Is Roblox Safe for Kids?

“Don’t run out in the street.”  “Look both ways.”  “Don’t talk to strangers.”  “Eat your vegetables.”  There is nothing we would not do or say to keep our children safe.  Mostly these warnings or commands are for their own good because we want our children to grow up and be safe and healthy in our world.

But we’ve all discovered that kids don’t play the way their parents (or grandparents) did.  We played outside with the kid next door, rode bikes, played ball, got dirty.  Today’s generation of children — not all of them but most — like to “play” games on their computers — indoors.

One of the most popular gaming platforms among children and teenagers today is ROBLOX.  It has millions and millions of users worldwide.  Because of its popularity among kids, some parents who pay attention to what their children do and want to do, wonder if Roblox is truly safe for their children.

This article will explore risks, safety features, parental controls, and tips for safer play. Hopefully, your questions about Roblox will be answered, the main one being “Is Robox safe for kids?”

What is Roblox?

Roblox is an online gaming platform where users can create, share, and play games. It allows people to play an infinite number of games designed by other users, and to even create their own games using Roblox’s game-developing tool, Roblox Studio. Once a person signs up, they can play games, build them, and chat with others for free. This platform is extremely popular and attracts young users (as young as five) and actively markets to them.

Roblox is not a game to be played but rather a platform with millions of games on it that were created by users.  The player has a wide selection of games that are both appropriate and inappropriate for younger users. Most users like the social nature of playing on Roblox because they are able to chat with each other by either typing or voice chat, even though, alarmingly, they can’t be sure to know with whom they are really talking.  Children love playing on Roblox, and some have been playing for years of their young lives.

Benefits of Roblox for Kids

When “video games” come up in conversations, many parents immediately think of violence or of kids spending too much time playing in front of a computer or the chance for predators to harm their children.

In fact, there are educational aspects of some gaming platforms. The gaming platform Roblox allows users to program and play games created by themselves or other users.  These games are called “experiences.”  A number of benefits for kids are being able to create a game, coding (or translating ideas into codes), and social interaction.  The Roblox website says, “From chemistry to physics to robotics and more, Roblox experiences bring concepts to life in ways that immerse learners and motivate exploration, play, and deep thinking,”  Also the Learning Hub features a curated collection of educational experiences where kids can be immersed in a variety of real-world topics and skills.

Roblox can foster collaboration and problem solving because as children create and play games, they are learning the value of teamwork.  They come together on Roblox to connect, create, and express themselves through shared experiences built by kids around the world.  Roblox offers students ways to discover scientific phenomena, new skills, and historical places and times.

Risks and Concerns Parents Should Know

While Roblox can be fun and also educational, there are risks and concerns that every parent should know.  Anyone can create an account and pretend to be someone else. Roblox is aggressively marketed to children, and we can’t be sure Roblox is doing enough when it comes to safety issues.  Co-founder and CEO Dave Baszucki told parents, “If you’re not comfortable, don’t let your kids be on Roblox.”  He is actually dodging the concern about Roblox safety issues.

Platforms like Roblox are designed for profit, not protection and will continue placing the responsibility for child safety onto parents while making billions off young users. Risks and concerns parents should know are:

Inappropriate content

There can be inappropriate content in some games, like violence, blood/gore, sexuality, and crude language — definitely not appropriate for young children.  All children playing games can be exposed to this type of content, unless parental controls are set, which, unfortunately, can be changed.  Kids can bypass anything if they’re clever enough.

Online Predators

Predators go where kids go.  Roblox allows users to create profiles, talk on public and private chats, and message other users (no matter who they purport to be).  And people with bad intentions know how to build trust and lure kids into dangerous conversations, even suggesting they go to a different platform so they can talk freely.  Children and teens can then be threatened and coerced to share explicit images and then threatened/blackmailed to post them online if the victim doesn’t pay up monetarily –called “sextortion.” Or they can be lured outside of their home and be sexually abused or even killed.

Video Game Addiction

The games your children play are engineered to be addictive.  They use the same built-in rewards technology as gambling casinos to hook children and teens.  Video game addiction causes a user to lose interest in things like hobbies, human interaction, and even eating, sleeping, or studying.

In-Game Purchases (Robux)

Robux is Roblox’s virtual currency and is used for in-game purchases, such as buying special clothes for your child’s avatar, abilities in games, weapons, and other objects.  (Your child’s avatar acts as your child’s identity on the platform, a character that reflects your child’s style and personality.)  Robux can be bought with real money.  Robux can be traded, or donated to others. Some young users do not understand Robux and have inadvertently run up thousands of dollars charged to their parents.

Chat features and scams are also areas of concern. Users of Roblox are able to use the chat feature, but there are concerns regarding exposure to inappropriate content, cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, and grooming.  Scammers take advantage of the platform to target children, tricking them into handing over expensive items and getting kids to share account information or click on a link or code to copy and paste, which gives them access to their account and allows them to steal their Robux or other items.

