Roblox is part of the daily life of thousands of kids all around the world. It’s similar to the TikTok or Fornite effect. These are apps that children from all ages explore and transform into their daily life and social activity hub. Most parents don’t know what their children do on the Roblox world and there are certain dangers to prevent.
On the outside, Roblox seems like a friendly world for children with lots of simple games and creativity, but just scratch a little on the surface and you will find worrying situations. For example, a minor in the United Kingdom started talking with an adult and it ended in a manipulation case in the real world. It started as an inoffensive conversation but now it ended up in court.
The dangerous situations children are exposed to in Roblox make it clear that it’s not just a simple game. Roblox is more like a social network camouflaged as a videogame. Communication is one of the main aspects of the title, and even with several filters children are in danger. Most of the adults use Roblox to start the conversation and then go to other platforms with lesser controls
How can you protect your children in Roblox?
In the last months the game developers have tried to eliminate parent worries by reinforcing control systems in minor accounts. One of the changes includes the different profiles Roblix Kids and Roblox Select. The first one is focused on the younger kinds. It eliminates any communication options and limits access to certain content. On Roblox Select children can have a more controlled interaction and boarder game library.
The title has 144 million users daily and any attempt of total control will end in failure. Most users create their own content and social interaction is needed for that purpose. Roblox can’t eliminate the interaction tools permanently.
The system has to fully adapt the interaction to the age of the user. Roblox has been testing different verification systems including facial recognition. According to the company, the error margin is just one year and a half, but in practice it’s enough for children to end up in an inappropriate environment.
Certain parents have already denounced cases where their children have been considered older than what they really are. When the recognition system fails, the consequences may be serious.
There’s also the problem with videogame library, as Roblox applies certain criteria for games and the titles may not appear for certain players. The content that promotes free interaction between players is the most dangerous because the filters and controls are not always perfect.
Parental control and 24 hours supervision
There are those who insist that even with Roblox security measures, parents should also make sure of what their children do. For example, with parental control measures and supervision of Internet activity of the younger ones. In practice, it’s not enough to just set the account with security options. Parents should talk with children about what they do in the videogame universe. That’s the best way to reduce risks in Roblox. In order to enable parental control do the following:
- Go to Settings menu.
- Enter Parental control section.
- Select your child account.
- Open your own Settings.
- Select content restrictions and adjust Maturity with the slide bar.
You can also block certain experiences to prevent certain titles to appear in his or her list.
- Go to Settings.
- Enter Parental control section.
- Select your child account.
- Open your Settings and enter the Content restriction menu.
- Go into Blocked experiences.
- Press the + button.
- Search the name of the experience to block.
- Select Block and confirm the option.
To sum up, there’s no fully controlled experience in Roblox so you should always talk with your children. Communication rather than prohibition is a better approach for a better Internet experience for all ages.