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The "child safety measures" was dividing the playerbase into age groups and banning almost all communication between them. The age groups are under 9, 9–12, 13–
by jjmarr 6mo ago
The "child safety measures" was dividing the playerbase into age groups and banning almost all communication between them. The age groups are under 9, 9–12, 13–15, 16–17, 18–20, and 21+. Users only speak to other players ±1 age group, so 18-20 can speak to 16-17 or 21+.
The problem is almost every game on Roblox is social and the matchmaking isn't mature enough to ensure players in a lobby can all communicate.
My favourite is "generic roleplay gaem". The main fun is inciting riots against the leader or forming alliances to do raids. I could join a game and within half-an-hour I'd be engaged in drama, since Roblox incentivizes ephemeral lobbies with random people meaning I don't need a lengthy time commitment to form an alliance.
But I can no longer do that because I am 25 years old and the lobbies are too young. Heck, I'd rather play that game with only other users over 18+ because I could swear and be more toxic. But the matchmaking system literally makes that impossible.
I've had the same Roblox account for 18 years and have spent tens of thousands of Robux on the platform. I let Roblox scan my passport even, so they know who I am. Even though I own nearly 1000 Steam games, Roblox still filled my desire for low-commitment social games I could jump into on my phone or computer if I had a few hours of downtime. Now it is effectively unplayable.
I'm in favour of child safety. But these measures were implemented poorly and needed to be paired with matchmaking to not destroy the platform.
- throwaway91723 6mo ago[dead]
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- JumpCrisscross 6mo ago> these measures were implemented poorly and needed to be paired with matchmaking to not destroy the platform I see these as orthogonal issues. Your mathmaking gripe sounds legitimate, and is probably driven by Roblox's low 21+ user numbers. That would be expected to change over time. At the same time, I'm not seeing a great argument for why these folks (EDIT: Roblox) should continue to have unfettered access to kids under 14.
- tailscaler2026 6mo agoIf communication was proactively filtered to prevent bad actors (which Roblox obviously failed to do for years), why should it matter if an adult is playing a game with a kid they don't know?
- JumpCrisscross 6mo ago> why should it matter if an adult is playing a game with a kid they don't know? My main problem is the kid is playing a game with significant social-media (and gambling) components. That's orthogonal to the question of who is playing with whom, which I agree, is theoretically solvable with better filters.
- tailscaler2026 6mo agoOh, I misunderstood. When you said "these folks" I assumed you meant older users, as opposed to Roblox corporation. Cool we're in agreement.
- hluska 6mo agoRoblox is effectively a casino for kids with more social elements than in adult casinos. The corporation failed to prevent children from rapists for decades. Why would any rational person trust them to implement either proactive communication filters or to even allow something so close to gambling amongst different age groups? Roblox doesn’t deserve to be a business and I hope the lawsuits and equity markets solve that in a hurry.
- sokoloff 6mo agoThere’s a large risk and hugely adversarial nature/motivation for predators to bypass whatever proactive filtering is put in place.
- echelon 6mo agoThe real predators are Roblox for getting kids addicted to gambling and the lawmakers who refuse to protect them. Not that they haven't also abdicated responsibility for keeping sexual predators off the platform. But the societal-level harm is going to be these kids growing up, hardwired to these dopamine-addled gambling pathways. Every single one of those kids has been twisted by Robux. We need regulations to stop targeting kids with this shit. Companies will stop building it when they get regulated.
- amarant 6mo agoYou've had your Roblox account for 18 years? Wtf, I could've sworn that game was released 4 years ago! Thanks for making me feel old I guess.
- bluefirebrand 6mo agoRoblox is older than Minecraft...
- isityettime 6mo agoWhy do I remember learning about Minecraft way earlier than learning about Roblox?
- glenngillen 6mo agoYeah, I had to go check this too. Not that I ever played either game, but I definitely recall Roblox being the knock-off version of Minecraft. It's wild checking the wikipedia entry for both and realising how much later Minecraft came out.
- xboxnolifes 6mo agoYou're not the only one. Im not sure how, but I didnt learn of Roblox's existence until at least 5 years after I learned about Minecraft. It somehow existed entirely outside of my social sphere, and I was an always online gamer.
- jihadjihad 6mo agoDon’t forget the part where GP says they’re 25 years old (currently) and have spent “tens of thousands of dollars” on the platform.
- mysterydip 6mo agoJust a point of clarity (because I read that at first as well), they spent tens of thousands of robux, which are at a generic level 100:$1. So not as crazy as it sounds, still an investment.
- codedokode 6mo agoWhy 18-20 are isolated from 21+? Aren't they all adult or in some countries children develop slower?
- JumpCrisscross 6mo ago> Why 18-20 are isolated from 21+? We have 18-year olds in high school in America. The headline risk from a 40-something sleeping with a high-school student is probably something Roblox wants to get ahead of.
- enceladus06 6mo agoYes but an 18yo can also buy a gun, get drafted into the military, and produce OF/porn. But no alcohol.
- breezybottom 6mo agoSure. What does that have to do with Roblox?
- Insanity 6mo agoThat’s just a US quirk. In many countries you can buy alcohol when you’re 18+. It’s odd that you can do everything but drink. Like you can go to work, drive home to your wife and kids, but can’t have a beer lol.
