In a significant departure from its earlier stance, Roblox, the globally popular online gaming platform, recently announced it will be introducing a 17+ category, focusing on more mature content. Until now, the platform has been widely recognized for its age-specific categories: All Ages, 9+, and 13+. The introduction of this new category marks a critical milestone for the platform, mirroring the evolving age demographic of its users.
The revelation made in the official Roblox blog emphasized the platform's rapidly expanding older player base. As per the company's statistics, "The fastest-growing age group on Roblox is 17-to-24-year-olds, and in 2022, 38% of our daily active users were 17 and over.” Given this data, the move towards creating content specifically catered to this demographic appears to be a logical and well-anticipated progression.
The 17+ content is expected to contain elements such as "intense violence, heavy realistic blood, moderate crude humor, romantic themes, unplayable gambling content, and/or the presence of alcohol". Mirroring real-world dynamics where certain experiences and places are restricted to older individuals, Roblox aims to replicate a similar environment by integrating more mature themes and storylines found in TV shows or stand-up comedy.
Nevertheless, the introduction of mature content comes with its own set of challenges. As a parent, it raises significant concerns, particularly since my children enjoy watching numerous Roblox-centric YouTube videos. While the platform is committed to robust age verification, including users uploading a photo of government-issued ID along with a selfie to match, it's undeniable that policing YouTube content may be more complex and less controllable.
The question then arises as to how Roblox plans to mitigate the potential exposure of younger users to such mature content indirectly, through platforms like YouTube. The developers assure that the content in the 17+ category will be "safe and civil, high-quality, engaging, and fully leverage the potential of aged-up content". However, it will be interesting to see how they navigate this new phase of content creation while maintaining a safe and age-appropriate environment for all their users.
~Smash
