Game platform Roblox will introduce an age-tiered account system to protect child and teen users.
Roblox held a global online press briefing on the 10th (local time) and said it plans to divide the current single account system into ▲ "Roblox Kids" for ages 5–8 ▲ "Roblox Select" for ages 9–15 ▲ "Roblox" for ages 16 and up. This account system will be operated based on an artificial intelligence (AI) facial age estimation system.
Kids and Select accounts can access only games created by identity-verified developers, pre-tested for safety by users 16 and older, and cleared through a ratings review.
Game ratings will be categorized as minimal, mild, moderate, and restricted. Kids accounts are limited to games rated "minimal" and "mild," which have little to no violence or sexual content. Select accounts can access games up to the "moderate" rating.
Chat is disabled by default for Kids accounts, and parents can selectively allow conversations with specific contacts. Select accounts can use chat, but only with users in the same age group. Communication with other age groups is allowed only when, with parental consent, the contact is registered as a "trusted connection."
Previously, parental controls applied only to users under 13, but once this overhaul is complete, the scope will expand to users under 16.
Matt Kaufman, Roblox chief safety officer (CSO), said, "More than half of the roughly 144 million average daily users have completed age verification," and noted, "For users under 18, the average error in estimated age is ±1.4 years." Without age verification, only Kids-level content is available and chat is restricted.
The content rating system will also be adapted to each country's framework. Roblox said last month that it is proceeding with the process to obtain qualification as a self-rating operator from the Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC) in Korea.
Roblox plans to roll out the account system overhaul starting in mid-May and apply it worldwide by early June. Observers say the move follows heightened awareness of so-called "grooming" sex crimes targeting minors. Several countries, including Australia, have begun measures to block minors' access to social media (SNS).
Roblox, however, maintains that its platform is not an SNS. Eliza Jacobs, Roblox vice president (VP) of safety product policy, said, "We don't have infinite scroll, and we don't have anything like endless engagement prompts."