Display Names Are Coming to 'Roblox,' and We Cannot Wait

The gaming platform, Roblox, has over 150 million users, all with their own unique usernames. However, the Roblox developers announced on Feb. 9 that Display Names will be coming to Roblox, although they didn’t say when. This means that Roblox users will now be able to have their own Display Name and username.

Not only is this exciting news for Roblox users, but it’s also exciting for Roblox game developers, who will be able to code their games to allow users to show off their new Display Names, as opposed to their usernames. Although we don’t know exactly when Display Names will be coming to Roblox, we do have some clues as to when and what this means for Roblox users.

When Roblox announced that Display Names would be coming to Roblox, we learned a bit about what this means for Roblox’s users, and what the difference is between a username and a Display Name. There are two main differences. The first is that a username is completely unique, and is used to differentiate their millions of users, whereas a Display Name can be whatever you want it to be!

For example, on Instagram, someone’s handle or username may be @InternetHuman8675, but their Display Name could just be Internet Human or Katie or Name! A Display Name is whatever we want to be called, and however we want other Roblox users we interact with to identify us. While Roblox users will still be able to see our usernames, our Display Names will appear “in chat, player lists, or above your in-game character’s head.”

The other major difference between Display Names and usernames is that we’ll actually be able to change our Display Names. We might have signed up for a Roblox account randomly, picked some random username, and then were stuck with it because it costs 1,000 Robux to change (the equivalent of about $12), so Display Names will be our new best friend.

Since it will not cost any Robux to get or to change our Display Names, the Roblox developers had to set some rules around Display Names. Once Display Names come to Roblox, we’ll only be able to change them every seven days. However, this is way better than the current situation, when we can’t change our username at all (unless we pay).

In addition, if we decide not to use a Display Name, the Display Name will default to our usernames. Display Names will also need to be verified by filters so that they are game appropriate for all ages, and they’ll need to stay between three and 20 characters, so they’re not totally fair game but still much more freeing than usernames.

Roblox announced on Feb. 9 that Display Names will be coming to the gaming platform, and on Feb. 18, Display Names were released for one hour in Germany, but they were then removed. On the official developers forum, the Roblox developers gave us an update: “Some of you may have noticed a limited test rollout of the feature - this test has been concluded and it is no longer available. As mentioned above, we will update this thread once the feature is ready to become available for everyone. Thank you!” 

Many Twitter users are now eagerly awaiting the official release of Display Names on Roblox, especially after they noticed the beta that was shortly available. Some people shared their Display Names, only to be saddened when Display Names were removed. Maybe this is Roblox’s way of teasing us and getting us excited? Whenever the Display Names are coming, we already can’t wait.