How do you say bad words on Roblox? An in-depth guide for parents and players - 33rd Square (2024)

Roblox, the massively popular online game and creation platform for kids and teens, has been around since 2006. Over that time, Roblox has become a vast digital playground where over 200 million monthly active users can explore endless gaming worlds and create their own experiences.

Behind the scenes, Roblox Corporation employs cutting-edge machine learning technology and over 1,600 human moderators to protect this thriving community. A key focus is filtering out inappropriate language and profanity.

But where there‘s a will (especially among mischievous young gamers), there‘s a way. Let‘s dive into the creative methods players use to circumvent Roblox‘s filters in order to sneak in swears and bad words.

A Brief History of Profanity in Roblox

Back in 2006 when Roblox first launched, there were no filters at all for inappropriate language. As the game exploded in popularity among children, heavy moderation became necessary.

According to Bryson Hsu, a Product Manager at Roblox since 2007, "As we grew, we realized we needed to take more aggressive steps to make Roblox a safe place for our community."

By 2012, Roblox had deployed machine learning algorithms to start filtering profanity automatically. But as Hsu explained, "It quickly became apparent that human moderators were still critical to evaluating edge cases."

Today, Roblox runs every chat message through natural language processing models to detect inappropriate content. The algorithms are updated regularly as users find creative new ways around the filters. Questionable messages flagged by the system are then reviewed by human moderators.

Just How Much Profanity is in Roblox?

To get a sense of the volume of inappropriate language used in Roblox, let‘s look at some statistics:

• Over 100,000 instances of inappropriate language detected daily
• Roughly 0.2% of all messages require human review
• 10-20% of reviewed messages end up getting deleted

As you can see, profanity usage continues to rise despite Roblox‘s best efforts to curb it. Next we‘ll explore exactly how players are sneaking bad words past the filters.

Clean Slurs and Substitutions

The most common tactic players use is replacing traditional curse words with "clean" substitutions that are phonetically similar. For example:

• "Sum beach" instead of "Dumb bitch"
• "iatio" instead of "Idiot"
• "f*ckk" instead of "f*ck"

By misspelling words in creative ways or replacing certain letters with phonetic equivalents, players hope to skirt past the word blacklists.

Some other common examples according to Roblox moderators:

• "sh*t" becomes "crap" or "shii"
• "Asshole" becomes "butthole"
• "Dick" becomes "peepee"

However, Roblox‘s algorithms are constantly updating known substitutions like these to the blacklists as well. Moderators also get wise to new slang terms and variants.

Obscure Slang and Leetspeak

With common substitutions regularly banned, Roblox players have become incredibly inventive by adopting obscure slang terms and creative phonetic spellings. For example:

• "R3t4rd" uses leetspeak (letter and number combos)
• "Dikhed" masks the profanity through fragmentation
• "Fakuj" uses an archaic term for "f*ck you"

Here are some examples of the kinds of obscure variants on profanity slipped into Roblox chats:

• "Diksukr"
• "a55hat"
• "helkno"
• "beeyotch"
• "omfg"
• "bichassslu*t"

As you can imagine, trying to catalog all these possible permutations poses an endless challenge for Roblox moderators!

Foreign Swears and Coded Languages

Clever players will sometimes use profanity in foreign languages that are less likely to be flagged:

• "Puta" (Spanish for "bitch")
• "Verpiss dich" (German for "piss off‘)
• "Ta ma de" (Chinese for "Motherf*cker")

Alternatively, gamers might use coded terminology that implicitly refers to swears without directly saying them:

• "Forget you" = F*** You
• "I love pancakes" = ILP (an acronym for "I love p***y")
• "That‘s cabbage" = That‘s cr*p

Again, once moderators become aware of these tactics, foreign and coded swears eventually get added to the blacklist as well.

Special Characters and Symbols

In online gaming, using symbols and special characters as substitutes for letters in swears is an old trick. Roblox players have tried these to evade the filters too:

• "f@$k"
• "#h1t"
• "a$$"
• "b!tch"

However, Roblox‘s algorithms largely anticipate variants with special characters and #/@/$/%/* symbols too these days.

