There is something seriously wrong with Roblox' moderation
Several previously age-restricted games on Roblox have been changed to a “suitable for all ages” status over recent weeks. This includes a game asking you to kill popular children’s character Peppa Pig and some so-called toilet simulations.
One mother reached out on social media after discovering a plethora of these toilet-based games rated as suitable for all ages. With names such as Public Bathroom Simulator, and XYZ Public Bathroom Simulator, there are a number of these available.
Your character can go into a stall, where the bottom half of their clothing is removed even though no doors for privacy are present. Some modes even let players take pictures of others on the toilet.
She recorded a video of her character slipping in puddles of water, and being stuck on their back with their legs in the air – that’s apparently very much a feature of this game. Several other players quickly came up and made crude sexual gestures on top of her avatar. The game had about 3,000 active users at the time of the recording and naturally not all of them were kids.
Roblox is an online world of user-created content with three levels of age restrictions that parents can set for their children. The highest level of restriction is called ‘All Ages’ and states “content is suitable for everyone with only mild violence or small amounts of unrealistic blood.” All Ages is apparently suitable for five- to nine-year-olds, though Roblox has been rated for ages seven and up in Europe.
These restrictions only refer to violence and make no mention of other age-sensitive content such as sexual content or drugs. There are over-arching rules that deal with these topics, but with all user-generated content, there are ways to skirt around the rules.
Games are reported to be manually checked to see which age range they are suitable for. This means that someone at Roblox Corp must have decided that games like this, which encourage behavior you would definitely not want your kids to pick up, are totally suitable for children between the ages of five and nine.
The company states that if users violate the community guidelines, they should be reported by others for any action to be taken.
Last year, Blizzard Entertainment also came under fire for letting a custom game in Overwatch slip through its moderation that encouraged players to sexually assault female characters.
