EVERY TIME we visit a school we ask the students, “What do you do online?”. Without fail, we hear “I play Roblox”.
Targeted to young digital users (13 and under) Roblox is a maker style, collaborative online game platform available on martphones, PC, tablets and Xbox. The true appeal of Roblox is not fancy graphics. It is the vast nature of how users can play, explore and create with freedom. Players can enjoy the challenge of navigating mazes and obstacles and simulating real life role play. Roblox allows its users to create and generate their own games with their online game creation tool and have these published on the site for other Roblox users to play.
Young users of Roblox have reported that sometimes these games are scary or have violent themes. They often share insights that they regularly play with people they do not know. Like all online games today, there are features parents/guardians must be aware of, as well as some safety features within the settings that can protect young Roblox players.
The three best ways to keep your child safe on any social or gaming platform are,
- stay informed about the platform
- go through the settings before using the platform and change any default settings to safer options
- keep the conversation open between you and your child
Below are some important things to know about Roblox, crucial settings to check, and key conversation starters.
Friend Requests
A core purpose of Roblox is for players to roam, interact and make friends with other users. This is done by exploring the online world and talking with other players within the chat feature. Similar to any online multiplayer game, there is little control over the types of people or age limits of those playing the game. You do have the ability to delete friends by clicking on the friends menu, and then selecting the profile of the “friend” you want to “de-friend”. From here, you select “Unfriend” from their profile.
Check Your Settings
You can restrict online interactions with different players via the Roblox website.
- Log-in to roblox.com.
- Click the Gear icon in the top right.
- Select Settings | Privacy.
- Restrict interactions via ‘Communication Settings’ and ‘Other Settings’.
Conversation Starters
- Why should we only play with people we know?
- How can you tell if someone is real or a scam bot?
- How can you tell is somebody online is a Tricky Person?
- What do you do if/when an unknown user talks to you?
- Should you accept a Friend Request from somebody you don’t know in real life?
User-Generated Content/Games
Players of Roblox can make games for other players to enjoy. This is one of the creative and educational features within of the game. The user-created games themselves aren’t officially classified or rated because they aren’t part of the original download. However, Roblox have implemented Experience Guidelines and Age Recommendations. This process allows for some moderation of age-appropriate experiences, but it is not foolproof.
Ro-meet is one game accessible regardless of age restrictions with some concerning elements. The premise of this chat roulette style game is you are faced with a random Roblox user with whom you can chat or skip. You then rate one another to rise up the leaderboard. Whilst the game uses Roblox’s chat filters and offers ways to report and block users, players have experienced conversations where they have been encouraged to chat on other platforms in order to take the conversation further.
If your children are playing user-created games within Roblox, parents need to take additional care. There are some Roblox user-generated games, such as Ro-meet, that pop up from time to time and intentionally break the rules, including adult themes such as pornography, horror and violence.
Check Your Settings
To decrease the risk of accessing unsafe game content, we strongly recommend implementing the following Parental Controls and profile settings:
- Enable ‘Parent PIN’ – this requires a parent to enter a PIN before changing settings, preventing young people from changing settings, either intentionally or accidentally
- Set ‘Allowed Experiences’ to all ages – this is the safest of the gaming experience options, but some age-inappropriate games may still slip through the filters
We also recommend familiarising yourself with the processes for reporting rule violations. If you or your child come across a game inappropriate for the platform, you can report it and it will be assessed with action taken, such as removal of the game from Roblox.
Conversation Starters
- Why do you think we (parents or guardians) need to arrange these settings on your game?
- What games are you playing on Roblox?
- How do you know if these games are created by Roblox or other users?
- Have you ever felt scared or worried when playing Roblox – what can you do to make yourself feel safe?
- What would you do if you came across a game that made you feel uncomfortable?
- Can we sit and play some of your favourite games together?
- Who would you tell if something was going wrong, or you felt unsafe or unhappy during or after playing online games?
