Parents guide to Roblox and how your kids can play it safely

What is Roblox? Roblox is an online game creator system where the majority of the content is created by “amateur” game creators. These game makers are able to create and publish games to the community using simple tools. And that means they can try ideas that wouldn’t get funded for a commercial release. These games can then be played by children worldwide, often online together, through a phone or tablet application 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-like scenarios in quick competitive rounds played socially. Roblox games reflect the sort of imaginative play you often find in 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 huge playing community. This ever-changing and expanding library of games is a big part of Roblox popularity. Combine this with the millions of other players to compete against in challenges and you have the perfect recipe for youngsters to enjoy. As with any online game, there are some dangers to be aware of, though, which we’ll go through now. Monitoring your child’s account Roblox has several ways to monitor account activity. While logged in, you can view the following histories from their related sections: Direct and small group chat (Chat & Party feature found in the lower right corner of the apps). There you can see individual chat histories. This feature is limited to Friends, and Friends of Friends. Private message history (Messages) Friends and Followers (Friends) Virtual item purchase and trade history (My Transactions, browser only) Creations such as games, items, sounds, ads…etc (Create, browser only) Recently played games (Home, Keep Playing or My Recent) Roblox online interactions Being an online game means that players in Roblox can interact and communicate with each other in various ways. This can be via voice or written text once friend requests have been made. It is simple to restrict these interactions on the settings for your account: Log in to roblox.com Click the Gear icon in the top right Select Settings then Privacy Restrict interactions via Content Settings and Other Settings You should note that this doesn’t disable friend requests in Roblox. Therefore, it’s important to check in on the Friend Requests page on the website to ensure strangers are not being accepted. Roblox on Xbox A couple of years ago Roblox game to the Xbox. How the parental controls work on the Xbox is slightly different to a PC, Mac or tablet. Although the Xbox has controls for friend requests, this doesn’t restrict those in Roblox as they are considered a different type of “in-game” friend. However, the Microsoft terms of service for game makers means that players can’t make new friends while playing on Xbox. They will only see friends already made on the PC, Mac or tablet. Additionally, you can further limit the interactions with other players on the Xbox as follows: Start Roblox Select the Account Settings page Identify the Linked Account Apply restrictions via roblox.com for this account. Toggle on/off Cross-Platform Gameplay to limit who your children can play with (Note: Currently Roblox doesn’t support cross-platform messaging, so Xbox players can’t message players on other platforms) Roblox police warnings Hopefully, that should clear up exactly what Roblox is and how to keep your kids safe while playing it. The final thing to mention is that the slew of tweets, Facebook posts, emails and school gate chatter about police warnings on nudity and stranger danger in the game didn’t originate from Kent Police as has been widely reported. The real danger here is scaring parents into banning the game and closing down the opportunity for healthy and helpful conversations about appropriate behaviour online. As ever the best way to mitigate any of these risks in your family is to play the game together and keep devices and consoles in shared family spaces.