My Son Really Wants ROBLOX
Here's what I did, what I discovered, and how we're handling his pleas....
Every so often, my 6-year old son will mention how cool Roblox is, and asks why he can’t play it at home. He’s heard about it through friends at school, and has played it on occasion at friends’ houses. He very rightly doesn’t understand why other kids get to play regularly and he doesn’t.
“But mom, it’s so fun!” You might expect that I would have no problem saying ‘no,’ eloquently explaining my reasoning. And while I do try, I still struggle. It’s still hard to say no to your child and see their disappointment.
So much so, that doubt can set in. I was pretty sure Roblox was a no-go for us, but I hadn’t actually experienced in first hand. I’d seen reports like this Hindenberg report accusing Roblox of being an “X-rated pedophile hellscape,” but I’m also aware I can turn off the chat function. Roblox is rated 12+ on the App Store, but you can easily make an account for younger kids. As per Roblox,
Users under the age of 13 need parent permission to access certain chat features. Users under the age of 9 also need parent permission to access experiences with content maturity “Moderate,” which may contain things like moderate violence or moderate crude humor.
So I decided to make an account, as a 6-year old, and see for myself. And I’m going to share what I found with all of you.
First, I created a new account with my son’s birthdate. I then connected his account to a parent account on my phone, and turned on the most restrictive settings (no ability to chat with other users, and ‘minimal’ content (“may contain occasional mild violence, light unrealistic blood, and/or occasional mild fear).
Then I just started exploring.
The first thing I noticed is that the games seem quite basic, which makes sense since they are user-generated. They don’t seem very intuitive either and I didn’t really understand the objective of many of the games. Many of them seem open ended, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The next thing I noticed is how often I came across inappropriate titles, pictures, and descriptions of the games that were available. I’ve attached some screenshots below, and I’ll note that games like this were quite ubiquitous.
Here are a few observations:
A lot of this content promotes fear, violence and bullying. Some of this content would surely scare my son.
I noticed that similar to other algorithms, when I preferentially clicked on more ‘scary’ content, more and more of these types of games showed up in my feed
There is an infinite scroll of games. It’s easy to see why kids would love playing. If they get bored, there is an infinite number of other games to play.
I could see how kids could use their creativity to create games, but this platform does not seem particularly educational otherwise.
You cannot vet, and preselect games that are ‘ok’, where those are the only games your child can view (something you can do on YouTube kids).
The Verdict
I do not think the pros outweigh the potential cons, particularly for young children. Common Sense Media rates Roblox 13+, but given what I see is available for 6 year olds with the most strict privacy settings, I would wonder what a 13 year old’s experience would be like, especially if the content setting was less restricted.
If your child does use Roblox, I would ensure they are playing within arm’s reach so you can really keep an eye on the games they’re playing.
Even if I were directly watching my son play, I just don’t think these games add any value. I’d prefer him watch an educational TV Program or play a game that is actually educational. Or…. do something off-screen!
This little experiment also hammered home why it’s a great idea for parents to use an app themselves before allowing their child on it. Research it, then create an account with your child’s age, and use it for a week. Then make your decision.
When our son asks about Roblox next, we will keep it fairly simple, letting him know that it’s our job to keep him safe and we don’t think Roblox is appropriate for his age. I won’t sweat it too much if he plays Roblox the odd time at a friends’ house, but our house will have different rules for the foreseeable future.