Jakarta. The Indonesian government has denied responsibility for the recent age rating confusion on the gaming platform Steam after adult games were labeled as playable for younger kids.

The government has what it calls the Indonesia Gaming Rating System (IGRS), which aims to place games in their appropriate age categories. Indonesians who were looking to spend the Easter long weekend playing games had discovered many mislabeled Steam titles. 

For instance, the anime-styled visual novel “Nukitashi” contains heavy sexual content, but earned the safe for 3 years and above IGRS label. Steam wrote that the rating was based on Indonesia’s IGRS. The popular Japanese role-playing game “Persona 3 Reload” was classified as “not fit for distribution” as of around 6 a.m. on April 6. This has put the government in hot water. Steam has rolled back on the IGRS ratings and now shows Europe's PEGI classification system instead.

A senior official with the Communication and Digital Affairs Ministry has attributed the inaccuracy to the platform’s internal “self-declare” system. Indonesia went on to say that the ratings shown had not undergone official verification.

“The ratings circulating [on Steam] are not the official IGRS classification results. This can spark public misunderstanding, particularly regarding the age-appropriateness of a game,” Sonny Hendra Sudaryana said on Sunday.

The government has requested clarification from Steam over the IGRS snafu, including why the platform slapped the IGRS labels without verification. Sanctions now loom over the platform.

Indonesia has called on developers or publishers to make a self-assessment of the game in the IGRS, according to the system’s submission manual. This includes uploading the gameplay simulations of the most “extreme” part. In other words, the IGRS wants to see the clips that show violence, blood, revealing clothes, if any. Publishers may appeal if they disagree with the results.

Leon, an Indonesian gamer in his early 30s, remains skeptical of the government clarification and the overall IGRS policy.

"What's happening is very 'Indonesia core'-coded. The government tends to roll out immature policies," Leon told the Jakarta Globe on Monday.

"Doesn't this show that they don't know how a game works?" Leon, who chose not to go by his real name, added.

Steam has warned that its catalog would not display games without valid age ratings for Indonesian customers. The platform has over 26.7 million online users worldwide as of writing.

The IGRS shows that Indonesia has been increasingly more protective of its young ones in the digital realm. Just recently, Indonesia became the first Southeast Asian economy to impose a social media ban for kids under 16.

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