Issues of Diversity Inclusion on the Platform

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On the dev form their aren’t very many opinion based things, most things are fact based such as “How do I do ___” and when their are opinions their is very rarely anything about culture. Almost all devs on roblox are faceless all you can go by is their roblox avatar and what they say.
Also you seam to want more programs for encouraging people to become devs when really the reason why 99% of people try to become devs is because they like playing games on roblox and want to make games for others to enjoy. (Or for the MONEYSSSSS)
Their is one thing that roblox can do to make it more inclusive to different cultures and that is have the forms accessible to more languages which roblox is already making leaps and bounds towards.

P.S. When ever you try and force diversity that tends to create even larger divisions between groups. The reason, people don’t like to change their opinions as seen in what happened above. (argument going in circles.)

P.P.S. The algorithem is probably as simple as

If user.ReadTime>10 and user.DaysVisted>10 then
     GrantMember
end
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66

I doubt there’s diversity on devforum, I think people are just starting to overreact to some stuff considering current world situations.

I never heard “I wasn’t accepted to X because I’m of this demographic group”. It was always skill or knowledge related.

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I agree that it can come off like that on surface level, but you must look deeper than avatar profile pictures. My post is more about encouraging more minority groups to become part of the culture. There is a difference in word choice here. Simply encouraging entrance to join. I’ve explained before why its important for this to happen. Not referring to making content on the dev-forum culture based on identity- but allow more encouragement of minorities to join the culture that is the dev-forum, and eventually become successful developers on the platform.

I have to agree it’s a shame people seem to not want to consider different points of view, but isn’t saying that forcing diversity something that can backfire somewhat hypocritical? I don’t see that as an escape to do nothing on the issue.

Also, pretty much no one knows how the acceptance and promotion algorithms work to a T. There have been found to be faults in algorithms being used in recruitment with applications such as resumes and hiring processes, which can be applied to being promoted to regular possibly. Famous case of this happening was with the company Amazon. Basically, if most regular members are a certain demographic, the algorithm will follow possibly to match promotion to those who fit that mold. It all depends on the information being fed, which we dont know. It’s truly all up in the air but I believe its a serious food for thought and should be considered.

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It’s pretty simple actually: just use post approval successfully and follow forum rules.

That leaves the question whether forum rules and post approval enforce some kind of cultural bias. I don’t know, but even if so, these guidelines and rules exist for a legitimate business purpose: we need feature requests and bug reports to follow certain formats so Roblox actually knows what developers need fixed and want implemented. As stated in the article you link: “even if the screening algorithm does produce a disparate impact, it can be justified as serving a legitimate business objective if it is sufficiently accurate.”

Would be cool to change it, but would need clear guidelines on what you think is wrong with the guidelines and formats given. Otherwise this is a little vague and hard to address.

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Roblox’s algorithm doesn’t seam to be very complex for the dev form, as it is simply, a dev form. Their is no reason at all to have a complex algorithm for allowing users to do something as simple as post. For automated highering processes you will expect to have a more complex algorithm as you have to pay employs to work and paying a bad employ will make the company lose money. And as you should know the more complex a program is the more likely it is to break.
Think about it from roblox’s stand point. Would you rather get a dev to work for one hour to make a script that has an extremely low chance of braking or get a group of devs to work for ten hours to make a script that has a chance of breaking.

Also a good way to have more developers join is to host more dev based events and also make more blog posts on it. (With translations in other languages to make it easier for them to read)

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I was never sure if it involved more than just that; but, it still involves the issue of jumpstarting minority groups interests to begin with on the platform. I’ve seen some studies on the way people word themselves playing roles in biases, but seem to mostly apply to employment tactics. I could see possible applications to that in these situations, but unsure. Would need to research more on gender bias in wording and recruitment. But, once again I think the main focus should be focusing on encouraging minority groups to enter the devforum to begin with.

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I agree with this a lot. I personally believe there should be a 50/50 with races in the UGC program, etc. As of now, I believe 99% of the UGC developers are White. It’d be best if it was 50% White and 50% Black, for inclusion and to show a new age in Roblox. Black people deserve to be represented to a greater degree on Roblox!

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What? How is race any bit relevant to the UGC program? If you are in good community standing and make good content then that should be the only deciding factor. What do you mean you “believe” 99% of the UGC developers are white? Thats quite a baseless claim to make especially since there is nothing to even back that up in your post.

It’s a lot more than just black and white. What about everyone else? How about minorities in general entirely outside of race?

Obviously an idea like yours comes from a good place. That being said, no one, regardless of the color of their skin, should be rejected from a program like UGC. Imagine not being able to join a program, not because of your skill or experience, but because of how you look.

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I feel this has been inflamed by recent situations and has been taken rather out of context.

The dev forum, and roblox as a whole is in my opinion one of the most inclusive companies on the global stage today, They are very public about their diversity and even explicitly celebrate events such as pride months by using their time to make accessories to support the causes, then if we were going to go down a level to development teams, I know for a fact that team adopt me is perhaps one of the most diverse development teams around and I know that they have very strict rules about discrimination in their workplace.

