- Roblox has limited access to features like social hangouts and free-form user creation for users under the age of 13.
- Experiences on the platform that lack proper age ratings will no longer be visible to users under 13.
- These new safety measures are designed to provide a safer online environment for younger Roblox users.
Roblox has announced new safety measures on its developer forum to protect children using its platform. The new changes aim to enhance safety for young users, complementing the existing parental controls. According to the developer forum, Roblox is updating the experience guideline policies to incorporate new child safety changes and ban kids from Social Hangouts. Here’s what changed:
Roblox Bans Kids Permanently from Social Hangouts
To protect younger users, Roblox is making major changes to its platform, especially interactive experiences. Starting November 18, 2024, features like ‘social hangouts’ and ‘free-form user creation’ will be restricted to users 13 and older.
This means younger users won’t be able to participate in these activities. Roblox creators will still have full access to their own experiences and those they can edit.
Social hangouts refer to experiences designed for socializing, such as virtual clubs or chat rooms. Free-form user creation allows users to draw or write directly on virtual surfaces, sharing their creations with others without moderation. These features, while fun and creative, can sometimes pose risks to younger users.
By implementing these age restrictions, Roblox aims to create a safer online environment for its younger users. The platform is also making changes to ratings in other experiences as well.
Roblox Introduces Proper Ratings for Younger Players
From December 3, 2024, Roblox players under 13 will not be able to play, search, and discover the unrated experiences. To avoid this, creators must complete a questionnaire for each experience they want available for users under 13. This form must be filled out before December 3 or they will be permanently unavailable for pre-teens. With this change, both children, specifically the parents will have more understanding of the rating of a game.
To keep Roblox safe and fun for everyone, creators must make sure that all the details about their games, like the name, picture, and description, are suitable for players of all ages or at least for those who are 9 years and older.
The forum further states that the proper rating can prevent children from entering inappropriate experiences. Creators can fill up the questionnaire from their Creator Hub. Once in the hub, select Creations -> Select an Experience -> Audience -> Questionnaire.
Recent reports, including Bloomberg’s “Roblox’s Pedophile Problem” report, have raised concerns about child safety on Roblox. In response, Roblox has introduced new features to protect pre-teen users and give parents more control over their children’s accounts. However, with these changes, the company is trying to address the concerns among creators as well.
With parents demanding Roblox be shut down for the longest time, the efforts behind protecting children are notable. Do you think Roblox will be safe for kids with all these new changes?
