Content should be safe for users of all ages. Also, attempting to block <13 users is discrimination based on age. Roblox doesn’t want any type of discrimination.
Roblox helps power the imagination of our users. Those users are of all ages and come from around the world to create adventures, play games, roleplay and socialize. We strive to create a community that balances the needs, safety and interests of this truly diverse user base.
We have users of all ages and we want to create safe environment for all of them, including children.
If your game is not safe for <13 then just drop the project or make it into something suitable for them.
Discriminatory speech or actions. You are not allowed to engage in discriminatory speech or actions, based on any of the following:
It’s not possible. However I don’t understand why some have a negative view of doing this if it was possible. It should be down to the developer to decide why a certain age group should not be allowed to play their game, maybe they don’t want kids playing with guns in their game for personal reasons and beliefs. It doesn’t mean the developer should be limited on what games they can make, as long as all Roblox rules are followed. Obviously the feature (if existed) is pointless due to the fact people lie about their age.
Sometimes having <13 and >13 players in one game can lead to communication issues between players due to certain things being moderated. I personally think it’s absolutely justified to separate the two age groups. Roblox themselves have 13+ items in their catalog. As much as everyone wants to include everyone there are many parts of Roblox that are not available for everyone, paid access games for example. Not everyone has the money to buy Robux, it doesn’t mean the developers are purposefully discriminating those people.
Discrimination: “the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.”
Notice the word “unjust” blocking <13 players because the content may not be suitable for them is entirely justified.
In fact, Roblox is heading in the direction game ratings which will filter out what ages can access your game.
Not all games are meant for all ages. Phantom forces, and most horror games aren’t targeted towards kids. Just because a platform is for all ages, doesn’t mean everything on their is for every age.
YouTube is for all ages, but not all content on YouTube is appropriate for a 6 year old.
Yet phantom forces is still here. It is not overly violent. You are able to toggle off “gore” graphics (it’s only the blood really atm, but it’s just a red flat cylinder)
YouTube actually requires you to tell them if your video is targeted to kids or not. YouTube also has proper age-restricting. Roblox does not. Again, non-comparison.
But the issue in the first place is making content that should not be for <13 users. Roblox is not that platform “yet”. If OP really wants to continue this 13+ project without being moderated, OP might as well move it to another game engine like unity.
It doesn’t matter that it’s not for <13 users, because he’s not targeting the game towards them. He’s actually doing a sensible thing by trying to prevent them from playing his game, as if I were a parent I wouldn’t want my kid playing an extremely gory ROBLOX game, even if it did abide by TOS.
Roblox is a platform meant for all ages. If your projects cannot be for all ages, wait until Roblox has proper age-restrictions (which probably may not come for a long time, and can be ineffective if kids lie about their age), scrap it, or move to another game engine. Period.
It took way too long to get to this point, but yes Roblox currently doesn’t support age-gating unfortunately. It probably wouldn’t fly with moderation either.
What I can say is it is part of Roblox’s vision to allow this. So if you are working on this kind of project. Make it a side project that you can release say in maybe a 1-2 years timeframe if im being generous.
Alternatively, if your game follows TOS but you still think it should be restricted, you’d have to either hold off or release it anyway.
There could be serious legal consequences for implementing a “trick” like you suggest. Tricking players into revealing their age would not only violate Roblox’s TOS, but could potentially violate COPPA law on collection of information on minors under 13.
15 USC 6502 ( C ) prohibit conditioning a child’s participation in a game, the offering of a prize, or another activity on the child disclosing more personal information than is reasonably necessary to participate in such activity;
I am not a lawyer, but if a developer were to ask for more information than Roblox requires in exchange for the player to be able to access their game, that would likely be seen as a violation of this law.
FYI, media with age rating equivalent to PG-13 do not usually need restrictions. A child can go to a PG-13 movie and watch it alone. Only those with the age rating equivalent to R need restrictions, as they contain a hefty lot more inappropriate content.
Yes, but your can’t fake your maturity and age-based knowledge, so I think this shouldn’t be a solution.
If I ever wanted to create a 13+ filter, I would make a UI that asks a few questions to determine the user’s education level and mind complexity. If they pass the questionnaire, they are allowed in the game and never have to take it again.
I would be careful about the questions, however. Here are some questions that might work, so you can get a basic idea of the education of the user:
If you put any number to the power of zero, what happens?
Are there triangles in every shape?
What does “sectioned” mean?
What is the purpose of Discord? (Many young children don’t know what it is)
How many World Wars are there?
Does your voice come from your mouth or throat?
Solve this problem: 1 + 3 * 2 (Should equal 7, young children will think 8.)
However, in the future, Roblox will have built-in game ratings for each game to sort out certain ages from playing (E, E10+, T); the developer will be able to set this with a questionnaire. This feature should be available late 2020.
Unless the questions are randomized than the system would be flawed due to how the answers could be easily spread across the community. Another possibility is how players of all ages are less likely to maintain their interest if they’re forced to complete a questionnaire.