If you have children, I’m sure the term ‘Roblox’ has come up at some point. Whether your kids prattle on about Roblox to you, or you have simply seen them play, every child will eventually stumble upon the free-to-play kid’s game. Roblox has a reputation for being a child-friendly free game that will keep them occupied for hours. But a recent discovery may turn that idea upside down. Is Roblox about to become a dangerous space for children?
Roblox’s current safety situation
The internet is full of dangers. This, unfortunately, is not something that will go away any time soon. As long as your children have unmoderated access to the internet, they will be exposed to all sorts of evils and harsh content. Roblox, however, is currently a safe space as long as you set up and oversee the account.
To combat groomers and internet trolls, however, Roblox does have safety features in place. Firstly, the experiences are heavily restricted, and chat systems are heavily censored. Any adult theme is banned and swear words, even tame ones, are censored and prohibited.
On top of that, experiences are rated with age recommendations. Only Roblox accounts that meet the age requirements are allowed to enter. The highest age restriction is 13+, and these experiences may contain violence, gore, horror elements and bloody content. Due to the nature of Roblox, there is still nothing too graphic or mature for children of at least 13 years.
To prevent your child from playing experiences above their account range, make sure to set their account up to input the appropriate age. If your child already has an account, you can make sure they are not accessing higher age-range content by checking their profile. If there is a 9+ or 13+ next to their username, then you should change their age if it is not accurate.
If there is anyone harassing your child on Roblox, then you can report and block their account to prevent them playing with your child or messaging them again. Ensuring your child doesn’t friend strangers is an important step to preventing harrassment.
TLDR; Roblox currently has rigorous systems set up to make sure your child isn’t accessing any experiences that are too graphic or violent. Adult themes above horror and gore are strictly banned and moderated. Internet trolls or potential groomers can be blocked and reported. Roblox is currently as safe a site as it can be for your children.
Related: What Happened to the Roblox Event Tab?
The future of Roblox – Gambling, Profanity, Romance and Alcohol
A recent discovery hosts heavy news for the future of Roblox. In the game’s code, users have found out that soon Roblox intends to allow experiences to include more adult content. This has been inferred through unreleased categories that experiences can fall under. The adult categories are as follows: gambling, profanity, romance and alcohol.
These themes have been strictly moderated and banned for all of Roblox’s history, and soon they will be allowed to feature in certain Roblox experiences. Roblox has not officially made a statement on these under-the-radar changes, although it still may be of no worry to parents.
Please note: These new features haven’t been officially launched, and Roblox has released nothing concerning this discovery. These changes are not currently in effect and may not be for a while. The community has observed the change in code and are inferring what it could mean.
These categories will likely be restricted to an age group higher than their current highest, 13+. The community speculates that these categories will be restricted to accounts registered and over the ages of 16 or 18. It is difficult to say which age range they will fall under.
As long as you set up your child’s account correctly, you will not have to worry about them being exposed to such harsh themes. It may be worth checking to make sure your child’s account is set to the correct age to prevent them from seeing the content upon launch.
Again, Roblox has provided no information on these changes, they have simply been observed in changes to the game’s code. These changes are not currently in effect.
The groomers of Roblox
As mentioned before, the internet is full of dangers. And there is scarcely anything more dangerous to your children than online groomers. Being notoriously a children’s game, groomers may be attracted to the site to groom children.
Grooming is a serious problem on the internet, and Roblox users have been victims to grooming and grooming attempts in the past. A lot of the time, this is done through third-party apps that are not officially affiliated with Roblox to get past the game’s strict safety features. Roblox looks innocent, but groomers find ways to use that to their advantage.
Make sure to always have access to your child’s account and educate them about the dangers of the internet. As long as their profile is set to their appropriate age, and you have looked at all of the safety and privacy features in the game’s settings, your child will be as safe as they can be.
Despicably, there will be attempts of groomers to abuse the new features in an attempt to groom children. All we can do is hope that the more mature audience playing the age-locked adult content will highlight and report the behaviour.
Should your kids play Roblox?
Roblox remains committed to the safety of their players. Their current safety systems and protocols will still remain in place and should become even more rigorous as these adult themes are released. This is likely simply an attempt to reach a more mature audience, but they will not forget about the game’s core values and all of the innocent children playing their game.
Roblox is a safe site for your children and will continue to be so. Make sure your child’s account is presenting the correct age to prevent them from accessing harmful content.
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