Roblox !

[TheThreeMiracles]

Just how bad is Roblox for children ? Is it damaging to them ? Or is it just a computer game that is completely fine for kids ? We are talking kids 7+
not looking to judge or be judged just wondering what other parents thoughts are on it ! X

Cosycover absolutely everything was locked down. My story is far too outing and so far off the end of normal I’d never put it in detail here.
we weren’t ignorant, controls were added and devices monitored. The sickos that do these things get into children in ways you never thought possible and round most controls. It has ruined my sd life, my dh life and by default many others around us. One of us is awake most nights with the thoughts in our heads and what has happened. It’s been several years but the ripple after will never go away.
we aren’t ignorant or stupid or neglectful. I would never ever let an under 18 year old use Roblox.
Just because you haven’t seen it first hand or know someone it’s happened too don’t assume we are all ignorant neglectful parents.

I understand being defensive because parents didn’t realise the dangers, I never knew how bad it was.

Instead of saying you know how to monitor perhaps focus on why it’s not safe for children.

There’s a Bloomberg article about some of the issues. There’s also currently a lawsuit in the US against Roblox and Discord. Both have had permissive attitudes in the past about their responsibility to safeguard children on their platforms. Roblox finally introduced new parental controls only after people started sounding the alarm last year.

Regardless of me putting parental controls on, I simply wouldn’t support these companies.

Other games like Minecraft are much safer. Especially if you aren’t on servers and don’t let the kids communicate with strangers.

The National College/Wake Up Wednesday on LinkedIn are great for this! They have a specific ‘what parents need to know about Roblox’ flyer. Definitely worth a look.

My DC plays Roblox. His account is linked to mine as the parent, chat is disabled, we have strict time controls and he only uses it on the computer in the living room so we can see generally what he's getting up to. If we noticed changes in his behaviour around it we would stop him playing.

I know how impossible it can feel to allow DC to do something or to understand why other people do something when you have personal trauma around it and totally get why some people are completely against it. However, I could also say that children get groomed by trusted relatives, so should I not allow DC to have a relationship with his cousins, uncles etc (who I trust 100%)? Should I also not allow him to get the bus to (secondary) school alone because that is allowing him to mix with strangers? In both those situations I have done what I can to protect my Dc- talked about the dangers, told him what to do if certain situations happen, the right words to use, encouraged him to come to me when upset, assessed my own feelings of trust in him and others etc.

With Roblox as with general life situations I have done my best to protect him but completely understand why others still wouldn't feel comfortable with online gaming, children using public transport alone etc if they have trauma linked to it.

Can't comment on the content of Roblox, but my friend let his nephew play and it took me ages to get the viruses off his computer that Roblox brought with it.

I do totally understand why you’d let your children use it and I do agree there are dangers everywhere not just online. It was the start of what has been a life unimaginable, you’d not believe half of it. It’s torn apart a family.
We can only do so much as parents and we all make our own risk assessments. Apologies if I was head strong it’s a very emotive subject.
i may hide threads like this.
with supervision ( and I didn’t want to blame my sd bm but there was no supervision when she was with her and not at ours and she learnt quickly/was taught to delete stuff when due at ours) I’m sure they’ll be many children have positive times on Roblox and are safe especially as parents are more aware and companies add in layers of control

My 9 year old had it on his iPad briefly. I didn’t like it (can’t remember why) and deleted it. He has been happy playing Minecraft but now wants Fortnite.

is Fortnite similar to Roblox?

Just enable parental controls.

My kids spend ages on a fashion show game, they absolutely love it (and I may or may not have created an account to join in)

Fortnite is very different, it’s more violent and also the add ons are SO expensive - you’re talking £27 to have a character who looks like Keanu Reeves for example

