Communication and Informatics Minister Budi Arie Setiadi has urged parents to supervise their children’s mobile games by paying attention to their classification, rating, and age recommendations.
“Every game has a rating, and it can be consumed by children like films, same as with the watcher’s discretion and the player’s discretion, parents have the responsibility to supervise their children like watching movies,” Setiadi explained here on Wednesday. He said that the ministry had issued Ministerial Regulation Number 2 of 2024 concerning Game Classification, which requires game developers to categorize game content and provide an age classification.
There are five age groups: three years and above, seven years and above, 13 years and above, 15 years and above, and 18 years and above.
As per the regulation, a parental companion is required for the three-and-up and seven-and-up age groups, and guidance is advised for the 13-and-up and 15-and-up age groups.
Setiadi advised parents to take advantage of the kid’s mode provided by phone manufacturers and game developers to support the supervision. Once the mode is activated, non-child-friendly content, such as violence and pornography, cannot be accessed by children. “Yes, (using kids mode) is advised so that parents can protect their children from games that contain violence and pornography,” he said. Earlier, on Monday (April 8, 2024), the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) asked the Communication and Informatics Ministry (Kominfo) to act against online games that contain violence, given their negative impact on children.
“The government, in this case, Kominfo, should immediately step up and issue a regulation to restrict children from playing online games that contain violent and sexual elements,” KPAI member Kawiyan said.
