The concept of games dates back to ancient times (3000 BC) when no toilet paper was invented yet, and alcohol was safer to drink than water due to the dirtiness of the latter. There were not many types of games, but their main aim was to unite people and provide them with a leisure option other than fighting and drinking. Since then, gaming has followed people everywhere, evolved and developed with them, and now, in the XXI century, we have Roblox, a platform where anyone can create any game to their liking and share it with other users. It is the final form of gaming, the ultimate unity, you may say. What could go wrong, you may ask. Is Roblox safe for kids? Well, let’s find out!
Deep Dive into Roblox
Roblox is similar to popular social media platforms, except that it is all about games and dedicated to games. It was launched in 2006 and has been developing non-stop since then, just to become the ultimate game platform in the 20s. Its main idea is to give people who are not into IT a chance to create games and share them with the community. They do not make real money on Roblox, but fun and appreciation from other users are priceless.
So, to sum up, there are several aspects that make Roblox so popular among older and younger kids.
- User-generated content. Roblox offers studio software to all users, which can be used to create unique games without any specific programming knowledge. In fact, it resembles bricks more: you pick up pieces you need and combine them together to create a Roblox game and make it available to everyone if you want.
- Game diversity. The sky is not the limit or, in this case, human imagination. The diversity of content on Roblox is huge, from very simple Tetris-like games to heavy-weight role-play titles with long and profound stories.
- Socialization. Make new friends on Roblox, share your games with them and play theirs, write reviews, and generally spend your screen time improving your social skills, not only playing games.
- Monetization. Roblox is a free service, and unlike Steam, you do not need to buy games there. However, developers can still earn some virtual cash by using the in-game currency and selling cosmetic items and game passes. Those who achieve success with their products can take part in the Developer Exchange program and turn their Roblox coins into real ones.
- Education. Roblox teaches young people the basics of programming and computer science, helping kids to explore the digital world.
Due to its extremely fast-growing popularity, many parents have started asking questions like, “Is Roblox safe for kids?” We would like to tell you that there is no need to worry, but unfortunately, twisted human nature can spoil even things created with the brightest thoughts and ideas in mind.
How People Can Spoil the Best Intentions
Roblox’s most powerful resource and content is people. But, at the same time, people are its main danger. It has a decent moderation system and effective parental controls, but there still are many dangers and inappropriate content your children can face on this platform.
- Provocative and abusive filling. People create games, and some of them make money on Roblox, so the content in their games depends only on their imagination. Unfortunately, some people have twisted and sick imaginations, and they share them with others through their games. It is one of the main hidden dangers of Roblox, and parents need to know this to be able to organize their interaction with Roblox in the safest way.
- Online predators. According to the statistics by the Child Crime Prevention and Safety Center, almost half a million online predators go to “hunt” every day. Some of them do this on Roblox. Developers have done everything possible to make Roblox safe for kids, but there are still people who can use chat on the platform to harass and humiliate children who just want to play and create games there. Yes, chat in Roblox is controlled and moderated, but it is still impossible to track and ban every single mentally sick adult who tries to achieve their dark goals on this platform.
- Cyberbullying. Gamers dream about a friendly and understanding community where people would just peacefully enjoy games. However, if you open the in-game chat, you can often see players being cyberbullied by other players. There are reports and bans to solve this problem, but they do not always work.
- In-game purchases. There is a virtual currency called Robux (and lots of guides on how to use it), and children may spend money to buy it and use it for some in-game items. And if there is money in the equation – there is also scamming and phishing.
- Addiction. There can be useful and educative games, and at the same time, there can be titles popular with kids just because there is no sense or beauty in them; they were created only to cause addiction. If you want to keep your kids safe – check what games they play on Roblox.
Of course, it is easy to provide you with lots of potential problems “in a vacuum”, but to clear all the doubts, here are some real stories that happen to kids who use Roblox.
Real-Life Stories of People Who Suffered from Roblox
We do not provide the real names of the participants here for anonymity purposes, but everything you read below has actually happened, and real people have suffered.
Young Girl was Abused by an Online Predator on Roblox
A 10-year-old girl was abused by an adult pretending to be another child playing the same game on Roblox. It all started as normal children’s communication, but the more they texted each other, the more sexually explicit the content of the conversation was becoming. The girl’s mother noticed something was wrong when she realized that her daughter looked worried and anxious while playing her favorite online game. The concerned parent blocked the pervert and contacted customer support to report this case.
A Boy Who Played a Violent Game
An underaged boy joined one of the most popular games on the catalog, which looked appropriate for his age. In the beginning, everything was fine, but then the game turned into a violent gore-slasher with blood, guts, and nudity. His parent had to block Roblox and generally limit the games their son had access to. They also had to attend a child psychologist several times just to overcome the consequences of playing that game.
A Youngster Who Lost Everything
A teenager was promised free Robux in exchange for his account details. Of course, the young boy did not hesitate a lot and shared all the data without parental consent. The scammer immediately logged into his account, blocked it, spent all the currency that was there, and transferred all the items. The boy and his parents recovered access to this account with the help of customer support later, but all coins were lost.
