SHORT-FORM CONTENT DISCOVERY
04 / 05

moments

SCOPE
Content design, strategy
Company
Roblox
For
Creators and players, aged 16+
With
Design, DPM, PM, product marketing, eng

Bringing short-form content discovery back to Roblox.

Players always captured their gameplay, but they left Roblox to share it. On YouTube, viewers clocked 1.5 billion minutes of Roblox content a day, and #roblox was one of TikTok’s fastest-growing hashtags. On Roblox itself, beyond playing and customizing avatars, players had little outlet to create.

Developers felt it too. Promoting a game through authentic, player-made content was difficult, and discovery felt stagnant. They needed better paths to reach new players.

Moments fix that: clips up to 30 seconds, swipeable feed. One tap takes you from watching to playing.

I led end-to-end content design for creation, safety, and consumption.

a few challenges
No hierarchy
Moments, captures, and posts were used interchangeably, with no semantic hierarchy tying them together
AGE-GATED EXPERIENCE
Only older teens and adults could use Moments, so clarity and safety came first
Safety logic
Restrictions had to show up in UX copy without overwhelming anyone
success measured by
GROWING
Content-driven game joins: new and returning players discovering games via videos
More frequent sessions, with short “downtime” visits alongside longer play
More time spent on Roblox
GUARDING
Watching shouldn’t cannibalize playing
Less violative content created and seen

landing on moments

Internally, the project was called Rodeo (Roblox Video). The team oscillated on what to call them—Clips, Highlights, Rodeos? Leading content design here, with no naming system or semantic hierarchy to lean on, I had to create one.

"Moments" came naturally; gameplay videos were the engaging moments players shared with friends. Distinctive and memorable for a mass audience.

semantic hierarchy
ONE TERM PER LEVEL
Level
Term
DEFINED AS
In the UI
Feature
Moments
The feed where players watch, discover, and join games. A proper noun.
Moments tab · Open Moments
Content
Moment
One published video in the feed. Still a proper noun in running copy.
Create your first Moment
Raw material
capture
An unedited recording saved to one's gallery. Private until posted.
Captures gallery · Capture saved
ACTIONS
Capture
Record up to 30 sec of gameplay
Edit
Trim the capture and add audio
Post
Publish to the feed
Join
Join the game featured in a Moment

Retired: Rodeo, Clip, Highlight, and publish

tailoring tone for a global audience

Identity is central to Roblox, and this feature was a new way for players to express it. The tone had to feel like theirs and invite them to create.

Four moments across the flow
Coachmark: Create your first Moment. Start with something simple.
First-time uxA coachmark encourages you to make a Moment.
Empty state: No Moments yet. You'll find all of your Moments here. Create your first one now.
Empty stateAn empty gallery becomes an invitation to create.
Post screen: Describe your Moment, with Post and Edit buttons. Everyone in the experience can view your Moments.
PostingDescribe your Moment keeps the prompt open.
Dialog: Delete Moment? You can't recover a Moment once it's gone.
DeletingA calm confirmation—clear stakes without alarm.

guardrails for safety

For minors, Moments should be safe to use and hard to abuse. Moderation and reporting flows needed to be extremely clear and inform without alarm.

WHERE SAFETY SHOWED UP
age settings
Prohibiting access to Moments from games with a Restricted rating
review
Setting expectations while a posted Moment is reviewed, and if it’s rejected
moderation
Explaining why a Moment with inappropriate content was removed
reporting
Making it easy to flag a Moment in the feed, anytime
HOW IT SHOWED UP
Dialog over the post screen: Let's keep things friendly. Check the Community Standards for more info on what you can and can't say. OK.
WarningProfanity is flagged, with a friendly nudge to the Community Standards.
Toast: Moment removed. The Moment you posted breaks the rules of our community. View details.
Removed momentModeration flags inappropriate content, so a toast explains what happened and offers a next step.
Removed Moment in the feed: We removed this Moment because it breaks the rules of our community. To keep your Moments visible, make sure you know and follow the rules. View rules.
notificationModeration language stays consistent from toast to notification.
Notification: The Moment you posted in Grow a Garden breaks the rules of our community. View rules, Dismiss.
age restrictionSome Moments are unavailable, told without blaming minors for their age.

the defining moment

31%
of players who clicked Join discovered new games

A Moment became the quickest path from “that looks fun” to playing it.

Reach
16 languages
Launched worldwide for users aged 16+, with copy written to translate cleanly.
Surface area
end to end
Creation, consumption, and moderation: the Moments tab, capture to post, empty states, removals, and notifications.
Naming system
1 hierarchy
One set of terms shared across product, marketing, and localization.
Official Moments launch, premiered at RDC 2025

a new mental model

In a brand-new product, the name is the onboarding. Moments had to introduce new behavior, carry a safety posture, and feel like it belonged to players across the world. Getting the word right first made it easier to write every flow.

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