Parents don't read Joystiq

by Justin McElroy { Jul 8th 2009 at 7:00AM }

Or, you know, any other review outlet for that matter. That's a criminally oversimplified version of the point that John Davison is making over at What They Play today. Davison says that, by-and-large, review sites aren't giving a fair shake to kids' games. Which is just as well, because parents aren't really reading them, relying instead on consumer reviews like those found at Amazon.com.

We at Joystiq would be tempted to laugh it off, but, as we learned in Back to the Future: Part 2, by 2013, every game played with the hands will be considered a "baby game," which is going to make reaching parents desperately important to us.

Tags: baby-games, casual, hardcore, metacritic

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Johnathan @ Jul 8th 2009 7:14AM

It is 2015, not 2013. Just sayin

Snake Robot Podium @ Jul 8th 2009 9:22AM

That's what I thought too, lol. But then if you think about it, for those kids to think that hand-based games were for babies, they would need to have been playing controller free for a few years.

We're on the right track though, if Natal comes along and takes over for all other console, handheld, and phone games. And if all retro and current gen games on PC and other consoles are retrofitted to be Natal-ish as well. If ALL of that happens within a year, we're right on schedule.

HaVoC @ Jul 8th 2009 7:24AM

Really, your kidding (sarcasm). Most parents don’t bother looking a the ESRB rating of the games that they are buying for their kids. If they don’t have the time to flip the box over and look at the game contents, what makes you think they are going to put the energy into reading a review site?

Smak @ Jul 8th 2009 12:17PM

This is exactly the point I was going to make, and I think it's one that will begin to solve itself as more gamers become parents. However, just like many parents let their 6 year olds watch R rated movies, the problem won't go away entirely. It will get a lot better, though.

SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Jul 8th 2009 1:02PM

i don't know. when i'm a parent, i don't know if i would mind my kids playing M-rated games (depending on what it is of course). my mom used to not let me play games that were talked about in the news like GTA III for example when i was in middle school. but even though she wouldn't buy it, i just ended up borrowing it from friend and playing it late at night. i think the main point is teaching your kids what's reality and what's not. i played all those violent games back in the day and i'm not a violent person at all. plus i anticipate still being a gamer when i'm parent so i'll probably have the M-rated games at my house already anyway.

Vince @ Jul 8th 2009 7:30AM

Damn, and here I am reading both Joystiq and Amazon reviews. Got two teenage kids that play games and I play games myself.

Ghen @ Jul 8th 2009 8:19AM

I'm a parent as well, but I don't want to see kids games on joystiq anyway. Thats what other crappier sites are for. Joystiq is for my games ;)

CzAr @ Jul 9th 2009 1:12AM

That's what the Nintendo section is for. Kids and Parents.

Shiaoran @ Jul 8th 2009 7:55AM

And they're right to seek customer reviews. We all know better than to give a fuck to 'profesional' reviews.

Temidien @ Jul 8th 2009 8:03AM

Except Yahtzee of course. Then again, if it were up to Yahtzee, we'd only ever have like 5 games in our collections...

aggrazel @ Jul 8th 2009 9:58AM

And they'd all be prince of persia.

MowDownJoe @ Jul 8th 2009 10:31AM

And Psychonauts. And Fallout 3. (His Fallout 3 review was pretty much, "Ehh, it's alright", then he cut to credits and then cut back to the real review.)

Girugamuk (Moptimus Slimed) @ Jul 8th 2009 12:01PM

and Fantasy World Dizzy and Portal and Bioshock and Spiderman 2

Alphathon @ Jul 8th 2009 12:09PM

Not forgetting portal, his review of that was basically "it's perfect"

Alphathon @ Jul 8th 2009 12:09PM

Damn, Girugamuk (Moptimus Slimed) beat me to it

Ashitaka @ Jul 8th 2009 5:19PM

Amazing how you all forgot to mention that he loved the PS3 exclusive inFAMOUS.

