I have an animation I was going to implement into my main game. However, many are convinced it appears to be suicidal in nature. I can see this getting confused with which is why I need your opinions regarding the subject. I intend to implement the item “SCP-034” (give it a google if you need to) into my game. This animation is designed to represent skin being removed from your avatar for sampling.
Is this against the Community Guidelines?
https://gyazo.com/f00ba9bc3b201b2e1a110e1247c46539
If many confirm it’s suicidal, then yes. ROBLOX May see it as it is. But you, may not. Anything suicidal is against the rules.
The community guidelines have this to say:
(emphasis mine)
This definitely looks like someone slitting their wrists, which is a form of self harm. Try taking the skin sample in another way.
Yes, but why do you need that?
Because according to the SCP wiki that’s how you use the SCP object
Technically it’s to be used on others (which would adhere better to community guidelines) but it’s easier to program this way.
It’s really funny how stabbing someone is somehow less objectionable than self-harm… Or at least that’s how I interpreted it.
I think the blood is what takes the cutting too far into questionable territory. You can probably get away if you remove the blood, or possibly take the sample from a different part of your body.
The problem then is it begins to mess with game mechanics. I could remove the blood effect without people noticing on their end except it would be noticeable on the server.
@XAXA I don’t know if by stabbing somebody you’re referring to swords and other weapon gears produced by Roblox itself. To my knowledge, they lack blood effects and there is no suggestive violence. The gears are typically fun and unrealistic in nature, with realistic weapons, such as Historic ‘Timmy’ Gun receiving a 13+ classification.
Purposefully producing an in-game tool that suggests/normalises self-harm is against the rules, so yes, you are correct, but your interpretation is wrong in the sense that stabbing somebody is less objectionable. Roblox does not normalise stabbing in any way that I have seen thus far.
@snorebear Yes, the blood effect normalises the self-harm. If the blood effect was removed, it would look more as though the player was simply touching the blade. However:
I would change the tool as not to suggest self-harm. If you really need blood samples, have a syringe tool or test tube or something.
Have you considered shifting the action to having the user cut their foot, like shoe-tying pose?
Or perhaps using a syringe instead of a knife?
Those would appear less suicidal in nature as they’re a bit unusual actions. I’d assume the largest issue here is interpretation, so if you change the animation so that it cannot be seen as slitting wrists, then it should solve your issue with ToS.
Only alternatives I could see this being implemented is by:
having the “blood” changed to green or a less gruesome color.
Substituting the knife for a different design concept I.e being a needle.
Instead of making blood come out, why not make it a chunk of skin. That’s not gruesome, and skin removal isn’t self harm. I’m not sure how Roblox would view it though…
Possibly could be misinterpreted as cannibalism. Though the interpretation relies heavily on the execution.
Pro tip, if you have to ask if something is against the rules, it probably is 
I did think it was risky but I wanted to make sure the intent didn’t matter. The thing with the game is that the item is completely inaccessible to people who don’t know what it is meant for. Even during access by people who don’t know what it does, they are told what it does.
The problem is Roblox frowns upon syringes due to drug reference.
Perhaps self-cannibalism, but in a non-gore/cartoonish manner?
Have the avatar take a chomp out of their own arm, with no blood effects. Could even throw in a silly looking catalog face when the animation plays to add to the comedic effect. This would be similar to what Strafing suggested.
Robloxians eating Robloxians is a fairly common feature in games, albeit most of the time it’s completely blood-free. Wolves in Wolves Life bite each other. Dinosaurs can eat each other in some of the Dino games (and those include blood). Or some games have you flat out each other avatars, but in more of a Telamon cartoon manner. I think the less serious and more comedic the portrayal, the more acceptable it is.
As much of a good idea as that would be for other games, I am required to use this specific knife to achieve an intended effect.
Is it possible that I could put a disclaimer at the start of the game (that you view once upon entering the game-unskippable) that states there may be some slightly gory or some elements that may sensitive to younger audiences?
EDIT: This is a group-rank based game and your access to “gory” content would be limited regardless of this. (You would receive a disclaimer by another player before you could access these)
You can’t bypass the Roblox Terms of Use by putting a disclaimer on your game.