over here at MMORPG.com. They don't need a videogame to validate their maturity. They feel plenty comfortable in their adult status even when playing with dolls, petting pink kittens or playing as a panda in a cartoony videogame. They've realised that maturity is about a lot more then outward appearances and have learned that if you spend all your time looking mature it leaves very little time to act mature.
See, to most actual adults this is just a videogame. It's already something that isn't serious and of no huge importance. Whether or not it has pandas doesn't change that. But pandas are cute, so for them the choice is between a silly game and a cute & silly game, guess which one they pick?
Pandas are aimed at your normal WoW player who already see it as a silly game that's nevertheless a good way to waste time and relax. They don't need to play as big burly US marines to validate their maturity. They're just playing to have fun, pandas are fun as well so they fit right in.
We are the bunny.
Resistance is futile.
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http://steamcommunity.com/id/Cloudsol/
It's aimed at gamers of all ages just as WoW always has been, however these gamers are the gamers that know WoW is a game and WoW's job is to entertain - those who plug into that enjoy WoW and all the quirks it offers, those who don't plug into that will never get the appeal of WoW and that's fine.
It's hard to put into word's but the warcraft universe is somthing you either get or don't.
I don't find a colourless world, filled with uncanney valley models with little to no expression or soul mature, fun to play in or at all appealing. But we all got our thing.
Truth is you'll find more 12 year olds in so called "mature" games cus it offers viloence, blood, sex and all that stuff.
+1
Pandas are silly! Cow-people, space squid goats, gnomes and purple elves with 1 metre long ears are not!
<childish, provocative and highly speculative banner about your favorite game goes here>
I think WOW is going for regional flavor
watch the preview video -- its more about throwing WOW players into a Eastern theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyeZ8khSEC0
similar to what Guild Wars did 5 years ago with their asian themed, Factions game and the asian-themed Cantha
EQ2 fan sites
Ooooooookayyyyyyyy.....
P.S. if I ever meet someone in real life who has dyed their cat (or any other animal) I will literally knock them out [mod edit]
"Mr. Rothstein, your people never will understand... the way it works out here. You're all just our guests. But you act like you're at home. Let me tell you something, partner. You ain't home. But that's where we're gonna send you if it harelips the governor." - Pat Webb
I guess cow people are close to minotaurs so no . Gnomes and elves are pretty standard fantasy races so no and space squid goats are silly but they arn't a playable race or the subject of a major expansion .
I am a member of large gamign community which spans to MMOS like EQ2, LOTRO, Rift, AOC and WOW. We are mostly in 30's and everyone is lookign forward to new expansion. So nope not just kids a lot of mature players are excited too. And i know our guild is not the only with mature people who don't take WOW too seriously and just have fun. I am currently having fun with EQ2 but surely planning to go back to WOW once new expansion hits the stores.
I agree but my point is that it will not appeal to most 12 year olds . Kids of that age want to be seen to be growing up so a lot of its about appearances they are actually more unlikly to want to play a Panda than an adult .
For example when I was 12 I gave up reading comics but when I was 17 I started reading them again .
Who - "they"? I'm 35 years old. If I were to play Warcraft (I've tried it for a week or two, I don't particularly like it), I would certainly try Pandas. Because I've already started as dwarf (my first choice everywhere
), and no other race seems fun, or at least as fun as pandas.
So, I'm the target demographics for Panda expansion. A guy who is manly enough in the real life to not needing to boost his manlines through an avatar in the video game.
So, I guess the three children you know make up the entire 10-14 demographic, eh? Good to know, you might want to inform the marketing departments of hundreds of toy/book companies that they can stop performing costly surveys and other market research, and just ask your nieces and nephews what THEY think...
Also, I still don't see what the big deal is about the Pandaren. You might have a point if the game didn't already contain anthropomorphic cows, wolves, snakes, hyenas, bears, boars, fish, birds, and insects. As well as midgets, little green men, walking corpses, blue elves...
But nooooo, pandas? "That's just going too far, man! That's kid's stuff! I'm gonna go play my Tauren!"
*facepalms*
LOL i guess not 12 years old, as they are attracted by heroic looking chars, my guess they try to add 3-9 years to gaming. =D
try before buy, even if it's a game to avoid bad surprises.
Worst surprises for me: Aion, GW2
They probably are reaching for a target audience, to add variety, it seems to have put many off, the more people you appeal too, the better for a game like WoW...thats how the game was made, to appeal to the masses, not the traditional core gamer imo....Not to say they don't play it, but it was made with mass appeal in mind.
Best post ever and if still someone wants to continue to generalise all gamers who play games like WOW as kids.. it is a lost case.
Gobla -1
OP - K.O
I almost totally agree with everything here, except...
Pixar is one of those rare companies that comes along that knows exactly how to create an experience that completely and totally transcends age. Every single movie pixar has made has been a massive success because they know how to make movies that aren't aimed at any single age demographic. Whether you're 4 or 40, pixar movies are aimed towards you. Show me a single pixar movie that doesn't have a deep, moral, adult driven plot. Kids don't like finding nemo because it's a story about a father who learning to live and appreciate his child again, after the loss of his spouse. A kid can't relate to the feelings of the toys in Toy Story, after all, they're still children playing with their toys, but we as a adults can perfectly connect with the idea of a box full of forgotten toys.