If you are talking about the developer forum, then I must state, as stated by those before me that member + regular promotion is in most cases automatic and is nothing to do with anything but your ability to follow rules and use post approval.And as someone who I would say generally is critical of roblox and its practices I would on this case defend them and say that while this is a globally imprint argument, roblox is by no means an adjudicator of discrimination.

UGC is a program designed for skilled modellers in our community and people are hand picked based on their ability to create accessories which are worthy of going in the catalog. Just from browsing twitter of UGC creators for 90%+ of them from their social media you cannot tell their race, proving that roblox does this entirely based on skill. I think it would be unfair to add people into the program just for public image when others, who are potentially more skilled want to get in.

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74

Inclusion for the sake of inclusion is frankly, very silly; you are practically advocating for discrimination (even though it’s “to help a minority”, it’s still discrimination) in the UGC program. Things are based on someones ability, not their race.

Roblox does have programs to encourage people to get into development, and to build their skills; but they shouldn’t (and thankfully, don’t) use race, ethnicity, disability, etc. as a factor for programs; it’s all based on ability to contribute.

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what how did i not find this,

anyways what Diversity? I’m like pretty sure everything is fine regarding race and stuff on the platform??

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I do not think the company or platform (Roblox in general) faces any major issues with diversity after working in the Accelerator internship program in 2018. We were a very diverse group of people from all different nationalities, races, religions, and genders. They seem LGBT+ friendly and racially inclusive especially granted the economic environment in which their corporate HQ resides. However, there is always room for change.

Also, Roblox as a platform is a universal game client meaning that if any user, regardless of who they are, has access to some form of Roblox-compatible hardware, they essentially get treated equally and any user data about demographics is ignored. You can make your Avatar any skin color, and you can join any religious or nation groups that you like without prejudice. The devforum is really just a place for people who have become experienced enough with development to contribute to more serious development topics. I do not think the devforum has a major diversity issue.

I do think Roblox Corporate could work closely with underprivileged education systems to teach STEM skills and software development via Roblox. Also, I do think some of the content on the site is geared more towards the Global North and the cultural West. However, a lot of top developers make a good effort to introduce demographically diverse NPCs, content, and ideas into their games.

TL;DR - This thread got off topic because people tend to get defensive/aggressive when topics of diversity arise. I think Roblox does well on the devforum, on the website, and through its internship programs in fostering an inclusive environment for development and collaboration. There are always small places in which they could improve, but they seem headed in the right direction with globalizing the platform and adding language Localization. They should totally do some sort of program with lower education in the US though! The problem is that public school programs require government approval while private schools are easier to do a program with…

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Although most people in this forum are fixated on the development side to this issue, I wanted to draw attention to another issue of diversity and inclusion on this platform.

Your avatar may or may not be important to you while playing games on Roblox. Some people like to style themselves with a cartoon-ish non human style but others such as I decide to dress up with something that looks closer to the way they do in real life.

Roblox always had the option to change your color to any skin color you wish, but hats and hair options were limited. Before UGC items, hair/ hat items that resembled my true hair texture either did not exist or were scare, leading me to wear the next best girlish hairstyle that was available.

This may be a small issue to some, but when the small black girl goes to dress her character up and realizes, nothing here looks like the way my hair is, it is a further reminder to them that they are different, they are unrepresented and that she should change themselves to fit what they see in the media they consume and even the games they play. Personally that is how I felt when first joining Roblox and browsing through the 2012 catalog. There are a lot of young impressionable players on this platform.

With the introduction of UGC items, there seems to be a wider variety of hair types textures and colors although most of them again (the ones that are meant to be hair) are the typical straight hair styles. Because it is not being produced naturally, I think UGC creators or even Roblox themselves should go out of their way to make up for this particular lack of diversity on their platform.

I still await the short cropped 4C style that represents my sisters true hair so that she stops wearing this :sweat_smile: :sweat_smile::
https://www.roblox.com/catalog/20643008/Normal-Hair

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79

I think the issue less about the actual representation of people in the UGC program and more about the content they make. More of the hats meant to represent hairs being released by the UGC creators do not represent people of all skin tones. It is of no fault to their own, people are more likely to create things that look like them, rarely taking thought to the other possibilities and other types of hair.

Two things I imagine you could say about this is:

  1. Well how is hair excluding peoples race?
    It is very rare for a black person to grow straight hair out of their head. Black peoples hair is usually naturally kinky and coily. Straight hair is usually associated with while people. Coily hair is always associated with black people.

  2. Its not their job to create that type of hair.
    It is not, I agree with that but people who are looking for that would sure appreciate it and feel more represented.

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80

Yes, I agree with this. We shouldn’t have White people decide what our Black hair should look like, as it incorporates these racist stereotypes. I also believe that we should have the ability to make our skin tone whatever we’d like, like we used to be able to do in the past. Now, skin tone is limited to ~9 basic colors and it’s just annoying.

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82

Reading this was very surreal. I simply fail to understand how targeting minorities specifically, and making programs for them, and them alone is an inclusive idea. If anything, it seems like a form of virtual segregation.

