When Are Kids Old Enough to Play Videogames?

[Veskgar]

I say between 3-5 years old and it depends on what games. Its my opinion that it is not socially or parentally responsible to let a 2-3 year old play games like GTA: San Andreas. Kids emulate various forms of media. Music, Sports icons, Movie and TV stars, and yes, even games to an extent. I'm also a very young father in my 20's but I'm old enough to see a large part of society and certain demographics spiral downwards due to various negative influences becoming the norm or part of their "culture".

The best thing to do is to get the little tike's started on the classics like Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., and Zelda and have them progressively advance to the newer games and platforms. I think the only "M" rated game I think is actually fine for kids is the Halo series. They love seeing those little grunts run around talking trash. My son is 4, started on Halo 1, then Halo 2, and now Halo 3 and he loves it. He has a ball with the Halo action figures as well. To me, Halo, although rated "M" for mature is not much worse than a little boy watching Transformers or G.I. Joe.

But its more than that. Its playing the games with them and explaining to them what's pretend and that the blood is just red paint drawn up on a computer like a cartoon.

So I think the most important message is its not so much the games or what age, but parents need to be a part of it and play and interact with their kids and the games. Make it a fun family time. Too many parents just sit their kids in front of TV's ignoring them so that they are out of their way. Sad and pathetic! Having a kid with every video game system in the world is not really going to produce much that's worthwhile in the child's life. More outdoor and sports activities as well as social interaction with other kids needs to be the priority.

DarthPaul has shown to be an alright guy on these forums. I'm sure he has the capacity to be a positive influence in his little Brothers life. Maybe just get him to play some Ratchet & Clank on the PS2 instead of GTA, LOL.

[one winged angel]

the first game i played was doom together with my brother i was like 4 or something after that i played jazz jack rabbit

[the_eternal_dark]

4. Thats when I started playing Doom, and look how I turned out.

I SAID LOOK HOW I TURNED OUT!

DA**IT, PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!! I'LL F**KING KILL YOU! ****** ** ******* *** ****!!!!!!! ARGGHHHHH!


Haha, but no seriously. 4 or 5 is good.

"What mad you want to kill?"

"I play a lot of Doom."

Lol.

I say 4. My little brother has been playing video games since he was 3. When I say playing, he was just pushing buttons that looked most interesting to him. Now he's a hardcore gamer at the age of 5 and recently just beat Super Mario Bros. (in Super Mario All-Stars for SNES). Next year he'll be owning people in CS. Lol.

Games have been a big part of my life since I first played Centipede at a Pizza Hut when I was a little kid. You remember the one with the giant "cue ball" that was insanely fun? That was what got me interested. Then my grandmother bought me an NES and my aunt gave me an old Atari. I miss those days.

[oooooomonkeys]

well i got my daughter a gba when she was 4 then upgraded to a ds a year later, now shes 6 and playing galaxy and stuff on the wii

[quzar]

Some of my earliest memories are of playing VCS games with my mom when I was 3-5. When I was 4, apparently I learned to read after a week testing out a summer school and playing Apple II games (MECC games, so things like Word Munchers).
Then at 5, my parents got me an Apple IIc from a garage sale, and a stack of games copied from my school (license on the game allowed educational copies, not warez ).

I think that like any sort of game, it all depends on the age group it was designed for, and what you want to let the kid play.

[jaws365]

I played Exploding Fist and Manic Miner from the age of four, I never hit anyone, I have education, I don't take drugs...

[maxipower90]

no age limit, games are good for kids, im not joking, games like FF learn you the basics of money buy/sell

[DarthPaul]

that makes me sick to my stomach.

i have a 3 1/2 year old son and i haven't even explained the concept of death to him. we don't let him watch TV, except for shows designed for kids.

and no, i'm not some old person out of touch with reality. i'm 26 years old and i'm an avid gamer myself. i play violent games, i frequently enjoy the newest first person shooter games when they come out. indeed, i played doom when i was 13, and that was controversial even back then.

but there is an ENORMOUS difference between playing Doom (crap graphics) when you are 13 (and have some cognitive reasoning skills), and playing a realistic simulation of murder when you are 3.

you know what, my 3 year old son copies everything that i do. every little movement, if i move in a certain way or say something that he thinks is funny, he tries to do it himself.

