Is Roblox Safe For Kids? Top Full Guide [2022]

Is Roblox safe for kids? There is no definitive answer to this question as opinions will vary. However, it is worth noting that Roblox has a dedicated trust and safety team that works to keep the platform a safe and fun place for all users. In addition, parents can take steps to ensure their child’s safety while playing Roblox by monitoring their activity and setting appropriate privacy settings.

Contents

1 What Is Roblox?
2 Roblox Age Ratings
3 Roblox In-game Purchases
4 Roblox Parental Controls
5 Monitoring Your Child’s Account
6 Roblox Online Interactions
7 Roblox on Xbox
8 Roblox Police Warnings
9 How to Keep Your Child Safe on Roblox
10 Conclusion

What Is Roblox?

According to Titania Jordan, a chief parenting officer of parental-control app Bark and author of Parenting in a Tech World, Roblox is a free game-creation platform available on all smartphones, tablets, computers, Xbox One, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive where users can design and upload their games on a proprietary program called Roblox Studio to play in a global community.

Roblox notes that players may create the perfect theme park, compete as a professional racing car driver, star in a fashion show, become a superhero, or construct a dream house and hang out with pals.

“The platform has hundreds of free user-created games,” Jordan explains. “It’s incredibly popular among people of all ages, but its simple functioning, creative capabilities, and free games make it particularly enticing to young players.”

Although users can access an infinite number of games for free, the platform has its currency known as “Robux,” which can be used to purchase additional features, and children are likely to want to subscribe to the Builders Club, which also provides additional features for a membership fee, according to Common Sense Media.

Roblox Age Ratings

Because the material in Roblox is user-generated, it does not have to adhere to the same stringent age restrictions as commercially produced content. In the United Kingdom, Roblox is classified as PEGI 7, with explicit language stating that there is no blood.

According to the VSC, which administers the legally obligatory PEGI ratings, the rating only covers the fundamental system and a few sample games. The same is true in other countries, with the ESRB having a similar stance in the United States.

Roblox filters and checks the games produced for improper pictures and vulgarity. However, games with horror, murder, or gory themes are still permitted. Hotline, a Roblox game we tested, charged players with knocking each other down with weapons or knives, then pounding each other’s heads until they died with blood splatters.

The best approach configures the Account Restrictions setting in the associated Roblox account. This restricts the available games to those chosen by Roblox. However, establishing a child’s age as under 13 does not restrict the games they may access.

Roblox In-game Purchases

Although the Roblox game itself is free to play, children are encouraged to make in-game purchases using real money. Kids can buy Robux with real money, then spend it on gaming equipment and clothing.

Ensure that credit cards are tracked and password-protected on your systems so that no unexpected purchases occur. It’s a good idea to discuss this commercial part of the game with your kid before playing.

All of the games run properly without extra material, but they will direct players to the advantages of spending money since this is how game developers earn from their products.

Roblox Parental Controls

Other parental restrictions in the game may be utilized to guarantee Roblox is very safe for younger users. For more information, see the Roblox website.

First and foremost, you must provide the right date of birth for your child’s account. This will initiate a safe chat with a greater degree of screening. Additionally, you will be given a separate parent login to monitor your child’s interactions.

It would help if you only played games that have been moderated by Roblox personnel, as follows:

Visit roblox.com and sign in.
In the upper right corner, click the gear symbol.
Select Settings, then Security, and turn on the Account Restrictions slider.

Monitoring Your Child’s Account

Roblox offers numerous methods for keeping track of account activities. You may examine the following histories from their respective sections when logged in:

Direct and small-group communication (Chat & Party feature found in the lower right corner of the apps). Individual conversation histories are available there. Friends and Friends of Friends are the only people who may use this function.
History of private messages (Messages)
Followers and Friends (Friends)
Purchase and exchange history of virtual items (My Transactions, browser only)
Games, products, noises, advertisements, and so on are examples of creations (Create, the browser only)
Games recently played (Home, Keep Playing, or My Recent)

Roblox Online Interactions

Because Roblox is an online game, users may engage and communicate with one another in various ways. Once friend requests have been made, this may be done by voice or written text.

It is easy to limit these interactions in your account settings:

Visit roblox.com and sign in.
In the upper right corner, click the gear symbol.
Select Settings, then Privacy Restrictions and Other Settings to limit interactions.