- How can YOU stay safe when you are playing?
Chat/Direct Messaging
All ‘chat’ on Roblox is filtered to prevent inappropriate content and personally identifiable information from being visible on the site. Players will have different safety settings and experiences on Roblox, based on the year of birth set on the account. Players aged 12 and younger do automatically have their posts and chats filtered for inappropriate content and behaviour to prevent personal information from being posted. However, players aged 13 and older have the ability to say more words and phrases than younger players, but inappropriate chat and sharing personal information is restricted regardless of age. This filtering system covers all areas of communication on Roblox, public and private. While these in-game chat filters do monitor and block inappropriate language from appearing, players are using creatives way to bypass such filters.
Check Your Settings
When initially setting up your child’s account, it’s important to enter their correct year of birth to ensure safe-chat modes are activated. Safe-chat mode will be automatically applied for users that are under 13 and will restrict chat to only those who are ‘approved friends’. Please note, specifying the age of your child does not filter the content within games. All players can access all games within Roblox.
To further prevent your child from interacting with strangers, you can take the following steps:
- Return to Settings | Privacy | Communication Settings and double check those toggles are switched to ‘No one’.
- Scroll down to ‘Camera Input’ and turn off the green dot.
- Next, scroll down to ‘Other Settings’ and ensure these are also all set to ‘No one’.
Conversation Starters
- Who do you chat to on Roblox?
- How can you tell that it’s really your friend you are chatting to?
- What information should you never share when chatting online?
- What would you do if somebody you didn’t know tried to chat with you online?
In-App Purchasing & Advertising
Like so many popular games, Roblox is free to play for the most part. However, a user can upgrade their characters to allow special clothing, weapons and gear to be purchased via Robux. This requires real money and children are very keen to use these to ‘look cool’ or gain advantage within some of the games.
The items are advertised in the game directly as well as on the Roblox website. It’s important, therefore, that you have passwords on any credit cards associated with the game account. Micro-transactions made via Robux can be more difficult to calculate for the user, as the monetary value doesn’t always translate one-for-one after the exchange.
Check Your Settings
Return to the Parent Controls section of the Roblox Settings. When you scroll down, you’ll find the following options:
- Monthly Spend Restrictions: enable this feature and set the spend limit to $0.00. If your child is gifted Robux or you want to allow some spending, you can turn this back off, purchase the Robux and then turn it back on. Your child will be able to access any current Robux but will not be able to purchase any more.
- Spend Notifications: enable this feature too. You’ll be notified via email if purchases are made within the Roblox account
We also recommend entering your general device settings and turning off In-App Purchases for all apps. You can set up a PIN/facial recognition/finger print for authentication of in-app purchases across your device.
Conversation Starters
- What are the dangers of providing credit card details online?
- How do we decide the difference between needs and wants?
- Do you need to spend money in this game to still have fun?
Should I allow my child to play Roblox?
Like any online game, there are degrees of concern in how young users may encounter strangers. The above measures do minimise the risk, however, to truly understand Roblox (or any online game your child shows interest in playing) and gain the best insight into the game play and potential dangers, you should play it first yourself. We also recommend you set up the account profile with your child, set boundaries within game play and utilise the Parental Controls for what they are designed for. Modelling to your child that managing our settings and using filtering systems on any online platform is a core lesson of digital citizenship, and who better than you to model this to them.
Our final tips for parents whose children are playing, or show interest in playing, Roblox:
- Use your (parent) email address when setting up the account settings.
- Make sure your child has an under 13 yrs account. On sign up, set your child’s real birth year. Under 13+ accounts will have pre-determined safety filters and restrictions set as default.
- Make sure your child does not use a real name to sign up, and has a long and secure password that they know not to share with anyone other than you.
- If your child has Social Networking Accounts make sure those accounts are not listed in the account info.
- Continue the conversation. Use the conversation starters above to help instil safe and positive online behaviours in your child. You can also find more Conversation Starters on our website.
