why games, cartoons are meant only for kids and not for adults?

[imdow123]

Cartoons, games and stuff like these are mainly directed for kids and not for adults. Why is that?

 

For me, sometimes they are interesting. They are interesting piece of art. Few cartoons have clever humour. Games also have nice references and ingenious plots.

 

But still I here people saying - "You are grown up now! Stop with cartoons and games". Mind you, these are not said to me. I'm still young. But I was wondering why adults don't enjoy such things.

 

Does the humour become too childish? If yes, then what exactly is childish humour?

I'm looking for an elaborate answer. Thank You!

[Phi for All]

I think many adults still like games and cartoons. As you get older, your responsibilities grow and change. You have less time available for entertainment overall, so you may choose more intellectually stimulating material.

 

But games and cartoons are still fun. They're like dessert, more special if you don't have it all the time.

[swansont]

Older cartoons were not directed at kds, per se. There's plenty of material directed at adults in them, too.

[John Cuthber]

Plenty of cartoons are directed at adults.

Know many kids who would get the jokes in these?

http://www.dilbert.com/

 

http://xkcd.com/archive/

 

I suspect that one reason that there are a lot of animated cartoons directed at kids is that they are cheap.

[ajb]

My wife likes to watch weird Japanese cartoons, no way would I let kids watch some of these.

[hypervalent_iodine]

More recently are the Adult Swim cartoons, which operate through Cartoon Network, anime (which ajb references) and other related cartoon series that are clearly not meant for children. Archer is one example that I myself watch.

[Delta1212]

Considering the massive success of M-rated games and that the mean age of gamers (defined as anyone who plays videogames for an hour or more per week) has been in the 30s for almost a decade, I challenge the idea that games are marketed primarily at children.

 

Also, as stated, cartoon strips are very frequently geared toward adults, and while most, but not all (see: South Park, Archer, etc) western animation is geared towards children, Japan really runs the gamut in terms of the age-appropriateness of its material.

[ydoaPs]

I am currently dressed as Finn the human.

[Endy0816]

Most of the older movie preshow ones are pretty adult in nature. Was probably the advent of Saturday morning cartoons that started their association with children's programming.

[ralfy]

Some points to consider include attraction towards images rather than words, etc., among children.

Edited November 2, 2013 by ralfy