If your head is spinning while reading this article, but your child has been harmed by a predator your child met on Roblox, you want the company to be held accountable.

Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed by mostly parents whose child (1) was sexually abused by a predator who coaxed their child to meet up;  (2) were coerced into sending explicit pictures and later blackmailed; (3) was kidnapped and sexually abused.  Three Attorneys General (from Texas, Louisiana, and Florida) have filed lawsuits against Roblox for failing to protect underage children from predators.

A Case for Women, a women owned organization founded in 2015, has helped numerous families whose lives will never be the same after suicides, self harm and/or sexual abuse and who thought Roblox was simple “game playing.”  A Case for Women is compassionate and caring and will connect you with an experienced lawyer to file your lawsuit.   ACFW only works with lawyers who work on a contingency basis which means you pay nothing until your case has reached a positive outcome.  ACFW can be reached by calling (866) 488-4786 or by completing our form.   Your call will be returned by a kind and caring team member.

Safety Features Built Into Roblox

Roblox boasts about its safety features, however, it is disturbing to note, as mentioned above, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed  by Roblox for damages for not protecting children.  The following is Roblox’s explanation of Roblox safety features:

Roblox’s website says that “Roblox offers a variety of parental controls to help you support your child’s experience on the platform. These enable you to control the type of content your child has access to, how much money they can spend, and how much time they are allowed to spend on Roblox each day.  For teens, you can see valuable insights and information about their activity on the platform. You can view who your teen has connected with, see a breakdown of how much time they spend on Roblox and in which specific experiences, and opt in to receive spending notifications.”

Roblox’s website also explains that “Players aged 12 and younger have their posts and chats filtered both for inappropriate content and to prevent personal information from being posted.  Players aged 13 and older have the ability to say more words and phrases than younger players. This filtering system covers all areas of communication on Roblox, public and private.”

Per Roblox, what you want to be restricted on your child’s account can be managed.  A Roblox account with parent privileges allows you to approve certain actions for your child on Roblox.  You will need to create your own account and link it to your child’s account.  You can update parental controls for your child from your own device.

Filtered chat is where Roblox blocks inappropriate content, such as discriminatory speech, bullying, extremism, violence, sexual content, etc.   Roblox says that they have reporting tools in place for help in reporting any inappropriate behavior.

Roblox’s safety features that are built into Roblox are encouraging, however much more needs to be done in order to protect the young players on the Roblox platform.

How Parents Can Make Roblox Safer

Ben Tracy of Safe Social Network reports:  “Parents can adjust maturity levels, communication, and screen time, but kids can switch settings back at any time. Only by creating your own Roblox account can you access parental controls such as content filters, restricted communication, spending limits, and blocked experiences.”  Tracy continues with the following excellent guidance for parents:

Best Practices for Keeping Kids Safe on Roblox

Big Picture

Roblox-Specific 

Be the safe space your child can turn to when something weird happens online. Ask about their games and their friends. Talk (in age-appropriate ways) about what grooming is, what manipulation feels like, and how to spot a red flag—even if it comes with compliments. Keep the lines of communication open and be the first to know if something seems off. No filter, app, or password is more powerful than a connected parent.

Roblox Age Recommendations

Roblox uses Content Maturity Levels so users can make decisions about the content with which they interact.

Minimal may contain occasional mild violence, light unrealistic blood, and/or occasional mild fear.

Mild may contain repeated mild violence, heavy unrealistic blood, mild crude humor, and/or repeated mild fear.

Moderate may contain moderate violence, light realistic blood, moderate crude humor, unplayable gambling content, and/or moderate fear.

Restricted may contain strong violence, heavy realistic blood, moderate crude humor, romantic themes, unplayable gambling content, the presence of alcohol, strong language, social hangouts and private spaces, extended AI interactions, and/or moderate fear. These experiences are only available to 18+ users who verified their ages.

Roblox says it will become the first large gaming platform to make facIal age verification a requirement for accessing the chat features, and enforcing age checks will to allow age-based chat and limit chats between minors and adults.  The verification ages are in the following groups:

The American Academy of Pediatrics says that children over six should spend no more than 60 minutes gaming on school days and 2 hours on non-school days.

Alternatives to Roblox for Younger Kids

Roblox is definitely not the only gaming platform for younger kids.  PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service, offers the PBS Kids game app which makes learning fun and safe. The website says, “FREE games for kids 2-8 will be added all the time, encouraging your child to engage in skills related to science, math, creativity and more in gameplay alongside their favorite characters,

The app is the number one educational media brand for kids and offers features for parents.

Final Verdict:  Is Roblox Safe for Kids?

Saying that Roblox is safe for kids depends on various factors that must be implemented by Roblox and parents.

Roblox needs:

Parents

Awareness and engagement are the best tools for online safety.  Parents are encouraged to make themselves familiar with the games their children play and also to even play the games with them.  You might as well get comfortable with gaming because it’s not going anywhere!