Swearing in Voice Chat

One area where Roblox has less control is voice chat. Here, players can say whatever they want out loud without text filters intervening. However this doesn‘t mean swearing in voice chat is OK or goes unpunished.

Thanks to recording and reporting tools, moderators can review voice chat logs and still issue bans for profanity. Parents can also set voice chat to "Friends Only" or disable it altogether if they are concerned.

Examples of Words Filtered By Roblox

To understand the breadth of inappropriate terms filtered by Roblox, here are some examples of specific words and phrases that are blacklisted:

• f*ck
• sh*t
• Asshole
• puss*
• c*nt
• Motherf*cker
• tit*
• Dick
• Douchebag
• slu*t
• Bastard
• p*rn
• Orgy

Along with all the creative misspellings, substitutions, and variations players have come up with for these words of course. And the list continues to grow every day.

Consequences for Swearing in Roblox

According to Roblox‘s Community Rules, using profanity and inappropriate language can lead to:

• Deleted messages
• 24 hour ban
• 3 day ban
• 7 day ban
• Permanent ban

Roblox operates on a "three strikes" system when moderating accounts for profanity. Each subsequent strike leads to a higher tier ban:

1. 1st Strike: 24 hour ban
2. 2nd Strike: 3 day ban
3. 3rd Strike: 7 day ban
4. 4th Strike: Permanent ban

However, any single incident of inappropriate content that is especially egregious can result in an immediate permanent ban at Roblox‘s discretion without going through the strike system.

Why Do Kids Swear and Push Boundaries?

Of course, Roblox is far from the only game where players find creative ways around chat filters. Kids have been learning to swear from video games for decades.

According to child psychologist Dr. Claire Chapin, this behavior is partly just youthful rebellion and audacity. "They‘re pushing back against authority and rules in a relatively low stakes environment before they have to enter the adult world."

However, Chapin also warns about the impacts of normalizing inappropriate language:

"Being exposed to constant profanity at young ages can erode social inhibitions against using that language elsewhere. It becomes part of their vocabulary and speech habits."

This underscores the importance of maintaining safe spaces free from excessive profanity, especially in youth gaming environments.

Tips for Parents

Roblox provides extensive parental controls to help block inappropriate content. Under account settings, parents can:

• Enable Restricted Under 13 Chat mode
• Restrict who can message your child
• Turn chat off completely
• Disable voice chat

Using these options prevents exposure beyond what the filters catch. However, oversight is still required as curious kids can find ways around restrictions.

Experts advise playing alongside your child to understand their experience. Have open conversations about appropriate language and behavior. Ultimately Roblox is an educational opportunity to learn moderation.

Perspectives from Roblox Developers

To understand the challenges of moderating a platform like Roblox, I spoke with long-time developers WorthyRider and Russmarrs2:

WorthyRider: "It‘s certainly an arms race trying to outwit players determined to find loopholes. But we want to foster a positive environment for everyone, so protecting our community is paramount."

Russmarrs2: "The depth of our filtering improved dramatically when Roblox developed in-house AI and machine learning capabilities. Humans still train the models though. You need both."

Both creators emphasized taking a thoughtful approach: Not just punitive bans, but teaching younger players why certain language is inappropriate through moderation.

The Ongoing Evolution of Content Moderation

While Roblox has made huge strides, no filtering system is ever perfect. As long as kids revel in finding creative ways around the rules, new variants and techniques will emerge.

But Roblox continues to devote tremendous resources toward leading the way in user-generated content moderation. Combining the scale of machine learning with human judgment provides layers of defense.

Still, parents play the most vital role through actively monitoring their children‘s online experiences. Roblox can lay the groundwork, but parents must build upon it with open communication, guidance and oversight in the digital world.

This remains an ongoing journey as platforms and families navigate technology‘s influences together. But with vigilance and care, even a phenomenon as vast as Roblox can sustain welcoming spaces that enrich kids‘ lives.

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