“Roblox” puts kids squarely in danger
If you have a little cousin, son, daughter, niece or nephew, it is more than likely that their faces will light up if you happen to mention the popular online game known as “Roblox.” Since its creation in 2006, “Roblox” has been consistently popular with people of all ages, but specifically young kids, ages seven to twelve. The key thing to know is that “Roblox” does not refer to one singular game. It is a massive game platform, meaning that the website is a portal to thousands upon thousands of individual games that are played by 113 million daily users. The game’s bright colors, customizable characters and endless opportunities for fun make it the perfect virtual playground for anybody. It just so happens that the majority of that “anybody” is probably children, and sadly, most of us know what happens when a poorly regulated website has a user base of minors.
I say “probably” children because it is somewhat impossible to tell, due to how many kids lie about their age online. While Roblox does not have an official age restriction, it blocks certain games and site functions if a user is not of a certain age. Therefore, the incentive for children to inflate their age is increased. As the website exists in its current state, “Roblox” has no way to protect minors against the troubles that might come as a result of this.
One of the functions granted to users “over 13-years-old,” is messenger, or chat abilities. As long as a kid says they are over the age of 13, the world is their oyster. As soon as their account is created on “Roblox,” they have opened themselves up to be messaged by potential cyberbullies, scammers and a monsoon of pedophiles. One has the ability to report or block accounts, but, again, we are talking about children here. Most children fail to know when they are being scammed or creeped on, or fail to have the proper vocabulary to express their problem to trusted adults. It is also worth noting that children most likely do not know what the “block” feature even does, much less how to use it. Therefore, there is not much else “Roblox” can actually do to lower the risk of children falling victim to predators.
Admittedly, I grew up on “Roblox,” and I am very familiar with the incredible fun that one can have on the website. I have many, many fond memories of playing what were basically indie games with my friends, which included both strategy and role-playing games. However, I was lucky enough to have parents that always warned me of the potential dangers I could find on the games if I was not careful. Many kids have to find this out the hard way. One of the greatest strengths of “Roblox” is also one of its greatest pitfalls: the ability for anyone to create their own game. On one hand, this is great for aspiring game developers who want to try their hand at making a fun game with easy tools, but on the other, “anyone” means anyone. There is basically nothing stopping people from making completely inappropriate and/or gruesome games that young kids should absolutely not be playing, so long as the game flies under the radar. “Roblox” has a content filter that is incredibly flimsy and all too easy to bypass, which creates the risk for children to be traumatized by the games that are hosted on the site.
I do not intend to make “Roblox” seem like it is nothing but danger and deception, because it is not. “Roblox” can be fun for all ages, and does indeed have many games that I would probably still enjoy playing today. However, the lack of a good content filter sadly makes “Roblox” a portal into a virtual playground that is abused by many people looking to cause harm. Children should be more closely monitored by parents in general, but there are steps that can be taken by “Roblox” itself to reduce the volume of kids that have been or will be hurt on their site.
