If your kids love to play video games, one of the names you may be hearing about is Roblox.
Launched in 2006, Roblox’s popularity among kids has exploded, and it is now one of the top entertainment platforms for kids and teens. But Roblox isn’t one game. It’s a platform that allows anyone to create online games and experiences using its game design tool, Roblox Studio. In a way, Roblox is similar to YouTube – it gives people the tools to create digital content and a place to share and enjoy content from others. There are millions of games on Roblox and tens of millions of daily active users.
Entertainment Platform for Play
Roblox games are social experiences. In fact, Roblox may be your child’s first experience with digital socializing. Players can comment and converse with other players inside a game and chat with their friends on Roblox. A feature called Spatial Voice allows players 13 and older to voice chat with people nearby in games.
While Roblox’s social features can create some anxiety for parents, the social aspect also provides an opportunity for parents to help kids develop good digital habits that will last a lifetime. That’s important, considering that — at some point — your child will use other social networking or gaming platforms that don’t offer parental controls.
Getting Started with Roblox
Kids register for Roblox with their birth date. It’s important for kids to enter their correct birth date because Roblox’s default content and communication settings vary based on age.
All Roblox games or experiences feature security and privacy measures. Roblox reviews user-uploaded images, videos and audio files for inappropriate content before they are posted. Players 13 and older can see and say a wider range of words and phrases than younger players, but inappropriate chat and sharing personal information (including phone numbers and addresses) are blocked regardless of age.
Players 13 and older can share links to YouTube channels and some social media usernames. While Roblox’s imagery often has a blocky, digitized look that parents may associate with it, some games contain realistic images of blood and gore and mature themes that may be too intense for young players.
Parental Controls
Parents can supervise their child’s Roblox account remotely using a parent account linked to their child’s account. (Parents must verify their identity with a government ID or credit card.) Parents can control the child’s friends list, set screen time and spend limits, and restrict the content their child can access according to four categories: Minimal, Mild, Moderate, and Restricted. Parents can also block particular games or experiences in allowed categories.
Players younger than 9 can only access Minimal or Mild games or experiences unless a parent overrides the settings.
Direct Messaging is disabled for children under 13 by default, though parents can also override this setting. Players under 13 cannot access Platform Chat, which is messaging users outside of games.
We recommend that parents utilize Roblox’s robust set of parental controls. While the controls will automatically adjust as your child grows, we recommend that families review and discuss settings and family rules regularly.
Ready for your child to play Roblox? Here are some additional tips.
Stay nearby – to start. We recommend that kids (especially younger ones) play with a parent or guardian nearby when starting out. Discuss what kind of games they’re playing, how they’re playing (sportsmanship matters online, too), and with whom they’re interacting.
Read community rules together. Review Roblox’s Community Standards with your child and discuss why the rules are important to follow.
Understand blocking and reporting. Roblox’s human and digital moderators can’t police every player and game, so it also relies on user reports when people break the rules. Discuss with your child when and how to make a report and the steps for blocking another player. (Parents can also block and report players with parental controls.)
Protect passwords and other personal information. Starting at an early age, talk with your kids about the importance of keeping passwords and other personal information private—even from friends. Help your child create unique passwords with a combination of numbers, letters, and special characters, and update all passwords regularly—more on this at ConnectSafely.org/passwords.
Discuss predatory behavior. Although rare, some adults try to use online services to prey on children. Talk to your child about online grooming, including what it is and what to watch out for, such as inappropriate or overly personal questions or unsolicited gifts (such as Robux). People with bad intentions may encourage children to “meet” with them on other, less moderated social platforms. Discuss this with your child and ask them to come to you with any strange requests from other players. While parents worry most about inappropriate contact with adults, children can also be bothered, solicited, and harassed by peers.
Bullying. Unfortunately, bullying can and does happen on nearly all interactive platforms. That includes Roblox, despite Roblox’s tools to block bullying text language whenever possible. Again, talk to your child about what to watch out for and teach them how to block and report offenders. For more advice, see ConnectSafely’s A Parent’s Guide to Cyberbullying.
Closing Thoughts for Parents
You don’t have to be an expert to help your child stay safe and enjoy Roblox. Even if you think your child is more tech-savvy than you, you’re still the parent and have a lot of experience and wisdom that applies to most aspects of your child’s life, including the use of technology.
In fact, the “rules” for using any game, app, or service are pretty similar. Everyone should respect themselves and others, be mindful of what they post, and understand how to use any privacy settings, security tools, or blocking and reporting mechanisms.
We encourage you to try out Roblox with your kids, which will give you a feel for the platform and its privacy and security features. This also offers an excellent opportunity to help your child develop critical thinking skills so that no matter what service they use (online or off), they think about what they’re doing, take actions to protect their privacy, safety, security and reputation, and keep an eye out for scams and things that may not be what they seem. And since your child may be (or will soon be) more of a Roblox expert than you, it will give them a chance to be the teacher and you the student, which can be a great role reversal.
While it’s natural for parents to worry about bad things that can happen, it’s important to put risk into context. While there have been rare reported cases of children being harmed by adults on Roblox and other platforms, the odds of it happening are very rare and are even less likely for children who take precautions such as those covered in this guide. No activity, including sports, walking down the street, or even going to school, is 100% safe, but taking advantage of safety settings and parental tools, common sense, and critical thinking can reduce the already small risk even further.
Your kids may also be more likely to talk to you about their experiences—both good and bad—if they feel you have some knowledge and even appreciation for their favorite online games and services. As your child grows and matures, it’s important to keep the lines of communication as open as possible and to have ongoing conversations about what’s appropriate for them in terms of privacy settings, time spent online, and the types of activities they’re engaging in and who they interact with. It generally works better to talk with your kids about their favorite apps and services—with genuine interest, not fear—because they’re more likely to come to you when they need help, and you’re much more likely to be kept in the loop about the technology that they use.
Roblox provides financial support to ConnectSafely. ConnectSafely is solely responsible for the content of this guide.