Roblox’s Age Verification System Explained

Roblox, has been one of the longest running online gaming platforms over the years. Many kids who started playing on Roblox in its early days are practically grown up today. Likewise, Roblox is one of the most public and accessible platforms online for (again) practically anyone and everyone. Sadly, this accessibility provides certain unscrupulous individuals or predators a means to take advantage of, and exploit the youngest and most vulnerable members of the overall community. To this, Roblox has no choice but to implement certain stringent safeguards to address the platform's massive concerns about children.

The Security Issue

Predators are the biggest threat residing on the platform. Though the platform administrators have security checks in place as well as moderation management to keep unsavory things from happening, not only to the kids but even to adults as well, the platform is huge and a few things can slip through the cracks, especially the most damaging ones.

Exploitation within Roblox can take several forms and many of these activities are quite insidious and a bit difficult to detect unless reported and pointed out. And when the “Big Bad Wolf” usually looks for a prey to victimize, its usually the “Little Red Riding Hood” or the Hansel’s and Gretel’s innocently going about their fun-filled gameplay, much worst is when the little ones get their hands on their parents credit or debit cards, which then ends up with Roblox being sued by the angry Mama’s and Papa’s (autumn leaves are brown, and the Sun is down).

The financial aspect of scams is not the only problem, others include the “Inappropriate Content” which some misguided developers implement into their games and end up showing them to the youngest of minds. Teens and adults may have the maturity of mind to handle controversial concepts of sex and violence, but never the children.

There are also the wolves running about the platform whose aim is to purposely victimize and “groom” any child they come across. It seems the world as it is will always be bereft by these kind of villains. A popular example of this danger is the globally active “764 Network” which is considered and classified as an online predatory decentralized organization that aims to manipulate, exploit, victimize, and blackmail the most vulnerable of kids and young teens.

It is a fact that even Roblox has cracks in its overall security system. Same is true for the online world in general were wolves continue to scam and victimize the unsuspecting in any way they can. These people have work-arounds with age and identity verification as well as any other tricks they can use to be able to scam to their hearts content. To date, these incidents have caused a lot of headache for Roblox due to the perplexed parents of the child victims, as well as the adult community members who fall into the trap themselves.

The Age Verification Solution

To deal with the ever growing issue, Roblox has implemented a mandatory AI-driven Age Verification System designed to provide a safer age-matching, and appropriate experiences. At its core, it’s supposed to keep the kids with the kids and the adults with the adults to avoid instances of devious adult predators preying on the little ones. The system uses Facial AI estimation (and recognition) to determine the user, and in which age bracket he or she is. This is done by requiring the user to submit a short live video selfie for the AI to examine and analyze.

An alternative would be to use a government-issued ID (for users 13+) to verify their age. Otherwise, a parent or a guardian will have to verify for the minor. Much better if the parent has an active Roblox account as well.

Age verification is a requirement so the use will be able to access content and features on the platform appropriate to one’s age level. Online chat is a foremost consideration as the youngest of users (8 and below) have the most restrictions for their safety. As for those over 13, users can engage in private chats with their friends that are verified to be within their age group.

If a user cannot be verified and/or is under 13, they are usually (automatically) assigned to a “Kids Account” were they have both limited access and communication on the platform.

There are currently many complaints about Roblox’s mandatory push for account and platform security as it does restrict gamer access in many different ways. However, with the kind of predatory Wild, Wild, West the platform is currently degrading into, the current security measures being put into place appears to be the most feasible way to deal with the situation. Roblox may end up losing users and gamers in the process, but the alternative is a lot less to be desired.