Bowser Rogozhin: Death of a Ladies Man @ Jul 8th 2009 8:05AM

I rely on Amazon reviews more than, say, the opinions of those on Joystiq or Gamefaqs. People on Amazon tend to be more stable and rational. Oh, the reviewers over there also seem to be outside the gaming bubble, so their judgement is not so much clouded by illogical fanboisms, and such.

R. Kasahara @ Jul 8th 2009 8:51AM

Oh, there's still fanboyism (and fangirlism) aplenty on Amazon, but thankfully, those reviews are generally less likely to be voted up by users as "helpful" (and thank goodness for that).

Alex @ Jul 8th 2009 12:22PM

Yeah, there are still the jokes on Amazon and the likes who will vote a console down to 1 star because they hold a grudge to it, similar to a lot of iTunes reviews that basically say "It isn't [genre] so therefore it is turd."

Josh @ Jul 8th 2009 8:08AM

In 2015: You mean you have use your hands? That's like a baby's toy.

misterbleepy @ Jul 8th 2009 8:09AM

Hmmm - I can't be reading this then - I use this and other blogs, plus metacritic and Edge magazine to help me decide which game I and my child play...

tmacairjordan87 @ Jul 8th 2009 8:18AM

Ooook so if parents and casuals don't read reviews, then why should we take time out to cover/review casual/kids games?

Bowser Rogozhin: Death of a Ladies Man @ Jul 8th 2009 8:34AM

'We?' Anyway, 'we' don't have to. People are free to avoid any review of Catz by not clicking the link, turning the page, switching off the TV, etc. That was a lazy complaint, kid.

Mr Khan @ Jul 8th 2009 11:16AM

Because that would then confirm the fact that "we" are hopelessly biased and out of touch with reality. At least by still covering them "we" can still make some sort of claim to objectivity.

Heimbachae @ Jul 8th 2009 8:24AM

i come here for the whitty banter and humorus anecdotes... oh and DSG.

bobchokingonanonion2021 @ Jul 8th 2009 8:34AM

i think that parents who game are a lot more interested in reviewing the game before purchasing it. mainly because they are more interested in buying a good game not just for their kids but themselves as well.

Andrew Macdonald @ Jul 8th 2009 9:06AM

It would be nice if occasionally parents read reviews and paid attention to ratings etc. Then we wouldn't pay the price for bad parenting a la the whole Manhunt 2 debacle. When I worked in a games & DVD store parents would happiy buy their kids South Park or GTA games regardless of their age. Perhaps John should do his bit and agree to link to reviews of kids games on other sites/blogs as an attemp to spread the word that they exist.

No point in the likes of joystiq spending resources reviewing a game that NOBODY is going to read the review of.

RedSonRising @ Jul 8th 2009 9:28AM

when i worked as a game vendor i was surprised how little attention most 'parents' paid to the box art. some didnt know if their kid had the white or black console. it doesnt surprise me theyre not coming to a core gaming site like joystiq..

aggrazel @ Jul 8th 2009 10:00AM

I am a parent. I read joystiq every day.

However.

One day I was trapped in a doctors waiting room for over an hour and the only thing I had to read was a parenting magazine. Outside of the fact that it's filled with crap overbearing advice and annoying soccer mom crap, there was, in fact, one 'video game' ad in the magazine.

Freaking Wii Fit. I'd say 90% of you could have guessed that on the first try, but hey. It just makes me hate the casual games sector all the more.

Dante G @ Jul 8th 2009 10:27AM

I have a daughter and I read joystiq. I've found amazon's customers reviews very helpful cause they're the opinions of people who actually paid for the item and wanted to get something good for the money they spent. If they feel ripped off they let you know that, if they enjoyed the game more than expected they also tell you.

I think the information is out there for people who are actually interested in their investments. We just got to search for it.

CyberKnight @ Jul 8th 2009 10:53AM

I'm a father of 3 (with one more on the way), and here I am. So that debunks the *title* of this post.

However, the *actual point* of the article you linked to, I find, is quite valid. When I was looking at games for my kids, especially when they were younger (my oldest is 9 now and plays a lot of the same games I do, T-rated or below though -- that's just our rule, YMMV), I found there really weren't a lot of resources for reviewing *kids' games* -- or even regular games from a little kid's perspective.

