For many families during the pandemic, the massive Roblox gaming platform was a fun outlet to keep kids entertained and connected with friends. Its popularity among incarcerated children contributed to a successful public debut for the company, which relies on its users to create games and other content.
Still, this platform of 32.6 million daily users – more than half of whom are under the age of 13 – has some dark corners. In some games, players’ blocky avatars simulate sex, engage in vulgar conversation, and “date” other avatars. While much of this isn’t new, Roblox’s explosive growth has brought new attention to what’s happening on the fringes – and what responsibility the company has in protecting its young audience.
Roblox is now working on developing content ratings for games and ways to make parental controls easier to find and use, said Remy Malan, vice president of trust and security for Roblox and its chief privacy officer.
Even if children say they are under 13 when they create an account, games that are unsuitable for their age may appear on their ‘recommended for you’ list. Within the hard-to-find controls, parents can limit the games children can play in Roblox to those deemed appropriate by the company. But of the tens of millions of multiplayer games in Roblox, only about 1,000 are on that curated list.
Bryan Buffinton, a father in Tampa, Florida, had done his research before letting his 8-year-old son play Roblox. He read the company’s parent guide and knew how to limit the games his son could access. So he was shocked one day last year when his son came up to him with his iPad and said, “I think something is wrong.” The boy had entered a Roblox role-play where, instead of the typical blocky images, there was an actual photo. It was a woman wearing a thong. And she had multiple scratches on her buttocks.