If you have or are around kids on the regular, you’ve probably heard about Roblox. Roblox is an online gaming platform that allows players to create their own games/worlds and explore/play within those created by others. When my own kids started talking about wanting to play it, Mr. Rosie described it to me as a “sh-tty version of Minecraft.” The two games are not the same, but Minecraft tends to be more self-contained whereas Roblox exposes its players to a larger social audience of strangers.
To that last point, Roblox has been in the news a lot lately because of its failure to protect younger players from outside harm. Children have been groomed by predators, bullied, and more from people they’ve met on Roblox’s chat, many of whom were adults posing as children. The company responded by enacting age-check methods to verify players were age 13 or older. Much like when Discord did the same thing, this policy has its own set of problems. Now, Roblox is rolling out two new age-based accounts. The first one is Roblox Kids, which is geared towards users ages five to eight. The second one is Roblox Select for kids who are nine to 15.
Roblox has announced that it is introducing different age-based accounts for children and young teenagers. wThe two new accounts — Roblox Kids for users aged 5 to 8 and Roblox Select for users aged 9 to 15 — will launch in early June, the online gaming platform announced via press release on Monday, April 13. “These accounts will more closely align content access, communication settings and parental controls with a user’s age,” Roblox explained.
Roblox Kids have limited access to games, with only ones labeled “minimal or mild” accessible to users. Additionally, the chat feature will be turned off by default, with access granted through a linked parental account. Parents will also have a “full suite of controls.” The app will also have a bright blue color to distinguish it from the accounts for older children.
Roblox Select accounts will have the chat function “gradually introduced with safeguards,” if available in the user’s location. Users will have access to content described as “minimal, mild or moderate.” Parents will also have access to a suite of controls for users through age 12. However, “certain controls and visibility into kids’ accounts [will be] available through age 15.”
“By default, Roblox Kids and Roblox Select accounts will not include games that feature sensitive issues, social hangouts, or free-form drawing games,” Roblox said, per the release, noting that each account will be upgraded to the next tier as users age up.
When they hit 16, users will then transition to standard Roblox accounts and have access to all content, except for anything labeled “restricted,” which is for those above the age of 18. Chat is on by default but parents will still be able to see friends, screen time and spending up until the age of 18.
The latest safety changes come amid the platform — which has 151.5 million active daily users — facing allegations that it was not protecting its young fans, according to NBC, which reported that at least seven states have sued Roblox over issues of child safety.
Currently, Roblox’s age check methods include facial age estimation, where you can take a photo to “receive age checked status,” and ID verification if you are 13 or older. The company said it would also be transitioning to the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) framework, meaning players around the world will see ratings from their specific countries.
The extension of parental controls will mean parents will be able to block specific individual games and manage direct chat settings up to age 15. They can also approve access to specific games that are not otherwise available under their child’s default account type. Other controls will allow them to manage content ratings, communications settings, screen-time and spending limits, so parents can see which games their child is playing and “who their friends are.”
“Under this update, parents will gain one new control and retain access to certain controls until a child turns 16,” the company said via press release. But the platform said that the “exact ages, games, and features associated with these accounts will vary by region.” It also added that access is based on “age checks” and that parents “can correct a child’s age if necessary.”
“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 company said on Monday. “When it comes to safety, we do the right thing, including proactive filtering, age-checks, parental controls, and providing clear content ratings, because the well-being of our community is our highest priority.”
Roblox has been out for 20 years, so they’ve had plenty of time to anticipate and address all of their safety issues. It’s about time that they really did something like this about it, but as a parent, I don’t know if it’s enough. I like that the chat will be disabled for Roblox Kids. I absolutely believe that they should also turn the chat off for Select, too. We ended up banning our eight-year-old from playing it – even the tamer, harmless games – and only let our 11-year-old play it on the weekend when he’s playing it in person with a neighbor who is the same age. We also monitor his account after he’s done. I grew up in the era of chat rooms and AOL Instant Messenger, so I’m very aware of how dangerous those types of platforms can be. Having age specific accounts is a good start but I worry that kids in the older age group will find a workaround and end up sneaking onto a general account in the same way that kids now sneak onto adult YouTube accounts instead of watching YouTube Kids.
