Roblox encourages mature 17+ experiences

Roblox is growing up with its young users.

The platform, once associated with kids, announced Tuesday that creators could make mature content for 17-year-olds. Roblox users must submit a government ID and a live selfie to prove their age to create or enjoy those experiences.

Roblox, a candy-colored mix of social networks and games, has millions of daily users.

Now, 17-year-olds can enjoy more intense violence, romance, crude humor, gambling, and even virtual booze in those colorful worlds. 13+ allows “moderate” violence and “light” realistic blood but no romantic themes or alcohol.

Roblox’s fastest-growing age group, above-17, made up nearly 40% of its daily active users last year. Roblox’s game and experience creators are mostly 17 and older.

“We want to make sure that they can explore themes and graphics and things that would be very compelling for them,” Roblox Chief Product Officer Manuel Bronstein told .

Bronstein hopes the platform’s rules will inspire creators to confidently explore mature themes. Roblox’s user-created shooters and horror games may benefit from the changes.

Bronstein called 17+ content a “natural evolution” for the platform. Roblox is changing its products to keep its young users interested as they grow up.

Roblox doesn’t mind changing its identity as it grows. In recent years, the platform has added more sophisticated graphics, deeper developer tools, realistic avatars, and voice chat to its core experience, which mostly involves blocky, Lego-looking dudes bouncing around pixelated suburban environments.

“Is this a platform play?” Bronstein told . “If we give communities a tool, if we improve our fidelity, rendering, and physics—what will people build?”

Roblox and Epic Games are leading the metaverse, an interconnected web of online social hubs with games, pop-up events, live shows, and digital goods that can be navigated with a customizable avatar.

Roblox creators can start making 17+ content now, and age-verified users will see it in the coming weeks.

We want the community to surprise and delight us with these tools. We’re excited to see what the community comes up with when we open this up. Bronstein said. “You and I can brainstorm about a bunch of things, but we’ll see 10,000 other things we didn’t think about.”