[Update] December 3, 2024
Hi Creators,
As we grow and learn, we continually enhance our safety measures to keep users of all ages safe on our platform — and we need your help to achieve this.
As part of this, we want to let you know about three changes:
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We will be restricting access to Social Hangouts and Free-form User Creation experiences to users ages 13+. Enforcement will begin on November 18th.
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By default, users under the age of 13 will not be able to play, search, and discover unrated experiences. This will ensure that parents and users have more clarity into the types of content available on Roblox and will help them make more informed choices about what they want to play. Enforcement will begin on December 3rd.
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We will require all information (including thumbnail, title, and description) displayed on the Experience Detail page to be either All Ages or 9+. We will begin enforcing this in 2025.
What we’re changing
Users under the age of 13 will not be able to play, search, and discover unrated experiences.
Parents and young users need accurate information about the experiences they are playing. Moving forward, all creators must complete a questionnaire for each experience they want available for users under 13. This means that all unrated experiences will be filtered out of search and any public or recommended sorts for users under 13. Additionally, creators must ensure that all information (such as thumbnail, title, and description) on their experience details page for each experience is appropriate for all users, by meeting either the All Ages or 9+ age recommendations. We will begin enforcement of these requirements next year.
Creators must fill out the experience questionnaire by December 3, 2024. Go to Creator Hub > Creations > Select an experience > Audience > Questionnaire:
After this date, experiences that are unrated will become unplayable, unsearchable, and undiscoverable by users under the age of 13. However, users under 13 will still be able to access the experience detail page via direct link.
To better align with industry standards to promote usability and safety, in the future we envision the questionnaire becoming more closely integrated into the publishing process.
Restricting social hangouts and free-form user creation to users 13+
We are also updating our policies to address user behavior that can potentially pose a risk to our youngest users. Starting November 18, experiences with certain types of interactive features, specifically social hangouts and free-form 2D user creation, will only be playable to users over the age of 13. Creators will always be able to play their own experience or any experience they have edit access to.
Social Hangouts
Hangout experiences are things like vibe games, clubs, socializing and supportive spaces where the primary theme or purpose of the experience is to communicate (e.g. in text or voice chat) with other users as yourself. This does not include role-playing or real-life simulation experiences where users adopt a different role or are provided with items to role-play with.
Free-form User Creation
Free-form user creation applies to features within experiences that allow users to draw or write in 2D and replicate those creations to other users without the completed creation going through Roblox moderation (e.g., writing or drawing on a chalkboard, whiteboard, or with spray paint). This does not include in-experience user creations assembled with 3D assets that have individually gone through Roblox moderation (e.g. building a house with blocks, creating an outfit, creating short-form videos of in-experience content).
We recognize the deadline is soon, but we greatly appreciate your cooperation in helping us ensure Roblox is a safe and civil place for users of all ages to come together. If you have further questions or concerns, please share below.
FAQs
What is the difference between genres and content descriptors?
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Both are visible on an experience’s detail page, but serve different purposes. The genre taxonomy is focused primarily on communicating the core gameplay of an experience to better match creators to their audience. Content descriptors are used to generate content maturity labels (via the Experience Questionnaire), which provide parents and users insights on the content and behavior within an experience to help them choose the experiences that are the most appropriate for them.
We ask that any time you are describing your experience, that you do so accurately. Your Roblox-assigned genre should not influence how you answer the content maturity questionnaire. If you disagree with your genre, the ability to select your own genre is launching this month.
How do I know if my experience is roleplay or a social hangout?
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We understand your confusion and will be updating our policy language in the Experience Questionnaire to make this clearer.
If your experience meets both criteria below, then it is a social hangout for the purposes of this policy:
- The primary theme or activity is to chat with, or otherwise interact with, other users (strangers or friends) with voice or text
- Players interact with others as themselves or as their avatar
Please answer the questionnaire accurately, regardless of your genre.
If my experience genre is ‘Social’ and subgenre is ‘Hangout’, does that mean I’m impacted by the content moderation guidelines here?
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Based on our initial learnings from rolling out the new genre taxonomy, we’re combining all of the subgenres under Social because they are currently too small to warrant their own subgenres. Therefore, there will no longer be a “Hangout” subgenre. This should also help avoid confusion with the Social Hangout content descriptor. As any genre grows, we’ll reevaluate and reintroduce subgenres to aid with discoverability.
The ability to choose or update your genre is launching this month and we ask that you pick your genre based on the core gameplay users can expect from the experience.
If your genre is Social, it does not automatically imply any content maturity labels. We rely on you filling out the content maturity questionnaire accurately to assign a content maturity label.
Will roleplay/life simulation experiences also be restricted to users ages 13+?
- No, experiences where players adopt various roles (e.g., teacher, police officer, race car driver) or are provided with items to role-play with will not be restricted.
Will all free-form user creation experiences also be restricted to users ages 13+?
- In-experience user creations assembled with 3D assets that have individually gone through Roblox moderation (e.g. building a house with blocks, creating an outfit, creating short-form videos of in-experience content) will not be restricted.
Will unrated experiences be moderated?
- After December 3, unrated experiences will become unplayable, unsearchable, and undiscoverable by users under 13 but will continue to be reviewed for compliance with our Community Standards.
