Each day, nearly 40 million kids under age 13 log onto Roblox, an online gaming platform where users can create their own characters, build their own games, and play in others’ gamescapes too. It has become one of the most popular games for kids today, even mirroring real-world current events in-game (see: virtual ICE protests). But in recent years, the platform has come under fire for the danger it poses to children, whether that be exposing them to explicit content or making them accessible to real-life child predators. Today, Roblox announced their next step in adding more protections for young users: age-based accounts and expanded parental controls.
Roblox Age-Based Accounts
Two new age-based accounts will roll out in early June, the company shared in a news release: Roblox Kids for users ages 5 to 8 and Roblox Select for users ages 9 to 15. Roblox Kids accounts “will be matched to a dynamically updated catalog containing thousands of select games,” according to Roblox. These accounts will only allow kids to access games with a Minimal or Mild content maturity label, and all chat communications are disabled by default.
Roblox Select accounts can access games with content maturity labels up to and including Moderate, though they may gain a few more chat capabilities in their default age-based settings. You can find a detailed breakdown of those settings on the Roblox website, which states you can disable chat features at any time in your parental controls.
Users who have completed the platform’s age check will be automatically placed into the appropriate account for them come June, and their account type will automatically transition as they grow up, too.
Expanded Parental Controls On Roblox
“We’re also extending our parental controls, which allow parents to manage content ratings, communications settings, and screen-time and spending limits. These tools also transparently show parents which games their child is spending their time in and who their friends are,” Roblox announced. “Under this update, parents will gain one new control and retain access to certain controls until a child turns 16.”
If your child is on Roblox, you’ll want to dive into their parental controls webpage to ensure you know how to use the safeguards in place to their fullest potential. The platform is now making parents’ control over what their kids can access even more granular.
So, what’s new?
Parents will now be able to block specific individual games so their kids can’t play them, at least until the child turns 16. Parents can also approve access to certain games that might be outside their age-based account’s default content rating. Finally, parents can now manage their child’s direct chat settings up to age 15 to better protect kids from potentially engaging with strangers.
“This structure is designed to give parents more precise control over the games and friends their child interacts with. Together, these updates are part of our ongoing work to build age-appropriate experiences for all users, apply safety-by-default protections for younger users, and give parents more visibility and control over how their children use Roblox,” the news release reads.
Keeping Your Kids Safe Online
When it comes to protecting your child on social media and in online gaming spaces, it matters that you use the parental controls available to you and understand the risks. Cybersecurity expert and father Ben Gillenwater previously spoke with Scary Mommy about the risks of anonymous online chat and how child predators use it to find victims. He has written an extremely detailed guide about Roblox for parents, which says there are three things you can do right away to make using Roblox safer for your kid:
- Link your account to your child’s at roblox.com/my/account (Settings > Parental Controls). This gives you visibility into their activity and the ability to restrict features.
- Enable Account Restrictions. This is the most comprehensive safety setting Roblox offers, Gillenwater writes. It restricts your child to “All Ages” rated experiences and disables chat.
- Turn off chat for kids under 13. Roblox now defaults chat to off for kids under 9, but kids 9 through 12 still get chat enabled by default. You need to disable it manually.
Roblox’s new safety features may help keep inappropriate content and users away from your kid, but remember that relying on them is not a replacement for your oversight as a parent. It’s up to us to teach our kids how to navigate the online world and keep them safe while they learn.
