Who is the audience though? The developer has to be the one who actually decides their audience, and they kind of do that based on the tone, setting, gameplay, etc., of the game.
I know of a heck of a lot of “games” or experiences that are accepted by their audience but are not accepted by the mainstream. Because they’re made for an audience.
A significant portion of the audience for Bejeweled 3 would definitely not accept a Call of Duty game…but who cares? They aren’t the audience. The audience is determined by the type of game Call of Duty is.
And to say the audience is to decide is wrong for another reason. What if the audience is under 18, I’m sure they would decide that porn is a suitable form of entertainment for themselves to consume, but society has decided they are not old enough to make that decision for them selves.
I think it is indeed a bit of both–based on things like tone, settings, gameplay, etc. I may choose to make a colorful 3D platformer, but by doing so I’m restricting my audience to those who play such games, and the kind of things they like. They probably aren’t in it for edgy stories and drama (“Where’s that d*mn fourth Chaos Emerald?!”).
The main thing is that there isn’t some universal “audience” who governs these things. The same market, in exceedingly broad terms (aka Steam), that “accepts” My Time at Portia also “accepts” Hatred. Or more accurately, there are different “audiences” within that market. It’s not so cut and dried.
The audience is whoever the developer is targeting, both for consuming the content, and anyone or any system intended to deliver or promote the content.
I find it unlikely that there is any market or advertising network either made up of under 18 year olds, or is in the business of promoting porn content to under 18 year olds…
Personally, I always enjoyed dark games with extreme gore: Diablo 1/2 ARPG, Myth 1/2 RTS, Blood FPS, etc. Today nobody is making such games anymore. I refuse to play something like Overwatch, since it looks like a Disney cartoon.
I’m working on bots, my 5 year old son loves walking around in our game and I thought I let him try something new so i disabled the bots detection system so he could walk around without them shooting.
He grabbed a Taurus .454 Casull revolver from the holster and I helped him aim and he pulled the trigger, meanwhile my wife just walked into the room as he squeezed the trigger and with the .454 we use a big blood effect My wife wasnt happy
I come from a pretty liberal uprising my 3 year old brother sat by me while i played Doom 1 as a kid. But I guess the gfx wasn’t as graphic back then. Truth be told I didn’t even reflect over it before I let him have a go.
…you may need to feed them lot of books…history…as follow up…
Violence is something seen and cannot be unseen, your best bet could be let them grow mature earlier. (hugs)
I think there’s a pretty significant difference between playing a violent, cartoony arcade game and teaching someone to use an actual (simulated) weapon.
You’ve done a great job of getting your kid off to a bad start in gun safety. Even putting the cold blooded murder part aside, you’ve basically just taught a kid that it’s ok to pick up guns without checking that they’re safe and that it’s ok to point them at people. Both of those are things that people should be taught not to do at their first exposure to a firearm.
That’s stretching it a bit.
Even at 3 I was never under the illusion that I was being taught how to pilot a fighter jet and shoot down other planes without checking the IFF.
Are you also going to say that playing tag in kindergarten teaches kids to chase people down and touch them without their consent?
That’s some serious childism.
I’m more referring to the fact that a parent was actively encouraging the behaviour without caveat. That gives a heavy implication that it is a good thing to do.
I too played games as a kid where you used dangerous things or caused harm or other such things. When introduced to them I always had the context explained to me.
Well, if the kid being touched is playing then there is consent.
If the kid being chased does not want to play… different story.
I know:)
And bad things soon be happened with internet era, don’t be too guilty, just be prepared always, because kids learn pretty fast.
When they arrive teenage period, may require a change in parents role to friends. Don’t necessarily forbid their behaviour, as that would further push them away, and they need close communication, the sooner you do the easier it is. Otherwise…its harder than taming cat when it’s too late…
Just spend time on kids as much as you can, they growing and changing fast like sound speed while we are still dragging prefabs.
I assume you has advantage if your kid feels happier with you at the moment, tell them stories with ethics, may borrow from some well knowns children Aesopica, tell them whats right and wrong before they refuse to listen.
Since life don’t have rehearsal, I don’t have much successful experience in my failed life, those are my feelings more than suggestion, as each family culture are different.
Wish you and your family all the best and blessings.
We dont have those crazy gun laws here in Sweden though, in Sweden its against the law to store ammo and firearm in the same place. And leaving loaded firearms is a big offence. The self defence aspect of leaving loaded guns around is not a thing here, we use firearms for hunting and sports.
Well, I know of only one case of a kid shooting another person here in sweden, it was very tragic, a family full of people practicing Biathlon. Somehow a round was left in the gun after practice and a brother shot her sister in the head So off course strict gun laws will lower the amunt of misshaps
Though I’m a strong believer that movie and game violence is not at fault here, earlier it was VHS now its video games. The problem is parenting, talk to your kids, be with them, play with them, don’t neglect them! I have seen kids do bad stuff to my kids in the playground without their parents giving their kid a reprimand, what the fuck?
Bad parenting is the root to all evil, not video game violence
My wife wasnt happy 
So off course strict gun laws will lower the amunt of misshaps