well, it’s unfortunate that it had to come to this, but roblox has proven once again that they will not bend the knee to the very people who built it from the ground up. to say i am utterly disappointed in the leadership is NOT important, as it is very clear that they are not listening. i am more directing this towards the inaction of the community as i am holding onto my last bit of hope that SOMEONE out there who once had the power to make a difference may see this.
as i (and many others in this thread) have mentioned, you have shouted at a brick wall once again. what did you get from it? nothing. the most you people did was yell at them on social platforms, that got you nowhere with the trusted connections update, it got you nowhere with the age rating requirements, it did nothing about the removal of messages and it has failed again with the most harmful update i have ever seen on not just this platform, but any platform i’ve been on before. it’s just.. how did you let this happen??
now, i’m not talking about the common man here, as really that’s all they can do. no, i’m talking to the people who can actually send a message, the people who actually draw profit to the corporation. i will not be repeating the long list of problems that this update will and already has caused, as that’s already been done thousands of times in this thread. instead, i’m gonna tell my story of going through child exploitation myself, roblox’s impact on helping me find people to talk to about it and how these opportunities are about to be ripped away from us all.
at the age of 13, i myself got trapped with a 29 year old predator and this went on for five years; this has had a significant impact on my life to this day and i feel nothing but hatred towards the higher-ups at roblox for allowing cases like this to become even more of a threat than it already is. she made me isolate myself from the rest of the world so that i couldn’t tell anyone about it, and seeing roblox rip out the ability for moderators to see chat logs of a potential victim.. it scares me. the dangers of a predator getting access to an account age checked at a low age has already been discussed many times here before, and i can testify as such as well; a few months ago, back when i (still 18) had slightly less facial hair i tried the age estimation on my alt and it thought i was 13. for a regular guy to pull this off on accident is very concerning but let’s say someone with bad intentions did the same (which if that woman is anyone to go off of, they will).. they won’t just be able to talk to children, that’s all they’ll be able to talk to and nobody can step in.
after i got out of that “relationship”, i couldn’t bring myself to talk to anyone in the real world about it. so, i turned to talking to people on roblox instead as it was really all i had then.. and i indeed did meet some very, very good people here who helped me cope with what i had gone through (if you’re reading this, I LOVE YOU ALL). these same people though are the types who are willing to protest these changes by refusing to verify their age to give persona the biometrics & data they desire, and who can blame them? i would too if i hadn’t verified my id back in 2022.. as i live in australia i’ve already been subject to these requirements for a month and everything just feels.. empty, despite the game i hangout in having an older audience i’m only able to chat to about 60% of them. several of my australian and kiwi friends have left entirely due to them not even being able to chat half the time and their response is to gut it all for everyone else.
this will very likely be my final message to everyone here on the devforum, so without further ado..
to the common folk (players, small developers): i am terribly sorry that you, the people who made this place what it is, have to suffer the consequences of god awful management and inaction from the people who actually hold power here.. don’t be afraid to go off platform either, i’ve done so myself back in april and am beginning to start development again from the ground up; sure, it’ll be difficult at first but you won’t have to worry about something like this happening again.
to the roblox engineers: i truly feel for you guys, you deserve so much better.. i still remember back in 2023 when i reported a bug with controllermanager and one of you not only reached out to help get it done, but also went into HUGE detail on not just a workaround, but also touching on how the humanoid works in general; genuinely one of the most meaningful interactions i’ve ever had here, your support should never be overshadowed by your company’s decisions and i will never forget those moments.
to the big developers hitting the front page: once again, you have disgusted me with your lack of action towards anything that’s been happening. you had a perfect opportunity to take your games down in an attempt to make a dent in the corporation’s profits, sending a very clear message that the people who built this place up are NOT having any of this. but you didn’t, because like roblox itself, you were too greedy and heartless to lose out on some cash you’d very well be doing just fine without at the expense of all the children on this platform being put in far greater danger of going through the same experiences i did. keep the change, you filthy animals.
to all readers: we may have lost this one, but it will not be the last time we’ll have to fight. do not give up, continue to withhold all your purchases of robux and cancel your premium subscriptions if you haven’t already. i predict within at least a couple of months we’ll have more harmful changes to face from this evil corporation, so when the time comes, i have one final request: make an effort.