We got our kids a V-Smile console years ago, and it was a pretty good system. (It also travels very well, since it runs on a 9V adapter it can plug into the car DVD system easily.) But when we bought games for it, we found there were some that were good and some that were pretty crappy, and there really wasn't much out there in the way of reviews to help determine what was what.

Even when I got an Xbox, would I have guessed that my four-year-old would learn to love videogames by playing Fuzion Frenzy, whose minigame format coincidentally fits perfectly with a preschooler's attention span? Not if it didn't so happen that my cousin had it, and he got to play it when we visited one Christmas.

It's certainly up to Joystiq if they want to decide to expand their coverage to this market, or stick with their current demographics. But I think Davison has a point in saying there is a market out there, and right now it is grossly underserved.

WizarDru @ Jul 8th 2009 2:31PM

Exactly right. I'm a father of two (9 and nearly 12) and the dearth of good family-based reviews is annoying. There are dozens of review sites, but only gamerdad and the now defunct gamefam (the writer now posts at What They Play) actually did reviews for younger players.

The problem isn't that Joystiq should do those reviews...as the article states, the problem is that NO ONE is doing those reviews...and that because of the combination of a lack of perspective and the scarcity of said reviews make aggregate sites like gamerankings and metacritic useless for this purpose. A 23 year-old single male isn't going to have the foggiest idea of what is appealing to a 5 year-old girl or a 9 year-old boy. Likewise, he won't have any idea of their skill set. The one reviewer complaining that a kid's game aimed a preschoolers spoke all the dialog (not understanding when kids gain full literacy) is the perfect example.

Reviewers are SCANDALIZED when a game like Cars sells as many copies as Gears of War...little realizing WHY and TO WHOM it is selling. They see a game that is unchallenging, repetitive and derivative of other 'better' games. What they don't see is that a six year-old isn't playing GT5 or Motorstorm or Fuel or Burnout Paradise. They're playing CARS....because Cars is WRITTEN FOR THEM.

Gamer parents and casual parents WANT reviews. They don't go to Joystiq because they just want something like Fandango or even their local newspaper's website or E! online. They don't want to have to read dozens of entries...they just want an answer to the question "Is it good?" and "did it contain questionable content?" And yes, the ESRB ratings are HELPFUL, but they don't tell the whole story. Halo is an 'M' rated game, though honestly I'm not sure why. You kill aliens, sure, but there's virtually no cursing, no nudity and the plot is fairly upbeat. Compare that with a game like Uncharted, where you kill actual human beings, the characters swear from time to time, there is sexual tension and even the implied threat of sexual predation and the main characters are motivated at least partially by greed (not to mention they smoke and drink). And that gets a 'T' rating. And I don't disagree with that, especially as it's one of my favorite games of this generation....but my point is that there is a LOT of disparity....and that's something decent reviews could address.

Petebot330 @ Jul 8th 2009 11:03AM

I have a hard enough time steering my girlfriend away from bad games (X-Bvlades; Messiah of Might and magic; Two worlds; My fitness coach) when we go to gamestop together. I can just imagine what it’s like to take a kid.

She knows a good game from a bad game, but she doesn’t really read the reviews, you know what I mean?

dantebk @ Jul 8th 2009 11:07AM

Is that why they just don't understand?

Professor Lario @ Jul 8th 2009 11:34AM

John has some valid points. I don't necessarily want to see children game reviews on my Joystiq and this is why site's like What They Play are necessary. I always enjoy when John participates on the 1UP podcast.

Letters2Kay @ Jul 8th 2009 12:29PM

This parent does! :)

Singular Trap @ Jul 8th 2009 12:39PM

I'm a parent of three kids (15, 7 & 5). I read Joystiq - spelled with a "q" - and xbox.joystiq. And listen to both podcasts. I checked out John's site, and used to subscribe to his podcast. Didn't care for either. I actually like him most on the Listen Up podcast. He's far more interesting there, sadly. I wish him the best, but he's wrong, anecdotally.