Why separate Developers from each other because of race? If minorities don’t want to be developers, that shouldn’t be the responsibility of Roblox. Anyone who wants to be a Developer here can be one without facing any kind of systematic discrimination. Last time I checked, the bot that accepts people into the Devforum doesn’t check first what color you are in real life. It doesn’t care if you’re a minority.

Lack of minorities in anything in this day and age is almost always attributed to them not wanting to be involved in said thing. And even still, Developers should be measured by their skill and talent, not what color they are. There are no physical requirements to being a Developer here. None. It is up to the individual as to what they want to develop, and if they want to develop at all. And if minorities want to be involved in developing, great! Let that be a natural process. I’ve already seen many black avatars wearing African styled hairs in games, and I’m 100% sure that there will be even more in the future. Don’t force diversity. Forcing diversity leads to divisions.

If I misread what was originally said in the OP, please correct me. As I said in the beginning, it was surreal reading the post. In the 7 years I’ve been on this platform, I’ve never seen anything being discussed quite like this, so it’s a bit jarring for me personally to understand the apparent issues with diversity on Roblox.

I’ve read and re-read the OP many times, and scrolled through the replies, and this response reflects what I personally took away from the OP. This whole thread is very convoluted, and I hope I’m understanding it for what it truly is.

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There are a lot of ““diversity”” issues with hair on Roblox; given that the majority of hair is just black, brown, with a few blonde hair; and of course your point about straight vs ‘coily’ hair.

Something to note is that there are creators who try their best to create diverse items, however I believe that calling it a ‘diversity issue’ is a bit too far; Roblox’s mission is to be able to allow people to express themselves virtually and they are working towards that, but in gradual steps.

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Roblox as a whole does not practice discrimination; just that there’s not enough initiative to highlight minorities. For those who sourced the international forum groups as evidence of Roblox’s inclusivity, what OP argues is for smaller groups, for example like asians, african americans, etc, who don’t get these kinds of ‘exclusive’ programs dedicated to them. I don’t see anyone arguing against these international groups, so why is it such a problem when someone asks for more programs like these to highlight other minority groups?

Also, addressing the Roblox’s partnership in incorporating more Chinese developers; ‘asian’ covers a vast majority of other races. Chinese should not be the 1 highlighted asian race that makes Roblox “inclusive”. This shouldn’t be considered “good enough”, even if it’s a significant stride from where Roblox was from before. Chinese should not used as a token, whilst pushing back other asian groups.

Iterating on what others have already said, the devforum ranking is unbiased and the accelerator program does not look into your race, sexuality, or gender. It is all based on your portfolio and experiences. And I feel like this is the exact reason why Roblox’s system fails. Majority of developers are white males, so that’s exactly the kinds of people who will be the majority and will get the most representation on the platform.
I applaud Roblox for trying in the past years to diversify waves of accelerators, because it’s not an easy thing to do. But there’s definitely more progress to be done.
I say, Roblox can start by bringing back developer spotlights, and going out of their way to reach out to African american developers to get their perspectives and shed light on their work.
I don’t think it’s a disadvantage issue or a lack of diversity issue, just an under-representation issue.
I’m going to leave this here, because I think it puts forth a good example of someone’s perspective on what it means to be a person of color on Roblox. I think it’s important that everyone sees and reads it:

https://twitter.com/MiracleDropsRBX/status/1266860073952915456

Yes, but you have to understand that with that “girls dev” group, came a lot of backlash. And from what I have seen, a lot of female devs get harassed or mocked if they even mention their gender or even try to celebrate it. I took part in the RDC 2019 female group photo, and at first I was really hesitant to take the picture, because I was scared of someone slapping on a brazzer logo as they did before to another group photo that included female developers.
Leaving this here, because it highlights a good example of the kind of mockery and stereotypes relevant to what I’m discussing:

Screenshot from the video

image
image1064×572 85.2 KB

Roblox has made efforts in celebrating women’s month by showcasing female Roblox employees and female devs. Would you call that a virtual segregation? Or virtual celebration of diverse creators? Just shifting it in another perspective, because it takes very little effort to make a blog post to celebrate smaller groups and it doesn’t harm anyone.

The issue isn’t the lack of diversity or lack of advantages, it’s a clear lack of representation. I personally make it my own goal to learn and grow, and represent my people and culture on the Roblox platform. I truly believe that people can make a place for themselves anywhere. Opportunities or not.

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If you have the information clearly stated, then why are there 20+ people asking you about what you mean. Roblox is a very diverse platform, people of all races, religons, countries etc have become successful people on the platform. Be it Youtube, Scripting, building, animating, UGC etc. There are tons of posts made by people who have clearly stated multiple examples and yet you dismiss them. For the program in China, you said

Well, what do you want them to do? Force them to become developers on the platoform?

I have never been discriminated on the platform for my race or colour of my skin and at this point I feel that you’re arguing just for the sake of it.

Edit: In my country, I don’t face a lot of racism because of my skin colour but I still have to deal with some.