Roblox Corporation announced the creation of a new experience category, which it calls games created by people on its platform, for ages 17 and up. The 17-24 year olds are the fastest growing group at Roblox, and by 2022, people 17 and older will make up 38% of daily active users. "In Roblox's announcement, "We want to create more mature themes and experiences that appeal to older users," said Roblox We have heard your feedback that you want to be able to build experiences that feature stories."

Users who want to create or participate in something in this category will need to provide Roblox with a selfie and photo ID. This allows Roblox to start with "All Ages" ("Rare Mild Violence and/or Mild Unrealistic Blood" allowed), then "Ages 9+" ("Mild Violence, Severe Unrealistic Blood, and/or Mildly Vulgar Humor"), "Ages 13+" ("Moderate Violence, Mild Realistic Blood, Moderate humor, and/or unplayable gambling content"), and now "17 and older" with four experience categories. These could include "intense violence, realistic blood, moderately vulgar humor, romantic themes, unplayable gambling content, and/or the presence of alcohol."

You may have noticed a few things missing, and yes, Roblox is adamantly saying no to certain mature content, adding that Roblox is "exploring ways to allow it in appropriate contexts" in the future, but "strong language" is surprisingly surprisingly, is one of them. Enabling?

More understandably, it bans "sexual content and nudity" and "depictions of drugs and tobacco" outright. It seems a bit odd that Roblox would allow alcohol and not tobacco, even though both are legal drugs with an age limit of 21 or older (in the U.S.), but I guess they just want to avoid Big Tobacco coming in to target the creators of the Marlboro Ranch I guess.

Everything gets even stranger as you get more detailed. For example, Roblox suggests a way to depict intense violence: "Avatars hold realistic weapons and fight with vivid animation and audio effects such as gunshots and screams. How about "combining multiple realistic blood assets" on top of that?

Most interestingly, assets that clearly depict alcohol are prohibited. You can't make and upload bottles that resemble famous brands like Smirnoff Vodka or inferior Jack Daniels whiskey; Roblox does allow red plastic cups, but only if they are "made to represent the consumption of alcohol. "Creators can combine these assets in animated club scenes to represent the consumption of alcohol."

Finally, Roblox has decided not to control gambling simulations on its platform, but to ban them. "By September 18, 90 days from today, all experiences containing simulated gambling content will need to be updated to comply with our new guidelines," the company said. But let's not throw the baby out with the bath water: 'Paid random item generators and Lootboxes will continue to be allowed.'

Roblox is now almost unfathomably popular. If daily active users were a country, it would be larger than Canada. Although first released in 2006, the platform's explosive growth began in the mid-2010s, and as it grew, the focus shifted to a younger user base, with frequent criticism of inappropriate content and accusations from regulators Roblox 's player base of 38% is between 17 and 24 years old, a much higher number than I would have guessed before today's announcement, which explains why Roblox feels compelled to make this move. But kids are what grow up, and it's time for Roblox to play the same hand.