Blizzard is another company that knows how to do this. Seriously, you can already turn into a cartoon bear, but dear god if you can play a race of bears it's suddenly childish. For the love of god you can turn into a cartoon tree!
Isn't there some sort of connection to alchohol in the panderan lore? Everytime I see a drawing the bears got a keg with him, and I remember the keg quest from vanilla wow. No one would be bitching if the panda was drawn in a fierce, dark, and brooding manner. No, people here see a panda, done in the same style of art as everything else in WoW, and it's has to be geared towards kids. The shallow on this site runs suprisingly deep.
Great post, Gobla!
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
he was being sarcastic. saying pandas are silly, yet tauren, drenai, gnome and off color elf's with exceptionally long ears are...as a question.
Again you totally missed my central point that its is unlikly to attract children around the age of 12 years old . Theres no way I was saying this wouldn't appeal to some adult . It wont appeal to the majority of 30+ year olds though and if it does appeal to someone of 35 good for them . Not every 35 year old reads comics and its seen by most 35 year old that they are immature if they do but if you enjoy it kudos to them .
What I was saying its far more unlikly to attract the 12 year old demographic that most people that are making critiscms think it will . Maybe if you learn to read whats actually written than make assumptions you will be able to make an informed and intelligent responce .
Some animated movies appeal to me as some are well done and offer something to the older viewer and some dont . At 12 years old I had lost interest in Disney but now I'll quite happily watch a disney movie .
Very reason I rarely enter the WoW forums . For some reason people here seam to be unable to grasp the simplest of discussions and resort to they type of unthinking post you've just made .
On the subject of Pixar I think they do some excellent work too .Some of there films are amazing and have lots of tounge in cheek references that are aimed at adults and totally go over the heads of children other though I find to be totally aimed at a an audiance of children and I get very little out of them what so ever .Kung Fu Panda being a case in point it was OK but I found it didn't draw me in because the script didn't have those hooks that interest most adults .
I've been watching my 11 and 13 yr old nephews grow up. I haven't asked them direct questions about WoW and the incoming Panderen though. I will at Thanksgiving.
That said...
Watching my newphews grow up has been, for me, a strange experience. As wonderful as it has been there have been *many* times where I thought to myself "Jesus, was I really like that?!"
My experiences have taught me a few things about adolescents. Namely, fitting in with your peers trumps all other rational thought. So what about that weird ass star-filled sparkling winged pony (Twinkles) we saw awhile back? Had certain of their friends thought that was uncool then WoW would be dead to them. If certain of their friends thought that was the coolest thing ever then spRk7n P0niz 0wN.
What I really love most about WOW is the game lore. Same reason I love Diablo. The cow level in D2 was funny. The Panderen (lol pandas) had me laughing at my desk. Lord of the rings had a beginning and an end, close the book and celebrate its accomplishments. Same with Star Wars (referring to SWGalaxies.) WoW though, that is different. It is alive, dynamic and in the here and now. It is changing all the time (and active all the time) and it can go anywhere and we wowgamers are right there in the thick of it. The depth and detail of lore, as my nephews percieve it, is that "Sylvanus is hotter as a banshee."
I think that the kids don't give a hoot one way or the other unless the kids whose approval they cherish over all other things has an opinion. (slight exageration but basically true) I'm not talking about my nephews in specific but the age group as a whole.
What about the PARENTS? They do care. If my brother played through the Forsaken game area (Tirisifal --> Silverpine -->Hilbrad) he would likely have serious reservations about subbing WoW for his sons. Now looking at a web site showing clips of humanoid pandas doing marshal arts? A new twist to the already experienced and socially acceptable Pokemon? I think he'd give the green light. More importantly his wife would say "awwww" (or something like that) and want to watch them play the pokemon thing with their Pandas.
Pandering to 12yr olds? I don't think so. Pandering to 12yr olds *parents*. Yes.
And you know that for sure how? do you know all 30+ mature guys who play WOW or just any other online games? you are just making up numbers here that is why it is hard to take anything you say seriously.
Howevern it is not just about reading comics that make you look childish and immature (that is what you think by the way not me). Same can be said for those who play online games. I can make up fake numbers too and say hey 'x' number of people think anyone who is 30+ and play vidoe games is childih and immature.
See how shallow and hypocrite it sounds? for someone who generalised entire WOW population who are looking forward to Panda race as 12 years old you should be the last person to complain about 'unthinkign post'. Goblas hit the nail on head and you should read and learn something from it.
The pandas are being used as a stick to beat WoW with. Most players seem to be more interested in the new Talent System rather than another anthro.
There is NO miracle patch.
95% of what you see in beta won't change by launch.
Hope is not a stategy.
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fkin loved Ren and Stimpy long ago, plz insert Mr Horse as a playable race too, Blizzard!
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