When are Kids Old Enough to Play Videogames?

The article at http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/24/1425221&from=rss[/url] talks about the minimum age where kids should be allowed to play any type of videogames.A One of their linked articles suggests a minimum age of 7.A IMHO, I don't think that there should necessarily be one minimum age for all types of video games.A For example, the educational ones (e.g., for teaching math) can possibly be used at quite young ages, possibly even before the age of 7 as long as it is not played too much.A Next, there are fairly simple console type games like Mario Brothers for which there should be a somewhat higher age limit.A Next, there are the MMORPGs where there are many adults participating, including involving discussions of an adult type nature.A Also, there are some very violent games such as Grand Theft Auto.A These both should have higher age limits although not necessarily the same for each type of game.A Note that I am not a parent myself so I don't have any experience (which is one reason that I don't suggest any specific age limits), although I am interested in any of your opinions about this.

Be forewarned that, in the article, you may not want to click on the the first of the three links since it leads to a MTV Multiplayer blog that will be mostly populated by dedicated gamers.