Is It Any Good?

This creativity-based website features a never-ending (and continually evolving) supply of creative, fun challenges to explore -- that's the beauty of offering designs from thousands of budding developers. A number of Roblox's user-contributed items, which range from simple obstacle course games to virtual cities, offer an exciting, amusing, and inspiring experience. In addition to checking out available games, kids can also flex their imagination via a design tool that lets them fashion their own games and environments. Unfortunately, though, because many contributors are amateur designers, kids may come across rendering problems, on-screen flicker, and some extremely frustrating gameplay, particularly when navigating mazes or jumping. Users can also potentially encounter inappropriate chat and other content. A number have reported problematic interactions with strangers, and there are lots of examples of violent and overtly sexual content and predatory behavior that have been documented in news sources.

Roblox gets high marks for encouraging exploration, interaction, and, above all, huge amounts of creativity in its users. Kids can theoretically begin as player/explorers and evolve into experienced users and developers. In addition, popular titles could potentially result in young designers making some cash off their inventions. Just be aware that some games they play may be violent, depending on what a creator has placed into a particular experience. And although the site says it proactively filters inappropriate content, a fairly well-publicized 2018 incident in which a user said her 7-year-old daughter's avatar was "gang-raped" on a playground -- along with the fact that Roblox "rape scenes" can be found on YouTube -- suggests some extremely iffy stuff may make it through. Parents may also want to check chat programs that their kids are using to communicate with other players in Roblox games. Other reported incidents have involved players using personally created Discord servers to direct Roblox users to "condo games," where inappropriate sexual content, language, and potential grooming by predators may take place. Parents will likely want to supervise their child's site use to make sure they're viewing only safe content and not interacting with strangers.

What is the risk to children?

There are four key potential risks children may encounter as they explore, play, and create inside the virtual world of Roblox: being contacted by ill-intentioned adults, encountering inappropriate adult content, facing online bullying from their peers, and overspending inside the Roblox Catalog. Parents are encouraged to have frequent discussions with their children about all of these risks. In this article, we will primarily focus on the risk of contact with ill-intentioned adults.

Roblox was designed with the intention of being a highly social and interactive environment, where players interact with existing friends and make new ones by wandering around the different user-generated worlds and stopping to talk with other players. Players can also invite friends to co-play and co-create with them within individual games. Like any online multiplayer platform, there is no restriction over the types of people who can join, and there isn’t really any age verification in place (yet). Despite the fact that strict chat filters can be activated - Roblox uses AI to pre-screen content and block inappropriate words and phrases - children are still vulnerable to being contacted by online predators.

This problem isn't unique to Roblox. Throughout the online gaming world, wherever games are marketed to children, online predators lurk. Social games like these are often used to gradually lure children away from the gaming platform and onto other social platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, and even ones like Skype in some cases. Roblox especially appeals to children under 12, with research showing that half of all American children aged 9-12 play Roblox weekly, and this age group lacks the ability to understand the range of potential risks that lie behind accepting inappropriate friend requests from strangers.

"The chat function poses a real danger to children engaging with this popular gaming platform," explains psychologist Jordan Foster, a leading Online Safety Expert at Family Zone. "While Roblox has done a solid job of putting certain safety measures in place and has provided parents with the option of setting up Account Restrictions, younger children can still be easy prey for predators to communicate with.

A Typical User Review

I created an Roblox account for my oldest daughter back in 2018. Last week her account was hacked and Roblox refused to investigate. I submitted a ticket and gave them plenty of proof the account was created by me. I emailed them all 11 account verification emails that were sent to my email to verify the account and they said they won’t investigate. As far as I am Concerned there is a serious security issue with Roblox and your financial information is not safe while in use on their server. This is not the first time they have had issues with security of their user accounts and more and more hackers are finding ways to steal and hack accounts. They are not safe do not open an account with them.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

• Families can talk about interacting with others in Roblox while pursuing their own goals. Could watching other players try a course of action and letting them show you the best path to choose be at all helpful? What could kids learn from observing other people play?

• What potential dangers can occur when you interact with strangers online? What kind of information should you never give out about yourself to someone you don't know? Talk to your kids about protecting their privacy online.

• If kids happen to see something iffy or upsetting online, how should they react? Discuss potential reactions, such as telling a parent or trusted adult.