How Do I Know If I Should Let My Child Play Roblox?

Dear Titania,

My 8-year-old is obsessed with Roblox. Plays it every day, talks about it constantly, has friends at school who play it too. My husband and I have let him play because it seems creative and harmless — it's like Minecraft, right? But I keep seeing headlines about predators on Roblox, and I don't know what to believe. Are we being naive? What do we actually need to know?

Signed, Roblox-Adjacent and Nervous

Dear Roblox-Adjacent and Nervous,

You are not being naive, you're being a parent who gave their kid something that seemed age-appropriate and are now doing your homework. And I'm glad you're asking, because Roblox is one of those platforms that looks innocent on the surface and is mostly fine, until it isn't.

Let me give you the real picture.

What Roblox Actually Is

Roblox isn't a single game, it's a platform that hosts millions of games created by other users, including kids, teens, and adults. Think of it less like a video game and more like a giant mall where anyone can open a store, and the quality and content of what's in each store vary enormously.

Most of it really is creative and fun. Building games, obstacle courses, and roleplay worlds — your son is probably genuinely enjoying all of that. But because user-created content is so hard to police at such a large scale, things can slip through.

The Real Risks of Roblox

The chat feature is where most danger lives

Roblox has in-game chat, and by default, kids can receive messages from other players, including strangers. Predators absolutely use Roblox to make contact with children, often starting with a friendly conversation about the game before gradually moving things in a more inappropriate direction. This isn't a rare edge case. It's documented, it's ongoing, and it happens on kids' accounts that parents think are safe.

A particularly common tactic: a stranger befriends a child on Roblox and then suggests moving the conversation to Discord, where there's even less oversight. Parents often don't realize this handoff has happened until much later.

Some games contain content that isn't appropriate for young kids

The platform is rated E10+, but individual games within it can include violence, sexual themes, or disturbing content. One game called Public Bathroom is known to be rife with virtual sexual depictions, and there are even games that emulate school shootings and other real-life tragedies. 

Kids can stumble into this without looking for it, and user-generated content means the platform can't catch everything before your child sees it.

Age verification that comes with a catch 

Roblox recently introduced facial scanning technology to verify the ages of its users. This means Roblox now has your child’s likeness, which could understandably cross a privacy boundary for many families. It’s also not fully reliable, as many users have reported being placed in a completely inaccurate age bracket based on the facial scan. 

In-app purchases can get out of hand fast

Robux — the in-game currency — is real money. Kids can spend it on virtual items, and some of them will, if a credit card is saved anywhere on the account or device. Not to mention, scammers are everywhere on Roblox. Fake accounts or “bots” pretend to offer free Robux to impressionable kids, when in reality, these are phishing scams. 

What You Can Do Right Now

The good news is that Roblox does have parental controls, and in many ways, they’re pretty comprehensive. But only if you use them, and even then, no filter is perfect. But here are the important things to check if your child plays Roblox:

• Turn on account restrictions. This limits chat to pre-set phrases only and restricts access to games that haven't been approved. It's the closest thing to a safe mode that Roblox offers.
• Set up a PIN for account settings so your son can't change his own privacy settings.
• Review and adjust chat permissions so that only friends can message him — not everyone on the platform.
• Check his friends list. Does he know everyone on it in real life? He should.
• Talk to him about the "move to Discord" move. Make sure he knows that if someone he met in a game asks him to continue talking on another platform, that's a red flag he should bring to you immediately. Discord is a common one, as well as WhatsApp and Kik.

Some families play Roblox and claim they’ve never seen any of these dangerous things. And that’s entirely possible, but it’s similar to letting your 8-year-old wander the mall alone. With the right controls in place and regular check-ins from you, it can stay fun. Without them, the risks are real. 

Keep asking questions. Your child is already in much safer hands when you educate yourself about what’s going on in his online world.