- JumpCrisscross 6mo ago> That’s just a US quirk My understanding is it’s because of car culture. Drunk-driving deaths drove up the drinking age [1]. [1] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Why-Is-the-US-Drinking-Age-21 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Why-Is-the-US-Drinking-Age-...
- lokar 6mo agoAlso it would increase illegal transfer of alcohol to underage peers, in theory. But high school kids who want beer have no major problems getting already. It’s up to each state, but the federal government threatens funding if they get out of line.
- vintermann 6mo agoThis sounds like a really counterproductive system. Usually in age verification, you prove that you're over a certain age. 9 year olds don't have very many ways to prove that they're 9 years old. What's stopping the creeps from pretending to be younger than they are?
- jjmarr 6mo agoThey automatically assign you to an age group based on AI/guessing/face verification. If you've been assigned to an incorrect group, you need to do KYC verification with ID.
- taejavu 6mo agoWhat’s to stop a 40 year old from holding up a photo of their 15 year old self for the age verification camera?
- jjmarr 6mo agoIt's a interactive prompt needing a webcam. You move your head to prove it is a live face.
- potatototoo99 6mo agoI've seen a video of someone getting verified by drawing a face on a thumb.
- iknowstuff 6mo agoIt was fake
- dom96 6mo agoI've seen people getting verified by using a video game character creation screen. How can these AI systems possibly tell?
- hluska 6mo agoOr perhaps you’ve aged out of a game that is primarily meant to be a place for children. The child safety measures make things more difficult for you because nobody wants you there. And it seems to be working as designed. Maybe it’s time to find a new game that’s more for your age group.
- sm0olr 6mo agoYou’re unlikely to convince an adult of that age who has willingly spent 10s of thousands of dollars on a children’s game that they maybe shouldn’t be playing it.
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- Dylan16807 6mo agoTens of thousands of robux. That's hundreds of dollars, reasonable for a long term player.
- Aeolun 6mo agoAsk me what I’ve spent on a League of Legends account I can no longer even use. My wallet weeps.
- sureglymop 6mo agoYou'd be surprised to know the sheer number of "experiences" and games people have created on roblox as the platform. There are fps shooting games that are more playable/mature than your yearly call of duty/battlefield and all kinds of games for older age groups. In that sense it's probably hard to "age out of it".
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- tailscaler2026 6mo agoRoblox isn't a game, it's a platform. It has hundreds of millions of monthly users. A significant portion of those are 18+. And unsurprisingly there's plenty of games that target older audiences.
- malfist 6mo ago> Heck, I'd rather play that game with only other users over 18+ because I could swear and be more toxic. Perhaps reexamine why you find it preferable to "be more toxic"
- unnouinceput 6mo agoYour comment is blowing something out of proportions. He prefers 25+, said so. Toxic in there means "F u", get a "F u and u'r mother" back and both persons laughs after. It's not toxic in the sense of "I will kill you and your entire family", but more like venting something in a safe space. You don't go in real life to a random stranger and say "F u", but in a lobby of a virtual game that's acceptable. And he's saying he prefer that since also going to a lobby full of 9 years old kids and saying that is way more toxic and he prefers the algorithm to actually match him with appropriate ones instead of throwing him in young lobbies and then cannot be able to speak with them. So clearly the algorithm is half baked, made communications worse and needs more tuning. Swearing is part of any culture in humanity, and there is a reason the among the first things you learn in a foreign language is swearing. Used wisely, that "toxicity" is actually a great tool to forge good relations.
- kulahan 6mo agoThis comment itself comes across as so toxic, ironically - as if it’s somehow wrong to want to blow off steam in a way that isn’t appropriate for a nine year old to experience personally. Edit: I swear it seems like infantilizing everyone is suddenly a goal for some reason. This has to be the most annoying personality type on the internet.
- subscribed 6mo agoSo adults having innocent fun together and perhaps "cussing" while in strictly 28+ game are somehow problematic to you? :D
- jjmarr 6mo agoBasically, the game takes place in a medieval walled settlement. The person who's on the server the longest becomes the "leader" and gets to tax everyone/manage the settlement/build stuff. This is extremely profitable. If the leader dies, the next person in line becomes the leader. Players can also buy swords and weapons. This means the goal of the game, if you're ambitious, is gain power instead of actually contributing to the settlement. You could directly murder the leaders, but this is slow. It is more efficient to incite an angry mob and make everyone extremely violent. Then leaders will get repeatedly murdered by the mob as the settlement burns down/devolves into chaos. Unfortunately, everyone else wants power too. You'll take power and get killed by the angry mob you created. Being toxic in an emulation of the late Roman Empire is essentially the game. https://www.roblox.com/games/4598019433/generic-roleplay-gaem https://www.roblox.com/games/4598019433/generic-roleplay-gae... I want to invoke my inner Catullus and insult my enemies but I am limited in what I can say in the presence of minors.
- jredwards 6mo ago> But these measures were implemented poorly and needed to be paired with matchmaking to not destroy the platform. As a parent, my experience in discussion with other parents is: "Don't ever let your child onto Roblox, it is utterly toxic and should be avoided at all costs." From that perspective, I think most parents view the destruction of the platform as neutral to positive, and it suggests that the status quo would destroy the platform anyway.
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- z3ncyberpunk 5mo agoOlder people playing Roblox is very creepy