Children are very into these killer animatronics, and figuring out whether it's appropriate for your kid to indulge is a question with a thousand answers.
I'm 33 with no kids so I'm mostly out of the loop with these kinds of games franchises. But this franchise is huge amongst teens. I released 3 YouTube shorts with FNAF cosplays from New York Comic Con, and it's been a little crazy, lol. I did teach middle school STEM afterschool for a bit, so that gave me a little insight into things, this contingent of teen fandom around stuff like FNAF, Friday Night Funkin, Undertale, that's very present on YouTube, as mentioned in your article, and largely gone unnoticed by adult gamer circles. We did watch the FNAF movie on Peacock this weekend, and it was an alright entry point movie, with great puppeteering from Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Your article pretty much summarized most of what I would've wanted to say. I do wonder what hearing from actual kids' opinions on the franchise would be like, as tough as that would be editorially.
Sounds amazing! But certainly filled with challenges from a journalistic and ethics perspective. I do feel you have a pretty unique voice in the games and parenting field, which seems filled with less inside perspective as a fellow gamer, and with less political nuance. I'd be one of the first in staying tuned to your thoughts!
My kids are 7 and 8 and somehow we've managed to avoid any FNAF interest here. My daughter is more of a rainbow and unicorns type and my son is obsessed with Pokemon, there hasn't been a single mention of Roblox or FNAF from either. There was brief interest in Minecraft a couple years ago but that faded quickly. I'm not sure how we've been so lucky but I'm happy to have one less thing to have to navigate as parents (so far).
It's really interesting that you gloss over what is one of the key parts to me. I haven't seen the movie, but the horror reviewers I trust pretty much universally agree with you that it's bad. I'm much more likely to expose my kids to more intense content if it has additional merit (within reason, of course). Maybe that's snobby of me, but I feel like parents have a huge, often underappreciated, influence on the development of their kids' taste and preferences.
Parents are gonna differ on this point, but broadly, FNAF being "bad" doesn't mean that it's "bad" for them, and at seven years old, I'm not sweating artistic quality. Showing interest in a movie on your own? Being brave about something you're scared of? Appreciating a movie theater experience? Those are all huge pluses.
I'm 33 with no kids so I'm mostly out of the loop with these kinds of games franchises. But this franchise is huge amongst teens. I released 3 YouTube shorts with FNAF cosplays from New York Comic Con, and it's been a little crazy, lol. I did teach middle school STEM afterschool for a bit, so that gave me a little insight into things, this contingent of teen fandom around stuff like FNAF, Friday Night Funkin, Undertale, that's very present on YouTube, as mentioned in your article, and largely gone unnoticed by adult gamer circles. We did watch the FNAF movie on Peacock this weekend, and it was an alright entry point movie, with great puppeteering from Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Your article pretty much summarized most of what I would've wanted to say. I do wonder what hearing from actual kids' opinions on the franchise would be like, as tough as that would be editorially.
Incorporating more children's voices into Crossplay is one of our next big steps.
Sounds amazing! But certainly filled with challenges from a journalistic and ethics perspective. I do feel you have a pretty unique voice in the games and parenting field, which seems filled with less inside perspective as a fellow gamer, and with less political nuance. I'd be one of the first in staying tuned to your thoughts!
My kids are 7 and 8 and somehow we've managed to avoid any FNAF interest here. My daughter is more of a rainbow and unicorns type and my son is obsessed with Pokemon, there hasn't been a single mention of Roblox or FNAF from either. There was brief interest in Minecraft a couple years ago but that faded quickly. I'm not sure how we've been so lucky but I'm happy to have one less thing to have to navigate as parents (so far).
Good luck!
It's really interesting that you gloss over what is one of the key parts to me. I haven't seen the movie, but the horror reviewers I trust pretty much universally agree with you that it's bad. I'm much more likely to expose my kids to more intense content if it has additional merit (within reason, of course). Maybe that's snobby of me, but I feel like parents have a huge, often underappreciated, influence on the development of their kids' taste and preferences.
Parents are gonna differ on this point, but broadly, FNAF being "bad" doesn't mean that it's "bad" for them, and at seven years old, I'm not sweating artistic quality. Showing interest in a movie on your own? Being brave about something you're scared of? Appreciating a movie theater experience? Those are all huge pluses.