The problem Everquest Next has isn’t that the graphics look highly animated. It’s that it looks like a cartoon. Specifically it looks like cartoons that young children would like. This pulls it out of the teen demo which has historically been the target for the majority of MMOs and lands it (whether intentional or not) into a more general audience. This raises the question of how mature can content be, when they know children are watching?
Whom is EQN designed for? What is the target audience? Right now it looks very plausible that 10-year-olds will flock to the game due to the Saturday morning cartoon animation. If SOE knows this and wants this, that means they must game design around it.
Even if they don’t want it, I can see the confusion parents and kids alike could have watching promos for this game. It would absolutely look like something that would be appropriate for a young child. That means parents will buy it for them, thinking it’s age appropriate. That means kids will end up playing it. And that will most certainly have a massive effect on the community.
Is SOE concerned that 10-year-olds are going to want to play this game?
Does SOE want this game to be for 10-year-olds and their parents?
Does SOE want this game to be for teenagers and adults?
How young are they targeting with the game?
These are answers they should be able to answer now. Hopefully we’ll get them soon.
joystick love 