Roblox CEO David Baszucki has once again suggested adding dating options to the game, despite 40% of its players being minors. This isn't the first time he's proposed his idea in public, as whispers about Roblox becoming a dating app were heard as far back as 2023.
Two years ago, Baszucki claimed that lonely adults would soon be able to date on Roblox and form meaningful relationships. His statement was immediately met with backlash from both the press and parents. However, the CEO, who believes concerned parents should simply stop their kids from playing Roblox, hasn't backed down. He still seems just as determined to bring the controversial idea to life.
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Speaking on the TechStuff podcast, Baszucki suggested that one day, people aged 21 and older may be able to date on Roblox. He said participants would be ID-verified, and the safety and regulation teams would do their best to keep the feature adult-exclusive. However, given how easily the game's age restrictions have been bypassed by minors in the past, the idea of adding a dating simulation has many parents worried.
Roblox CEO Controversially Wants to Add Dating to the Game
It's no secret that Roblox has not always successfully protected minors on its platform. Since its launch, the platform has been exploited by ill-intentioned adults to interact with children and, in some cases, arrange to meet them in person. While the CEO believes ID verification is enough to prevent such incidents, current age-verification technologies are still easy to bypass. Recently, for example, Discord users took advantage of Death Stranding 2's realistic photo mode to get around new age restrictions in Britain. And there's no guarantee that minors won't find similar workarounds in Roblox to access its supposed adult-only dating feature.
At some point in his interview with TechStuff, the CEO was asked about Bloomberg's report on over a dozen Roblox players arrested in the US since 2018 for grooming and other offenses involving minors. Acknowledging the issue, he said the platform is trying to "keep people on Roblox... We don't want [minors] to go to any other device or any other platform." However, his idea of enabling dating in Roblox implies that there will be ways to exchange personal information, since those who date on the app will likely also want to meet in real life. And features like that would only make users on the platform more vulnerable to predators.
It's unclear how serious Baszucki is about bringing in-game dating to what he calls the "wellness platform" of Roblox. It's safe to assume that most parents will not be happy about such a risk-laden idea even being considered by the app's executives.
OpenCritic Reviews
- Released
- September 1, 2006
- ESRB
- Teen / Diverse Content: Discretion Advised, In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items), Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Roblox Corporation
- Publisher(s)
- Roblox Corporation
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Game Creation System