These are only some of the stories used to illustrate what problems you can face if you allow your children to play Roblox. Of course, by 2024, the service has improved its security protocols, but its usage still brings some risks to kids. You should understand that there are thousands of cases like the ones above taking place every day.
To Block or Not to Block
Despite all the issues, we would say there is no sense to block Roblox completely. There is a lot of educational and descriptive content there, and children can find good friends on the platform. It is the parent’s responsibility to implement account restrictions and ensure that Roblox is safe for kids. In its essence, it is a community-driven service, so it is impossible to ban all the scammers and perverts who may join there.
From the parental point of view, the best guide to Roblox is to monitor what children do there, ban all the scammers and predators and report them to customer support, pay special attention to what children under 13 play, use parental controls provided by the platform and modify the privacy settings. Pay special attention to chat on Roblox as the major part of bullying, harassment, and abuse happens there.
To everyone asking, “Why is Roblox so bad?” – it is not. The whole idea of creating a platform that allows children and teenagers to create and share games is amazing. Unfortunately, it is a general online safety issue not only for Roblox – some people do not use the product as it is supposed to. If you want to keep your kids safe, monitor what they do and help them avoid all those online tricksters.
How to Monitor Roblox Usage
It would have been great if Roblox had launched an official ultimate guide on safety for parents to help them ensure that their children are not in danger while using this service. Unfortunately, none has been released yet, so we gathered here the best practices to follow if your children play Roblox and you do not want to worry about them.
- Use Roblox parental controls. Parents can limit communication on the platform and ban access to inappropriate (to their mind) content by using the standard Roblox parental controls. You can do it by opening settings and proceeding to the security tab.
- Change privacy settings. Open settings and move to the privacy tab. Here, you can choose who can text your child via the Roblox website and join their games.
- Set up a PIN. Children today are very computer-literate, so changing those settings back is not a big deal for them. That is why, to keep kids under control while they are on the platform, parents can set up a PIN to protect the settings from changing. It can be done in settings on the security tab.
- Use third-party apps, particularly uMobix. uMobix allows you to monitor your children’s online activity and communication. It is important for several reasons: to know what items are popular with kids and to check their communication with peers. In the first case, you can silently give your parental consent to the good products and ban those you find dangerous or harmful, not notifying your child. Secondly, check your child’s communication with peers, learn Roblox slang, and be informed if something has happened to them. The point is that children can much more willingly share their concerns with friends, not parents, so do not be surprised if you learn that someone is harassing your kid online from their conversation with friends.
- Implement general Internet usage practices. Discuss all the dangers with your child, set rules about when your kids can play Roblox, or even let them create such rules themselves, and spend some time playing the games your child loves. It will help you build more trusting relationships and avoid lots of problems not only in Roblox but generally online. Considering that the average age of Roblox users is 9-12 years, according to Statista, parental monitoring and participation are crucial.
The Most Popular Games on Roblox
Here are some of the popular games you can see your children playing and that are considered more or less safe for a younger generation (the first two); the third title is popular but not safe at all.
- Adopt Me! This title tops the Roblox charts almost every week, and you can be sure that your kids are safe while playing it (more or less). This game is all about adopting different pets, decorating your house, visiting your virtual friends, and so on.
- Tower of Hell. It is a very simple game, and it is one of the reasons why so many people like Roblox. Rush to the top of the tower, overcome randomly generated obstacles, and be faster than other players.
- Piggy. It is a horror game that is not for children aged 13 or less. It is inspired by the Peppa Pig cartoon, but the pig here is a bloodthirsty monster that hunts players while they try to solve the puzzles and get to the next stage of the game.
There are a lot of inappropriate Roblox games with worrisome content, including porn games, sex games, or sus games. Parents should be aware of hidden dangers distressing the younger generation.
Conclusion
There is no universal guide for parents on Roblox, but there are some general recommendations on how to ensure that your children are safe while playing Roblox, and if you follow them – there is no need to ban the service completely. Warn your kids about online dangers, use parental controls and third-party apps to monitor and control their activity, and Roblox turns into a friendly platform with dozens of educational games where your kid can make new friends.
FAQ
There are no Roblox age restrictions on the platform itself. Children can access it at any age, and it is already the parents' and developers' duty to set up the restrictions and decide who can play games they create and how old they should be.
There is no official guide to Roblox, but you can find many guides from the users on the internet. Generally speaking, you won't find a lot of new or useful information there, as, basically, there is nothing to write about. Log into the platform, get into settings, and set up parental controls and security rules to avoid predators on Roblox, and you are good to go.
Nothing is safe for your children. The whole world is not safe for your children. The school where they go may not be safe for them. It is your task as a parent to ensure your kids' safety. Roblox is a great platform created by gamers and for gamers aimed at entertainment. However, there can be online predators, the same as on any other internet resource. So, Roblox is safe if you, as a parent, make it safe. Enable uMobix parental controls and keep your kids safe!
