I’m going to disagree with you thinking it is not a diversity issue.
One of Roblox’s missions is to allow people to express themselves, and I believe they have failed a portion of their players. It should not have taken UGC creators for Roblox to introduce the variety of coily hairstyles now available. I’m can’t imagine you would know about this diversity issue unless you have been looking and waiting for years.
The fact that you have to note that there are creators trying is a testament to my point. Since the time Roblox started creating hair items until now they had the chance to create diverse hair items. Sorry, but the one or two that exist compared to the thousands of “straight” hair styles is not good enough for me.
Secondly, why are you assuming white people are deciding what your black hair should look like? Why are you even assuming they are white? People make what they want to make. People make what will sell the most. Its called targeting demographics. What do you mean by “incorporating to racist stereotypes”? People ask for more hairstyles that fit their race or ethnicity but when they get it then its just “white people deciding what it looks like”. It sounds like you need to work hard, get into the UGC program (which regardless of your race is 100% possible.) and to make hair that you know people of your race would enjoy.
If minorities don’t want to be developers, that shouldn’t be the responsibility of Roblox.
Often minorities are discouraged or not encouraged to participate in the field of STEM, which topics on ROBLOX fall under. I’ve linked many studies about this bias in even classrooms, perhaps reread my replies for clarification. Implicit bias is the key issue, and ROBLOX could easily help combat that through diversity inclusion programs. Putting the blame of lack of diversity on minorities is completely inappropriate and misinformed.
What harm is there also in encouraging more people to become part of the platform, whether it be diversity inclusion, anyway? It’s a natural process and not “forced.” You talk of harm of diversity inclusion, yet I fail to see how it would. Starting interest in coding, 3d modelling, or more for people does not harm anyone.
I totally agree with your post as a whole when it comes to solely roblox as a platform when it comes to issues fundamentally being representation. In a perfect world where players only gain interest through roblox as a platform, there is no issue of diversity or disadvantage, but with how outside institutions influence peoples paths and interests, I have to disagree in the end. Lack of diversity to begin with in the field is integral to the fact there’s less representation. This lack of diversity is often from being disadvantaged by these outside institutions. ROBLOX is fine as a base for equal possible opportunity, but not equitable in terms pursuing careers/ as a hobby- by influence of, in the end, societal issues.
I changed my mission statement in the OP to state “equity” rather than equal opportunity- something roblox does as best to achieve- as that better fits the goal. Thank you for making me realize this flaw.
STEM is an academic discipline whereas Roblox* is a platform. This is a non-comparison. :\
Yes you have linked but none of them are about Roblox*. There is no implicit or explicit bias either, please stop bringing this up. Even after 84 posts you have yet to provide a source that proves Roblox does this. You just keep repeating this.
You are just inventing issues that don’t even exist.
Roblox has no personal information about you other than your email, phone number, DoB, sex, and age, assuming you inputted them all correctly. Roblox does not ask for your ethnicity or race, and its algorithms are not designed to find out so. Roblox already includes minorities into their higher-ups, such as LGBTQ+ and Black/Hispanic/Asian individuals. I have several friends who are developers that identify as Gay or Bisexual. However, I also have friends that are straight. The most important thing you could take away from this post is that it is not up to Roblox who signs up for their platform, but rather the individual. As for the UGC program, the proposal brought forth comes to me as wanting about an equal amount. I hate to say it but, there are simply more non-minority model creators, and so Roblox has to choose more of these people. Roblox would be participating in tomfoolery to select developers based on the color of their skin or how they identify, rather Roblox chooses based solely off quality and activity. If a black developer created entry-level models whilst a white developer created extraordinarily unique models, the white creator would be chosen for UGC. However, swap the skin color around and the black creator would be chosen. Roblox holds no prejudice.
If I missed anything or am ignoring anything please let me know. I don’t want to be stating a false point.
Even as a native English speaker doing university grade assignments where my English is evaluated, I don’t understand what you want to actually convey.
I see words, those words have meaning but the way you put it together doesn’t work for me.
No one know what you actually want changed. It helps if you directly say exactly what you want changed.
In my 10+ years on Roblox, I have not felt like my protected characteristics have given me an advantage or disadvantages, I personally worked for what I did and I don’t believe a program which directly gives a disadvantage to others to promote diversity for me is a slippery slope which doesn’t help anyone in the end.
I was picked as a Top Contributor and Community Editor because of what I done on the forums, not because of what I’m perceived to be. I’m on Roblox keynotes because of what I done, not who I am as a physical person.
If there is something specific you think Roblox can do, which is a reasonable request, you should be clear.
In the end, I want to look at improving things across the forums but this isn’t it chief. Be clear and be direct.
The dev-forum? not including minorities? From what i’ve seen the dev forum is one of the most inclusive places on the internet. People of all political views work together. People of all races work together. Also as mentioned by others roblox’s algorithm isn’t a recurring neural network. Meaning all parameters are put in at the start. I would also like to point out how would roblox even know if your a minority? How visible posts are is just based on stats (and how new it is). I would also like to point out how you said this “Firstly, encouragement of minorities to begin involvement in game development on the platform is crucial to this company’s credo, a place for anyone to create any game. It’s often a uphill battle for many who dont fit the mold of who is wanted, often due to implicit biases of those who can increase interests.” I dont think roblox knows your race. I would also like to point out how about 99% of roblox players wont care if you are apart of a minority or not. It just sounds like you are angry because your game didnt do good or something no offense.
