I Spoke With Roblox's New "Head of Parental Advocacy"
"I work for the parents," is the mantra of Roblox's new hire.
Roblox is bigger than ever, and there are no signs it’s slowing down. There are good reasons to say “no” to Roblox in your household, but lots of households are saying yes, making it all the more important that Roblox continues increasing its standards.
One promising direction may come in the form of a new hire at Roblox in Dr. Elizabeth Milovidov, a lawyer and specialist in digital child rights and safety who the company is calling Roblox’s new “head of parental advocacy.”
“I work for the parents,” said Milovidov in a recent interview with Crossplay, “and that's really how I feel. I will be in this position as long as I can continue to work for the parents and the families.”
Milovidov previously worked on LEGO’s exploration of video games and “metaverse” projects and has not been at Roblox long. You can count the weeks on two hands.
“The coolest part of my job now is Roblox created this role,” she said. “I really 100% believe that they want parents to take control again, to support parents in making those decisions for their kids. But in order for parents to do that, they need to know some things. And so that's where I come in.”
In a press release, Roblox said Milovidov “will focus on building partnerships and programs to help equip parents with the tools to help their families navigate Roblox and the digital world” and “joins Roblox during a time of intense global discussion around digital child safety and well-being across the internet.”
That last part is true—the world is pressing forward on legislation. (It’s been nearly a year since that last check-in on regulation, and we’re due. Stay tuned next month.)
What exactly Milovidov’s hire means for parents with kids playing Roblox is unclear.
During our conversation, Milovidov was candid that she’s still new and figuring out which buttons to press, which people to talk to. She was reluctant to discuss policy. She is, of course, aware of the reputational hit Roblox has taken with parents in recent years, alongside headlines in places Bloomberg such as “Roblox’s Pedophile Problem.”
“We see that,” she said. “But don't forget, it's industry wide, and I feel like one of the reasons why I joined Roblox and not another company is because I do believe in their mission. I do believe in what they're trying to do with safety protocols. We all know that the bad actors can get out there, but they are enhancing their safety protocols.”
I haven’t shied from criticizing Roblox, but it hasn’t prevented me from praising the company when it takes important, if frustratingly late, steps forward. Their parental controls are much better than they used to be and needed tweeks are still happening.
“I am tasked with creating a digital literacy program,” she said. “We're gonna see how that goes.”
One of the lessons I’ve learned about parents and games while running Crossplay is that parents will tell you to your face that they’re deeply concerned about parental controls and other tools. But in reality, many want to hand over the device and trust what their kids are engaging with, be it Roblox or something else, will protect them. Parents are busy, stressed out, and parental controls on every app are usually different.
Milovidov told me she understands this dynamic, and both wants to work to make Roblox more approachable for today’s parents who are hands-on—but also hands-off.
“I want to be bombarded with so many ideas that I get to say, oh, we need more head count, because we've got a lot of things to do,” she said. “We cannot forget the parents, and I really want to stress, especially the [parents] who aren't in the room. Those are the ones that I'm really trying to figure out how to get and how to target.”
Years before Roblox, Milovidov wanted an excuse to talk with more parents about digital literacy, so she started a consulting group called Crossing Guard Consulting. The problem? She lived in London at the time, and in London, the equivalent of a “crossing guard” in the United States is, in fact, called a “lollipop man/woman.”
Oops.
“I'm not the queen of marketing,” she said, laughing.
(I had no idea about this, either!)
“I want to be bombarded with so many ideas that I get to say, oh, we need more head count, because we've got a lot of things to do. We cannot forget the parents, and I really want to stress, especially the [parents] who aren't in the room. Those are the ones that I'm really trying to figure out how to get and how to target.”
What started as a digital life coach company led Milovidov to conferences and events where she noted “nobody was talking about the parents.” This led her to consulting with big companies like Google and Instagram to write parental guides and more.
“I would go into schools and talk to the kids,” she told me, “What are you playing? Tell me about it. I'm gonna see your parents later. What do you want me to tell them? It was really this back and forth of listening to the kids and doing workshops.”
Milovidov, to her credit, had read some of my own reporting, and pointed towards an experience one parent had where, while playing, they heard a racial slur from a player.
“[It] became a teachable moment,” she said. “This is what I think we need, because even if we put filters on, and everything's off, somehow somebody figures out some new, creative way to slide in a word.”
Which is true. I don’t think anyone expects Roblox to be perfect. The world isn’t perfect. They also probably shouldn’t hear a slur, either? But for a long time, Roblox seemed to emphasize user growth over all else. This is common across modern internet companies, especially social networks. Do your best to hook young people on the platform, say sorry when they get exploited, and then build in the safety measures.
There will always be holes in the system, but for too long, the holes were too big.
“I want to kind of explain to [parents] that it's like Disneyland,” she said. “You know you're going to [have] those little age-appropriate, perfect little safe areas where you can stay with your young ones, or you can go over there and get on Space Mountain and scream your head off. It's the right ages, right? That is something that I'm going to have to do for parents.”
Which is part of the problem, right? What is the correct age? Roblox can’t make that decision, but in a way, it is. Roblox is woven into the social fabric of young kids. The reason my oldest daughter started playing Roblox was, in part, due to social pressure.
“But how do I do that?” she continued. “I have to show them what Disneyland looks like, so that way they can see it, to get it, to understand it. Because otherwise you don't just let an eight-year-old go and give them tickets and say, you know, enjoy Space Mountain!”
The real test is the future. What, if any, changes will Milovidov bring to Roblox?
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In theory, I like a hire like this. But it’s unclear how much teeth the position will have. We’ll have to track policy changes that roll out in coming months for Roblox.
She struck me as having a genuine interest in advocating for parents—her career history backs this up. But Roblox is complex, big, and has profit motives.
For now, I’m going to hope for the best. The parental change from earlier this year were good. Having an outsider could be a welcomed voice. Fingers crossed.
Nothing in here suggests that Roblox is prepared to take responsibility for its platform’s content and behaviour on it; if anything, Dr. Milovidov’s comments only reinforce Roblox’s desire to outsource this responsibility onto parents which only creates more of a headache for parents.
If someone behaves inappropriately in Disneyland or builds something offensive, I, as another park-goer, can protest but I cannot eject them from the park; this is the park owner’s responsibility. Disney polices this in a tough-but-invisible way, and has spent a lot of resources on doing this over an extended period of time to build their culture and brand of safety which appeals to families. Roblox feels like the opposite, so the comparison feels quite trite; Roblox could and should do so much more.
As a parent I feel like I am constantly fighting to somehow make Roblox feel appropriate for my child as I just can’t trust it, whereas it really should be the other way round.
A promising start, but there's still so much to find frustrating in how Roblox handles parental controls. My two biggest peeves:
1) showing experiences that are age-gated out, so my son is marketed these experiences and reminded he's not mature enough for them. In what world is this a good player experience??
2) related: the inability to grant single game permissions based on my own tolerance or understanding of the game. Instead it's a massive slider, without a lot of nuance. I sometimes end up sliding it way up so he can access something that seems fine to me ... but what else have I unwittingly exposed him to now? Then I have to remember to slide it back down when he's done.