• Core to the problem is that Roblox’s social media features allow pedophiles to efficiently target hundreds of children, with no up-front screening to prevent them from joining the platform.
• For example, in 2018, prior to Roblox going public, a 29-year-old was caught by police with 175 hours of video footage of him grooming and engaging in explicit behavior with 150 minors using online platforms, namely Roblox.
• Media and non-profit exposés from 2020 to July 2024 revealed digital strip clubs, red light districts, sex parties and child predators lurking on Roblox. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation in 2024 labeled Roblox “a tool for sexual predators, a threat for childrens’ safety”.
• Numerous criminal indictments from 2019-2024 allege that sexual predators groomed children in-game, ranging from 8-14 years old, then kidnapped, raped or traded sexual content with them.
• Following years of scandals, we performed our own checks to see if the platform had cleaned up its act. As a test, we attempted to set up an account under the name ‘Jeffrey Epstein’…only to see the name was taken, along with 900+ variations.
• Many were Jeffrey Epstein fan accounts, including “JeffEpsteinSupporter” which had earned multiple badges for spending time in kid’s games. Other Jeff Epstein accounts had the usernames “@igruum_minors” [I groom minors], and “@RavpeTinyK1dsJE” [rape tiny kids].
• We attempted to set up a Roblox account under the name of another notorious pedophile to see if Roblox had any up-front pedophile screening: Earl Brian Bradley was indicted on 471 charges of molesting, raping and exploiting 103 children. The username was taken, along with multiple variants like earlbrianbradley69.
• After we found a username, we listed our age as “under 13” to see if children are being exposed to adult content. By merely plugging ‘adult’ into the Roblox search bar, we found a group called “Adult Studios” with 3,334 members openly trading child pornography and soliciting sexual acts from minors.
• Posing as a child in Roblox’s “therapy” experience, our therapist introduced himself as a “rapper with only one p”. We were advised to run away from home and that he would come pick us up so we could move into his basement in exchange for paying rent with our body.
• Despite the company’s mission “to connect a billion users with optimism and civility”, we found games such as “Beat Up Homeless Outside 7/11 Simulator”, which had 1 million visits and 15,000 favorites before being removed from Roblox.
• Nonetheless, Roblox users identifying as 9 years old and up can still beat up homeless people in “Beat Up People Outside of 7/11” with over 900,000 visits.
• In the game “Beat Up The Pregnant”, users hacked pregnant women to death in a Wal-Mart parking lot with machetes or killed them with frying pans or a selection of guns.
• We played “[GUNS] Work at a Hospital” where users can go on a hospital shooting rampage. The game has ~1.6 million visits and remains on the platform with no age restrictions. The game’s thumbnail is a picture of a terrified pregnant woman.

Its really shocking isn’t it.

However all of that can be prevented by not being a shit/irresponsible parents and putting the under 13 parental controls on (where you can’t talk to or message other users)

I don't have a problem with Roblox. I do, however, have a problem with me getting addicted to Dandy's World - it's awesome!

I’m sorry, but your response to an article showing games children can access whilst having the ‘under 13’ parental controls on is this?

Yes - parental controls are the best tool a parent can use to ensure a child enjoys a game but is also safe.

So you’re ok with the under 13 users having access to games like this? Even more so, you’re ok with supporting a platform that allows this to happen to children? Because by allowing your child to use this platform it’s being comfortable with these things to take place.

• Nonetheless, Roblox users identifying as 9 years old and up can still beat up homeless people in “Beat Up People Outside of 7/11” with over 900,000 visits.

I think you missed the nature of the games that the under 13s accessed and whether they are appropriate.
You may be rght from a safeguarding the child from grooming aspect, but maybe not from a is it a good game to play.

Why are parents not monitoring what their children are playing and reporting these games. I play alongside my son, we play maybe 3 or 4 very fun games TOGETHER, apart from Sonic which he will play sat next to me. I am sorry but very poor parenting to allow an under 9, or 13 or even 16 year old free access to the Internet to such an extent they can play these games and chat to strangers!

Your response to a site allowing these type of games is to blame parents?

My eldest was at college, and had a part time job and paid for his own phone from 16. I'm not sure he'd sit with mum and play a game to be honest!

(Not that he played roblox. He's more an actual sports person)

There are a lot of parents not supervising play. I'd say it's actually the norm to not supervise it and, because of this, your child can still be at risk, even if you dont have the game. My younger sons friend was groomed on roblox and gave lots of information about himself and his friends to the perpetrator who used that information to approach my son.

You need to teach your chikd age appropriate ways to report issues and how as well as supervise..

My DH works in cyber security, very senior position and Roblox and TikTok are banned completely in our house based on what he knows of their security levels and data harvesting. There is just no need to risk being on there games/sites. Minecraft is much better and safer than Roblox.

The parental controls moderate the kind of games that can be played as well.

My DS has ASD. He became addicted to Roblox around the pre-teen to mid teenaged years. He became very angry and aggressive in general. I trialled shorter times spent on it with no luck, in fact it made him worse, as knowing the game would end sent his anxiety sky high.

In the end, I bit the bullet and completely blocked it using parental control software. I expected the sky to fall in, but to my surprise he became much happier and apart from asking a couple of times, he accepted it. It was lovely to see his old personality back.

So no regrets here. Every child is different and you know your child best.