Roblox has been a huge hit with children around the world, even though it is a strange and often confusing game. For parents at least.

Like Minecraft before it, its attraction to young people is partly because Mom and Dad don’t get it. That makes it even more exciting, but it can also raise concerns about your safety. After all, much of Roblox is played online.

There are many Roblox rumors, scary false stories, and incorrect advice that abound on social media and even in newspapers that demonize the game. However, children can play it safely and enjoyable with little supervision and understanding.

That’s why we’ve put together a quick guide to help you understand what makes Roblox so popular and how to make sure your kids don’t get any nasty surprises.

What is Roblox?: Parents Guide Roblox And How Their Kids Can Play It Safely

Roblox is an online game creator system where most of the content is created by “hobbyist” game creators. These game creators can create and publish games for the community using simple tools. And that means they can test ideas that would not be funded for a commercial launch.

These games can be played by children around the world, often online together, via a phone or tablet app or a web browser.

Games like Prison Escape, Work in a Pizza Place, Shark Attack or Disaster Survival offer a playful way to experience adult scenarios in quick competitive rounds played socially.

Roblox games reflect the kind of imaginative play that you often find on the playground. One child has an idea about a game to play, others join him or her, and the rules slowly change as the group decides how to have fun together. Roblox creators can quickly update and adjust their games to match the demands of the large gaming community.

This ever-changing and expanding library of games is a big part of Roblox’s popularity. Combine this with the millions of other players to compete against in challenges and you have the perfect recipe for the youngest to enjoy.

However, as with any online game, there are some dangers to be aware of, which we will look at now.

Roblox age ratings: Parents Guide Roblox And How Their Kids Can Play It Safely

Because content on Roblox is user-generated, it does not fall within the same rigorous age ratings as content made by commercial companies. Roblox is rated PEGI 7 in the UK, with rating details explicitly saying no blood.

The VSC that administers legally binding PEGI ratings states that the rating only covers the basic system and some sample games. The same is true in other territories, with the ESRB taking a similar approach in the US.

Roblox does filter and check the games that are being created for both inappropriate images and profanity. However, games that may have horror, murder, or gory themes are still allowed. One game we tested, Hotline, Roblox tasked players with hitting each other with guns or knives before hitting their heads until they were splattered to death by blood.

The best solution for this is to specify the Account Restrictions setting on the linked Roblox account. This limits playable games to those selected by Roblox. Although keep in mind that setting a child’s age as under 13 does not limit the games they can access.

Roblox in-game purchases: Parents Guide Roblox And How Their Kids Can Play It Safely

Although the actual Roblox game is free to play, children are encouraged to make in-game purchases for real money. Children can purchase Robux for cash which is then spent on equipment and outfits at games.

Make sure you are tracking and password protecting credit cards in your systems, so no unexpected purchases are made. It is worth talking to your child about this business aspect of the game before playing.

All games work fine without additional content, but at the same time they will indicate to players the benefits of spending money as this is how game creators profit from their creations.

Roblox parental control: Parents Guide Roblox And How Their Kids Can Play It Safely

There are other parental controls that can be used in the game to ensure that Roblox is super safe for younger players. Worth checking out Roblox website to help.

First, it is important that you enter the correct date of birth for your child’s account. This will activate the appropriate secure chat with a higher level of filtering. Also, this means that you will get a separate parent login so you can check your child’s interactions.

You should limit games to those selected by Roblox staff as follows:

Monitoring your child’s account

Roblox has several ways to monitor account activity. While connected, you can view the following histories from its related sections:

• Direct and small group chat (Chat & Party function is in the lower right corner of the applications). There you can view individual chat histories. This feature is limited to friends and friends of friends.
• Private Message History (Messages)
• Friends and Followers (Friends)
• Purchase and exchange history of virtual items (My transactions, browser only)
• Creations such as games, elements, sounds, advertisements, etc. (Create, browser only)
• Recently played games (Home, Keep playing, or My recent)

Roblox online interactions

Being an online game means that players on Roblox can interact and communicate with each other in various ways. This can be through voice or written text once the friend requests have been made.

It’s simple to restrict these interactions in your account settings:

You should note that this does not disable friend requests on Roblox. Therefore, it is important to register on the Friend Requests page on the website to ensure that strangers are not accepted.

Roblox on Xbox

A couple of years ago the Roblox game for the Xbox. Parental controls work on Xbox slightly different than on a PC, Mac, or tablet.

Although the Xbox has controls for friend requests, this does not restrict Roblox requests as they are considered a different type of friend “in game”. However, Microsoft’s terms of service for game creators mean that gamers cannot make new friends while playing on Xbox. They will only see friends that they have already made on the PC, Mac or tablet.

Additionally, you can further limit interactions with other players on Xbox by:

Roblox Police Warnings

Hopefully that should clarify exactly what Roblox is and how to keep your kids safe while playing it. The last thing to mention is that the large number of tweets, Facebook posts, emails and chats at the school gate about police warnings about nudity and danger of strangers in the game did not originate from the Kent police as it has been. widely spread.

The real danger here is scaring parents into banning gambling and shutting out the opportunity for healthy and helpful conversations about appropriate behavior online. As always, the best way to mitigate any of these risks in your family is to play games together and keep devices and consoles in shared family spaces.