How old is old enough to play games?

by Justin McElroy on Jan 28th 2008 8:00PM

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yogi/291734910/

As people who make their living off of a video game blog, we tend to think that everyone should always be playing games (you know, when they're not reading about games on blogs, or diligently supporting the advertisers of said blogs). But we understand that some children are just too young, and some controllers are just far too susceptible to baby drool.

MTV's currently trying to answer the question of "How old is old enough for games?" by interviewing some parents of gaming kids. But we're curious what you, the gaming population have to say: What's the youngest age at which kids should be playing games?

What's the youngest age kids should play games?
They should have a Gamertag before they leave the womb.	1694 (17.9%)
1-2	351 (3.7%)
3-4	1794 (18.9%)
5-6	2749 (29.0%)
7-8	1819 (19.2%)
Even older than that, which, admittedly, seems kind of cruel.	1065 (11.2%)

Source

Tags: babies, children, mtv

Reader Comments (104)

i said 1-2 but they should not be given online capabilites until at least 16

I'm a 35 year old dad with a 3 year old son. I voted in the 1-2 age group, as my kid started getting interested in wanting to "try" to play video games at around 2 1/2. He now loves playing games like SPider-Man Friend or Foe on the 360 (and is damn good at it, actually - I know it wasn't a hard game at all, but it's cool that there's a game on there he's good at) as well as The Simpsons Game (or as he calls it, "Chocolate City"). He also loves playing kid-centric and classic arcade titles on GameTap and MAME, where the classic arcade games really seem to appeal to the younger mindset.

He's got his own Vtech kids' gaming system and a Leap Frog first computer as well, so he's pretty happy. I'm glad he likes to game, as I started out young as well...my dad originally brought home a Coleco Pong game all those years ago, and that started my own fascination with games. I see nothing wrong with kids at any age gaming. It all comes down to the parents, though. If they're not comfortable with their kids playing games at a certain age, then they certainly shouldn't let them. Me, I like seeing my kid kick ass on Sonic the Hedgehog and Twinklestar Sprites. ;)

My kids are 14 months and 2 1/2 years old. Both pick up the controller and play. I keep them to "easy" games like geometry wars (I wish they had an "invinceble code" or mode) or Super Rub-a-Dub, the girl likes that. She tries Ms. Pacman...

Her favorite, since most kid-friendly is Boom Boom Rocket....since it has the freestyle mode, any button can set off a firework and you can't die. More games need to be like that for kids. Just anything for interaction and see something "pretty" onscreen.

He holds the controller and just moves the sticks and presses buttons but can't really do anything. Which is how she was, but now she has a general idea. He'll get there.

For some reason I made him a silver account/gamertag, but not her...I'll have to set them both up with gamertags and PSN accounts.

I remember playing Super Mario Bros. 3 when I was three years old. Of course, my big brother always put in the Game Genie codes for infinite lives and moon jumps and such for me.

I figure it's never too early to start gaming, so long as the content is appropriate. Back then the most violent game I had was Ninja Turtles II. Still, no problem that can't be solved with putting the not-for-kids games on the top shelf.

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