little children absorb everything they see, and exposing a 3 year old to something that is arguably not even fit for teenagers is just COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE

when your little brother turns into an uncontrollable maniac and ends up in juvenile hall, you have only yourself and your irresponsible parents to blame.

i don't care what articles you've read about how "violent video games don't cause kids to do real-world violent acts", for every one of those articles, there is another article arguing the exact opposite. and these studies are done on teenagers, not 3 year olds. no scientist would do something as immoral as make a 3 year old play GTA. i don't care if you "don't think" it doesn't affect a 3 year old, you can't prove that it doesn't. maybe it wouldn't affect some 3 year olds (maybe), but there are plenty that it would affect. (experiences affect every person in a different way)

i would say what you have done is every bit as corruptive to your brother as beating him or raping him. you have $#@!d his mind. you have taken away his innocent childhood. you have forced him to witness and commit murders, and deal with adult issues when he is not even cognitively capable of understanding what he is doing. you are quite possibly ruining any future capacity of his to distinguish between right and wrong

i don't believe in hell, but if i did, i would hope that you rot there.

not only do you do such a despicable act, but then you come here and brag about it. people like you are responsible for the downfall of society.

i hope you never have children of your own, you sorry excuse for a human. we don't need more people like you propagating the worthless end of the gene pool

What the hell?!

Man, you don't even know my brother! You don't know me, either. So why being so cruel? Yeah, I know it was bad. But it wasn't MY fault at all.

I really laughed out very loud when I read your comment. I find it funny because it's the truth, something that could have happened to him. But it's something that DIDN'T happen.

He was starting to play with guns and hitting me with bats(seriously), so I just changed the type of games he played slowly. And guess what? I bought him the GameCube and the DS he has a long time ago. Is he playing GTA now? No! 'Cause GTA is not out for GameCube or DS. He's addicted to Super Mario Sunshine, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Super Mario 64 DS, and Mario Kart DS. Oh and he plays Spongebob Squarepants, and Ratatouille on the PSP.

I didn't let him play those games anymore because I love him, and I care about him.

No need to apologize, just think about what you'll say before saying it. And keep doing what you're doing with your son. It's really nice. Video-games can become very addictive, don't let him fall like us.

DarthPaul has shown to be an alright guy on these forums. I'm sure he has the capacity to be a positive influence in his little Brothers life. Maybe just get him to play some Ratchet & Clank on the PS2 instead of GTA, LOL.

Thanks, man.

I'm looking forward to play with you when I get my PS3. (probably next week)

[Ewan]

I think that the pendulum can swing in a variety of directions on this one, at varying speeds.

There are *definitely* games that young children can and do enjoy. My 4&5 year olds enjoy several different games, from Lego Star Wars to NintenDogs, and others. The key really is moderation, supervision, and interaction put together.

Do my kids play Rainbow 6: Vegas? No. Halo? No. Forza? well, they try. There ARE games they play, and with the onset of more co-op games than ever, parents can gasp join in the gaming t see and experience what their kids are playing. You can make sure that they are playing age-appropriate games.

Gaming is mental exercise, as has been hinted about above. Reading, eye-hand coordination, problem solving are all covered. But the fact is that the brain is much like the rest of the body, it has to be stimulated in a variety of different ways in order to grow properly. When you let your brain get stuck doing the same things.. you start atropheing the other areas. Those nerons just don't get used to firing anymore.

Let kids experience a wide Variety of things in their lives, including games. You aren't going to shelter them from everything the media puts out, they will see it in one form or another. You just have to make sure they are well-rounded enough in morality and education to make the right choices.

[gumgod]

It definitely depends on the game. My little sister started with "reader rabbit" if you're familiar with that series, and as ADD as she is, I think this really helped her to learn both to read and to learn math. I think she started around 4 or so. I started with the Atari 2600 as soon as I was able to hold a controller. :-P I think having video games around helped me get into the job that I have now. Learning to hook everything up (Parrents aren't going to do it) got me familiar with all sorts of A/V equipment allowing me to get a tech support job for a satellite company when I got older, from there it was easier to get a computer related job. Now I sit on my ass all day and play on the computer and occasionally fix a computer or printer. I'm getting paid right now to post on this forum and I owe it all to video games! :-P