Before I start, I should say that this is not requesting our ability to create games with explicit content. That will never, ever, ever happen on Roblox, and it shouldn’t.
As a Roblox developer, it is currently impossible to create games that efficiently cater to different audiences. The way Roblox is setup now, everyone will be recommended games that simply do not align with their age or other demographic factors. This is down to a heap of issues. However, in my opinion, boils down to our inability to mark our games for a specific age range. If Roblox gave developers the ability to mark games for a certain age range then it would even open the doors for games that have more mature content.
Roblox’s current recommendation system and front-page is very one-sided. It doesn’t take demographics, such as age, into account. For example, I don’t think many 16-18-year-olds would want to play a game like Adopt Me. For that age range, it would make sense to recommend a game like Phantom Forces instead. Developers being able to specify an age range for their game would contribute massively to the long-term success of the game, maintaining player counts because the game is being seen by people of the correct age.
Staying on the point of recommendations, Roblox should consider taking into account the average age of people playing a game. If you can see that the average age of the player on Game A is 12-13 then don’t recommend it to someone who’s 17 years old. This works the same way the other way around. If Game B is played mostly by people 15-16 years old, that suggests that someone whos 12 years old simply won’t enjoy it as much, so don’t recommend it.
Another factor that should be taken into account when recommending games to play is using games that people of a similar age range have also played. If you can see that people 14 years old are playing Game A and Game C, but not Game B then you should prioritize the first two in recommendations.
Moving onto the point of game content, Roblox should allow developers to flag their game as 13+ or 16+. If they want to be considered a serious competitor (and choice) in the game engine market, then developers and studios need to be able to create games that cater to a more mature and target audience.
By the end of this year, Roblox will have the features it needs to truly compete with the industry-leading game engines. However, that can never happen with the current moderation practices and rules holding it back. The platform is in desperate need of reform if Roblox wants to expand to other age ranges and demographics and I think that this is a step in the right direction towards that.
Please, if I missed anything in this post, let me know! What do you think?