It should be noted that this does not block Roblox friend requests. As a result, it’s critical to keep an eye on the website’s Friend Requests page to guarantee outsiders aren’t being approved.

Roblox on Xbox

Roblox released a game on the Xbox a few years back. The way parental controls function on the Xbox differs somewhat from a PC, Mac, or iPad.

Although the Xbox has restrictions for friend requests, those in Roblox are not restricted since they are considered a separate sort of “in-game” buddy. However, according to Microsoft’s terms of service for game developers, gamers cannot establish new friends while playing on Xbox. They will only see friends who have previously been added to the PC, Mac, or iPad.

You may also restrict your interactions with other Xbox gamers by doing the following:

Begin Roblox
Go to the Account Settings page.
Determine the Account That Is Linked
Apply limits to this account using roblox.com.
Toggle on/off Cross-Platform Gameplay to restrict who your children may play with (Note: Because Roblox currently does not enable cross-platform messaging, Xbox players cannot contact players on other platforms).

Roblox Police Warnings

Hopefully, this has clarified what Roblox is and how to keep your children safe while playing it. Finally, as has been widely documented, the deluge of tweets, Facebook postings, emails, and school gate conversations concerning police warnings about nudity and stranger danger in the game did not originate from Kent Police.

The actual risk here is frightening parents into banning the game, removing the chance for constructive and beneficial discussions about responsible online behavior. The best method to reduce any of these threats in your family, as always, is to play the game together and keep electronics and consoles in communal family places.

How to Keep Your Child Safe on Roblox

According to experts, the following actions might safeguard children against predators.

Familiarize yourself with parental controls.

According to Nelson, understanding, all of the parental control choices should always be your first step for each new game, platform, app, or website your kid wishes to explore.

Simultaneously, all of the professionals we talked with suggest sitting down and playing the game with your kid to grasp it better and be better prepared to assist them in navigating it.

“Parents should also recognize that no parental control system is flawless,” he argues. “There will always be some amount of danger on a platform like Roblox with millions of players and the possibility for anybody to build new games.”

Use parental controls.

Bark suggests that parents limit their child’s chat capabilities, particularly if they are not personally overseeing play.

You may, for example, utilize Account Restrictions to lock your child’s account settings so that no other user can send them messages, chat in-app or in-game, or locate their account by phone number. None of these options may be changed individually when Account Restrictions are enabled.

To begin, Bark suggests enabling parental controls on Roblox by performing the following:

Sign in to your account.
Select Settings from the menu that appears after clicking the gear symbol.
Click Privacy on the right side of the Settings page.
You may change both the Contact Settings and the Other Settings from this page.
If your kid is 12 or younger, you can select Friends or No one. If your kid is 13 or older, they have more opportunities to engage with other gamers.

“Parents who want more control should go to the Security portion of the Account Settings page,” Jordan recommends. “They may create a PIN and other account limitations here.”

Remind kids who are allowed to chat to adhere to safe practices.

Common Sense Media advises parents to teach their children not to communicate with strangers (unless they can prove they’re a friend, or a friend of a friend, in real life) and not to accept private messages (PMs) from strangers.

They also warn students never to hand out personal information, follow their instincts if someone makes them feel uncomfortable, and never shift a chat to a new platform (a telltale predator red flag).

Don’t let your children play behind closed doors.

“Children should play Roblox games in an open, family environment where parents can observe them, rather than behind a locked bedroom door,” Nelson advises.

Prevent kids from making changes to their accounts.

“Parents may also create a PIN to prevent their children from making changes to their accounts without authorization, such as granting themselves more playtime,” Jordan explains. “Parents may also create their gaming lists for their children.”

Maintain an open line of communication.

Whether you’re monitoring your kid on the site or not, Nelson advocates having direct and open talks to ensure your child understands that they can and should communicate to you if they see or experience anything online that doesn’t feel right. “Having these continuing conversations—and even checking in occasionally to inquire what they’re doing on the platform—can help you spot any possible difficulties,” he says.

Some relevant posts:

Conclusion

There is no simple answer to whether or not Roblox is safe for kids. The game has been criticized for its lack of safety features and because it is easy for children to come into contact with strangers. However, many parents feel that the game is safe for their children and that the benefits outweigh the risks. Thanks for reading.