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Piggybacking: Gaming Across the Generation Gap
Every once in a while a game
comes along that defies the traditional age group stratification. Chess,
Tetris, and Super Mario Bros. are all examples of games that
can be mastered and enjoyed by players from both ends of the ontogenetic
spectrum.
Realistically, however, the
vast majority of games are iterative rather than revolutionary.
These games tend, by virtue of either their mechanics or their storyline,
to appeal only to a specific age range. Scant development resources
and the limits of human ingenuity simply do not permit the bottling
of lightning. However, if we rein in our expectations a little, there
are ways to incrementally increase a game's target age radius, and one
of these methods is Piggybacking.
Within the confines of this
article, Piggybacking refers to a technique that simultaneously entertains
both a child player and an adult spectator, if there is one, on wholly
different levels. It allows the spectator to elevate themselves from
audience member to bit player by acknowledging their existence and occasionally
playing to them, as well as allowing them to play back.
If we get pedantic, the specific
style of game I'm talking about is really a reverse Piggyback, one where
the parent rides along in a vehicle designed first and foremost for
the child. The problem with this terminology becomes apparent with a
Google search, so let's just leave it at Piggybacking.
 Acme Game Development,
Inc.
Piggybacking is an art that
cartoons and movies have arguably mastered. A good example is SpongeBob
SquarePants. Here is a cartoon that appeals to the very young and the
post-adolescent crowd for entirely different reasons.
It has the visual
appeal and wackiness to draw in the younger viewers, but it also has
darker themes and adult-oriented humor to keep college kids and parents
from dying of boredom.
Probably the single biggest reason there hasn't
been a SpongeBob backlash on the order of, say, Barney, is that a parent
can watch an episode of SpongeBob without afterwards feeling like part
of their brain squooged out of their nose.
We aren't really talking about
the difference between highbrow and lowbrow here -- it's all pretty
much lowbrow. For instance -- in a moment taken from a SpongeBob
episode -- Patrick (the dim-witted starfish) says something intelligent
for once. SpongeBob gapes in amazement and exclaims, "Patrick!
Your genius is showing!" Patrick, misunderstanding, turns beet
red in shame and attempts to cover himself.
Granted, humor based on
misunderstandings and/or nudity is hardly nuanced, but if Fawlty
Towers can do it then it's probably fair to say the target audience
includes those out of their teens.
Going back further, many classic
cartoons often exhibited the hallmarks of Piggybacking, almost to a
fault. Watching Bugs Bunny (and, to a lesser extent, Road
Runner) episodes it's hard not to notice the fact that they often
ooze sarcasm and spite. It's almost as if these writers and animators
preferred to play to the adults, and if the kids thought it was funny,
that was just a bonus.
As with most literary devices,
Piggybacking is at its best when the seams do not show, which in turn
can complicate classification. An almost perfect expression of this
distinction in otherwise similar shows is displayed by Jim Henson and
Co. The Muppet Show Piggybacks (literally), Sesame Street1
does not, and Fraggle Rock vacillates between the two.
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Comments
One thing that struck me when I read the first page was an incident when I worked in retail. This father had come up to me asking if we had any games like Kingdom Hearts (PS2). He told me how his son wanted him to read the text for his son so his son could understand what was going on. The father then told me how - because of him reading the text and watching the game as his son played it - he found himself playing it while his son was at school. His claim was he played it so he could see what happened in the story (He was hooked).
Again, insteresting read so far.
Brian, some recent(ish) games my children (when in the 6-10 age range) and I have enjoyed together: Beyond Good & Evil, Zanzarah, Syberia, Keepsake, The Sims 2. Suitable games still exist, but you have to dig a little for them. Well, except for the Sims.
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