Roblox has been heavily criticized for its brand-new feature Roblox Connect that was added to the game over the dangers surrounding players, in particular children, being able to make live calls.
Roblox first announced its groundbreaking virtual call feature at Roblox Developers Conference 2023 in September.
The feature was shown off by the CEO David Baszucki during his keynote speech at the event as Badzucki carried out a live demonstration. It showed players would be able to capture motion via their cameras and create a virtual avatar to make calls with other users in real time.
With the in-game function being almost identical to normal voice calls and the sandbox game being typically targeted at children, it raised concern in the community for the potential dangers.
Roblox faces backlash over “dangerous” voice call feature
Roblox launched the voice call feature to the game via an update, which was accompanied by an official blog post and social media posts.
“Today we’re launching Roblox Connect, a technology enabling 13+ users to connect 1:1 in a shared environment, we can’t wait to see how creators will implement it within their experiences!” They announced.
However, it was soon hit with various negative comments as players and the wider gaming community flooded in to express their concerns surrounding its dangers.
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Today we’re launching Roblox Connect, a technology enabling 13+ users to connect 1:1 in a shared environment, we can't wait to see how creators will implement it within their experiences! #RobloxDev https://t.co/KJV7bdw6oG https://t.co/6iGsjMWtuu
— Roblox (@Roblox) November 14, 2023
“Roblox becoming more and more like a social platform than a place to create games. This ain’t gonna end well,” one user responded, with many querying: “Why did you guys think this was a good feature to add?”
Majority of people expressed their concerns with the dangers of letting children use the in-game feature, where the developers stated ages “13+” would have access to the service.
“Instead of trying to fix the problems of predators on Roblox, add more features to help them. Awesome job Roblox,” another commented.
“This is a bad idea Roblox, and especially on your platform because this is where most predators are coming from, and it makes it way easier for predators to prey on children,” a user added.
The addition of the controversial feature has come off the back of Omegle shutting down after 14 years on November 9, after it was deemed more “harmful” than good.