UGC Moderation FAR too Strict on Weapons/Guns

[Viewported]

Roblox’s UGC system is currently too regulated and strict on weapons when compared to how easily games can feature weapons. UGC does not use an age rating system unlike games, so moderation is already more strict to ensure safety for all ages. However, they are being far too strict with this method for moderating the catalog.

For example, here’s a few games that are rated all ages and features guns. They are first-person shooter games that have gameplay revolving around shooting guns.

(Weird how a game literally named “Realistic Guns” is rated all ages and is in perfect standing with moderation, while realistic guns in UGC are constantly under fire from moderation.)

(This game also features realistic real-world guns. It has no problems with moderation, in fact Roblox literally endorsed it by featuring it in The Hunt event.)

Here’s some deleted UGC guns.

notice how some are cartoony while others look realistic? Despite how watered-down these guns are from depicting violence, they are still being constantly deleted. These gun accessories can not shoot and can not be used to act out violence the same way that they can in games, yet they are being moderated far heavier than games with all-ages ratings.

If Roblox’s UGC system believes that young impressionable children will become violent after seeing a character with a holstered gun on its back, then all ages rated games should give off the same result and should be moderated the same way. Yet, this won’t ever happen, because it is ridiculous to assume that children will be made violent and murderous after viewing avatars wearing guns.

Roblox’s UGC system as it stands holds a prejudice against guns and has too heavy of a bias for moderating them. I have been told by many other uploaders that Roblox does not delete guns that are cartoony, but this appears to just be rumour.

Roblox should either be more accepting with guns being uploaded to the catalog, or they should just add an age requirement to buy certain ones, perhaps even a system which hides certain UGC from underage users ingame so that the dangerous fully automatic semi-auto machine gun AR15’s can not be seen by the young and impressionable children.

[Maxxell]

There is zero consistency to how UGC is handles vs. how games are handled. Roblox refuses to give UGC creators any kind of 2-way dialogue, and right now it’s blowing up in their faces.

To any staff who are reading this, Roblox is going to be out multiple billions worth of robux, via refunds, due to all of the items deleted recently. Can’t claw that money back from creators (most of it has been devexed long ago), so you guys are paying out of pocket. I don’t think all those losses will look good on the balance sheet!

[LittleDyingDuck (Rav)]

UGC is a horrendous mess anyway. First page of catalog already contains dozens of fakes that have been up for months, they keep trusting idiots with the permission and proceed to not take them away.

[idelww]

Same issue happens with UGCs that use assets similar to the “Man face”, bacon hairs, guests, etc.

UGC items get deleted, but games are allowed to use all these assets, despite the original asset being free and not costing Roblox anything to allow it.

Roblox would also benefit from this, because all icons, such as verification mark, bacon hairs, man face, noobs, they’re all inside memes/jokes from Roblox.

Roblox’ audience loves these stuff, yet they get taken down for what reason? I think it would be good to allow creators to be more expressive with what they’re making in the catalog. It’s quite concerning to even make stuff like “Shoulder pals” at this point, because sooner or later they will be taken down, yet games don’t get the same treatment.

With Public UGC around the corner, I think some of these rules getting changed would benefit both the community and Roblox itself.

Items that should be allowed:

• Inside jokes, memes, Roblox icons, should be allowed in UGCs only on the Roblox platform (not outside) Example: Noobs, guests, bacons, old Roblox logo, man face, woman face, classic smile, chill, etc
• References of other memes such as Epic face shouldn’t be banned (unless it’s a direct copy of the epic face worn by Shedletsky)

Age restricted items:

• Guns should be allowed & purchasable to anybody 13+
• Items with small gore, like wounds should be allowed & purchasable to anybody 17+
• Small references of gambling (Such as cards) should be allowed & purchasable to users that are 17+

As I said earlier, Roblox and the community both would benefit by this, because a lot of Roblox’s audience is young people, who enjoy watching such memes on TikTok, YouTube, Twitter and other platforms, so it’s a bit weird that they’re banned from UGC accessories, but completely allowed in games.

EDIT:
When public UGC update comes, there will be people already trying to bypass these restrictions that are weird anyways, so allowing them would be healthier for the Roblox marketplace, as they are innocent items and have no reason not to be allowed. When people will start bypassing these restrictions, Roblox will have to delete these items and then refund the people whos items got deleted, which I’m pretty sure will be more damaging for the Marketplace.

