"It's aimed at kids"

"They're aimed at kids" is an excuse often used to dismiss criticism of characters aimed for younger audiences.

This article will focus on the matter regarding characters, but there are also articles on this topic on the Crappy Games, Terrible Shows & Episodes, Dreadful Literature, and Awful Movies wikis.

Background
It is well known that kids are easier to entertain by simple things that grownups may find stupid or boring at first. Likewise, kids are less likely to have fully developed motor skills and reflexes that would be required to play highly complicated mature games (like Call of Duty). Because of that, video games targeted at younger audiences tend to be easier and simpler than games targeted at older players, but that doesn't mean that games aimed at kids should be too simplistic and basic.

Often when people criticize kids' games for poor quality, short length, being overly simplistic, or anything else they don't like, some might say "It's made for kids" as an excuse for doing so. While it is understandable that kids may have a hard time with complex games that adults may like, saying that it's made for kids shouldn't be a good enough excuse for making low-quality, effortless, and excessively easy games that grown-ups will find boring. This excuse also makes kids look like idiots with no real taste who will like anything aimed at them, which isn't actually true. Kids are actually smarter than they're given credit for.

On the other hand, there are some older people (mostly dudebros) who dismiss games targeted at young audiences as "kiddie games" and often say things like, "Those games are for kids, they're too easy and boring." Just because a game has a younger target audience doesn't mean that older people aren't allowed to play them or won't find challenge and substance in them. If the game is made well enough, anyone of any age can enjoy.

A good game meant for kids should be simple enough that kids can pick up play it with little trouble, yet have enough content and substance that older players will find interesting and fun to play so that when grown-up gamers go back and revisit the games they've played in their childhood and they can still have a good time.

Even if a character is aimed at kids the adults may also be interested in them (for example, most characters made by Disney or their subsidiaries such as Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Fox, Blue Sky Studios, etc.; those characters are aimed at younger audiences, but also respect viewer intelligence and don't pander towards kids.

There is no excuse for making a poorly made character aimed at kids.

Why This Excuse Sucks

 * 1) This is just a way for critics and parents to dismiss criticism towards people who criticize terrible characters "that were aimed for kids". By dismissing criticism, the quality of these types of characters may never improve.
 * 2) By pointing out the flaws in kids' media characters, can leave improvement and ensure that more characters aimed at kids can be made to be enjoyed by grownups as well.
 * 3) This whole excuse makes kids look like idiots with no real taste who will like anything aimed at them, which isn't actually true. Kids are actually smarter than they're given credit for.
 * 4) * It should be noted that contrary to popular belief, actually even kids would very likely not enjoy these poorly-conceived kids' media characters, hence highlighting this fact further.
 * 5) The only thing this excuse encourages kids to do is to stoop to a low level, always ignore the parents and not listen.

How to make a good character aimed at kids
TBA.

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