Recently, The Verge had an interview with David Baszucki, the CEO of Roblox. He shared a bit on moderation and, in section 1, I build on this feature request with a remark of his. In addition to this, I further the topic by discussing Roblox’s core values in section 2 and 3.
Section 1 - The Verge Interview
"…there’s so much more stuff we can build and then my partner Eric saying ‘we have to build our moderation system’. Followed by stating [moderation] was a ‘real values’ moment for [Roblox]. Moderation is a core value to Roblox, according to David.
David remarks that the ‘safety and civility’ side of Roblox is the biggest sector in terms of workforce. I wonder: How much do the people who look at our appeals know about Roblox?
From the ‘Product Support Manager, Moderation’ job position, I see that under the ‘You Have:’ section, there’s no mention of knowledge about Roblox.
Section 2 - Contradicting Core Values
Roblox’s core values should not contradict themselves, yet it seems the core value of ‘Respect[ing] the Community’ is lagging behind. Here’s an excerpt from the Roblox Game Jam blog post:
“…we consider our impact on the world, strive to respect everyone’s best interests,
and communicate authentically. Our community includes Roblox creators, developers, users, and employees.”
If “communicat[ing] authentically” means communicating as little as possible, or being vague, then sure, it’s ‘authentic’. In it’s current state, I don’t feel Roblox is direct with it’s communication and does not ‘respect’ its community.
Section 3 - The Flaws of Roblox's Communication
Some teams at Roblox have more of a focus on the community than others. The PM working on Xbox at Roblox has also been great at transparency recently.
Communication via the forums is flawed due to trust levels. I have massive respect for the forum staff, they are not the problem regarding communication and respecting the community. There’s obvious gray-area when it comes to certain teams at Roblox. We as a community can’t directly ask the marking team to calm down with Rthro in the same way I can request a feature for Xbox. I guess it makes sense for some teams. I can individually message developer relations, but I feel a better system from each Roblox team should be in place. What are each team doing with the core values?
Different groups on Guilded and on the forums are less-known and have their own communication issues, like not knowing if an application was even looked at. Side note, the Level-Up people have been amazing. Insights, communication, behind the scenes… it’s awesome.
Communication via RDC is dwindled due to the now 18+ age restriction. I’m sure there are good reasons, but it is something to note. Roblox’s audience for communication is flawed in various ways.
I’d like Roblox to take responsibility on their lack of transparency regarding moderation. Get stuff done and respect the community by giving us the transparency we strive for.
Regarding the final value, ‘Tak[ing] the long view’, I’d like to change it to the following: ‘Take the long view, but not to the detriment of the now.’ You can’t have a future if you ruin the present. And, we can’t change moderation if we don’t know how it works.