[TimeFrenzied (typesoulenjoyer)]

@idelww

Age restricted items:

• Guns should be allowed & purchasable to anybody 13+
• Items with small gore, like wounds should be allowed & purchasable to anybody 17+
• Small references of gambling (Such as cards) should be allowed & purchasable to users that are 17+

I don’t see the need for age-restricted items if users over 17 can play any game on the platform. I’ve seen games with guns and blood all ages. Items with gore already exist and there is no big need for that restriction either.

Games and UGC should have the same standards instead of adding unneccecary restrictions.

[idelww]

what i listed as “age restricted items” are categories of items that are currently not allowed, which is the entire purpose of this post. guns & blood apparently aren’t allowed anymore because of the dsa reports getting these down, and roblox could make these items age restricted instead of fully censoring them off the platform.

Games already have those restrictions for gore, gambling & use of guns. people just don’t follow the rules for games, that’s why experiences like combat warriors have serious gore and are allowed to most of the age groups.

[0Tenth]

I think some of these are being taken down by people abusing the DSA European Union reporting system, that could use some improvement as well!

[TimeFrenzied (typesoulenjoyer)]

@idelww

guns & blood apparently aren’t allowed anymore because of the dsa reports getting these down

That doesn’t make it not allowed, it’s just unfair ngl, I don’t like it either because it gives one group of people basically fast-track reports that affects all the creators, and users on the platform. Basically one place ruining it for everywhere. I find the whole thing kinda dumb.

Outside of games, you are allowed to make firearms as long as they aren’t realistic AND modern. I don’t know why they aren’t paying attention to this or maybe I misunderstood it but it’s pretty clear that what you

@idelww

that’s why experiences like combat warriors have serious gore and are allowed to most of the age groups

It’s only allowed for 13+, but you’re allowed to play 13+ games on -13 accounts through parental controls. Plus, the gore isn’t that bad, and you’re allowed to disable it if it makes people uncomfortable, so it technically follows the restrictions.

[idelww]

It kind of makes them not allowed on ugc items, which yes it’s very unfair because this gives ugc creators less opportunities than it gives game developers. roblox should have consistency between games and ugc marketplace, because soon they’re gonna release it to the public, and will be hard to moderate. if people bypass guns, and gore into ugc, roblox will suffer more, because they will have to refund all these items out of their own pocket if they get deleted

[TimeFrenzied (typesoulenjoyer)]

@idelww

It kind of makes them not allowed on ugc items

only if they are realistic and modern, just make them realistic and not modern, what r they gonna do about it

[idelww]

people reported guns using the dsa system and regardless of the realism they got deleted unfortunately

[TimeFrenzied (typesoulenjoyer)]

And that’s moderation not following the guidelines, its not guns not being allowed. If you appeal it should be bought back up

Just a question, do you believe humans review your assets? or robots, sometimes my bans are really stupid and even if i send 20 minute video evidence and the exact part of the community guidelines that they said i broke, i still dont get appealed, that was when vc was rolled out, it could be the same moderation issue here

maybe if enough people report you, it auto takedowns the item?

[IcyMonstrosity (Icy)]

Once the item is taken down, even if you do appeal it, it has a 99% chance of being denied. And the funniest thing is, that the support agent assigned to UGC moderation then proceeds to link you the community standards.

So even if this is taken down by their auto moderation system, it will still stay being down. The support agents themselves don’t know the Community Standards, and then have the audacity to tell you that you should read them. Honestly I’m fine with guns not being allowed, IF THAT WAS MADE CLEAR IN THE COMMUNITY STANDARDS, but no, Here at Roblox we power imagination, the imagination of our support agents on how many rules they can make up and change.

I’m frankly just annoyed. Each time you want to appeal something that is factually not breaking the Community Standards, you just get denied. And the worst part of this is the overly long wait times (+20 days). Roblox shows that they don’t care about the UGC program when they only give us a SINGLE support agent, for the entire program.

[TheFreeThinker (Solon)]

This is true a decent chunk of the rules, not just UGC but also Clothing Assets as well as Groups.

Moderation acts like the weather. You see a tornado miss that house, and another house, but for some reason it tears down your house and your left wondering “why?”

[idelww]

@TimeFrenzied

Just a question, do you believe humans review your assets? or robots, sometimes my bans are really stupid and even if i send 20 minute video evidence and the exact part of the community guidelines that they said i broke, i still dont get appealed, that was when vc was rolled out, it could be the same moderation issue here

I don’t think assets are reviewed by a human being until they get moderated. Roblox has been using an automated moderation for a while, and unless you get reported & want to appeal an asset, I don’t think a real pair of eyes will look into it.