Dress to Impress was released on Roblox in late 2023, but the now widely played game only gained popularity in mid 2024. I only started playing this summer with my sister after our YouTube feeds were flooded with Dress to Impress vlogs and livestreams. For anyone who hasn’t played, the game has you dress up your character to fit a theme such as “Mermaid” or “Elegant” in 5 minutes. You then walk the runway and each person gets to rate your characters out of 5 stars. At the end of voting, the top three players stand on the podium and receive an in-game reward. But has it become toxic?
It originated as a platform where users could express their creativity and experiment with the various clothing items to try to achieve a great look. Soon, though, users started abusing the rating system, only rating other players one star, and making them feel like their outfits weren’t good enough. On top of this, the chats can mess with users’ emotions, with lots of supporting comments only to place very low. Many users have also experienced hate in Roblox chats when they don’t fit the theme right. I have seen this first hand, with users being berated for dressing “incorrectly”. But let’s be honest, what is the correct way to dress in a theme? If you feel it represents the theme, shouldn’t that be enough? Shouldn’t we all be supportive nonetheless?
But the internet is split, with some supporting the negativity and others pushing back against it. Those who support the harsh comments and low rating say that the players are just being brutally honest and that people shouldn’t get so bent out of shape about it. They say the players should take the feedback and try to improve their gameplay. On the other hand, those who are against the negativity, say that it’s toxic and creates a hostile environment for new players. These players argue that it discourages new players from joining for fear of being ridiculed. The creator of the game itself tried to disperse some negative attention from the players by adding a hijab to the game to promote diversity. This worked at first, but then some players began making fun of the culture by dressing in revealing outfits only to wear a hijab. The term “Water Muslim” was coined to describe the outfit style these players would wear. The joke is extremely disrespectful to Islamic culture, and moderators have been pushing back to try to limit the negativity within the game.
Some users have suggested that an age limit be put on the game, only allowing users over a certain age to play so that only those who “understand the theme” will play. But everyone starts at the bottom, and we all need support from others to be able to improve our skill. Don’t get me wrong, I will still play the game any time I’m feeling like chilling for a bit, but I try my best to hype up the other players and be fair when rating. We’re all just playing to have fun.