Uber-popular gaming environment Roblox is rolling out new age-based accounts for minors: Roblox Kids for ages 5 to 8, and Roblox Select for ages 9 to 15. The new account classifications will begin rolling out in June.
Roblox Kids accounts will limit access to games with Minimal or Mild content label (as determined by Roblox’s internal selection process). Importantly, all communication will be disabled by default.
Roblox Select accounts will gain access to Moderate-rated content, while Chat will be “gradually introduced with safeguards.”
Roblox will automatically assign users to the appropriate account based on their age-check technology, or verification by a parent. Upon reaching age 9, Roblox Kids accounts will automatically transition to Roblox Select. And at age 16, Roblox Select will transition into a standard Roblox account.
“This update will bring age checks, account-level defaults, content ratings, ongoing moderation, and expanded parental controls together into a unified framework for younger users,” wrote David Baszucki, Founder and CEO. “Based on our selection criteria, we believe age-checked users under 16 will have access to the vast majority of their favorite games at launch. Age-checked users 16 and older will not see any change to their Roblox experience.”
“As always, all content uploaded to Roblox goes through our existing moderation systems, including AI asset scanning, ongoing user report review, and multimodal moderation that evaluates scenes in real time for potential policy violations. For content made available to users under 16, we will apply an additional continuous process that dynamically selects games. This process will include developer verification, extended content evaluation and rating, and additional limits on content more suited to older audiences.”
User-generated content is a bit of a nightmare when minors are involved. And Roblox is all about user-generated content. Roblox’s internal content evaluation includes developer ID verification, content maturity ratings (like the ESRB), and real-time tracking with user reports.
Parental Controls are also expanding. With the new update, parents can block (or approve) specific games, manage direct chat settings, and manage screen-time and spending limits.
Roblox is available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and mobile devices. It’s rated T for Teen with Diverse Content: Discretion Advised.
