A recent BBC report found one of the most popular children’s game has a sex problem.
the report found found a naked man, wearing only a dog collar, being led across the floor by a woman in a bondage outfit.
Users regularly and openly solicit cybersex, while others watch wearing Nazi uniforms.
These revelations are not an isolated incident, with other gamers reporting widespread inappropriate behavior.
With over 200 million monthly active users, many of them children, parents have become worried about the game.
Roblox’s sex games commonly take place in ‘condos’. This is where users can talk about and simulate having sex with one another.
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However, James Claytonwho led the investigation, acknowledged in an interview earlier this week:
“Certainly from what I saw, these games aren’t up for very long – you’re talking minutes, maybe hours – they do take them down very quickly”
“I don’t think parents should be worried about children stumbling onto condos themselves – you would have to actively look – so unless your child is actively looking for them, they won’t find them.”
Though children can be invited to them if parental control have not been placed on their account.
What parental controls does Roblox have?
Roblox told the BBC, they had developed Parental Control tools “that can be used to restrict who children interact with and which experiences they can access”.
Parental controls are locked using a PIN, so a child won’t be able to bypass these restrictions unless they have that number.
If you have your child’s username and password, you can set the account up so that you are able to monitor activity, which includes messaging, friend requests and experiences.
Roblox has a list of their parental controls designed to keep children safe here.
Restricting who your child talks to
You can further restrict your child’s ability to chat with strangers on Roblox by doing the following:
- Click the gear icon to navigate to “Settings”
- Select the “Privacy” tab
- Select “Off” under “Contact Settings”
The company says they keep “children’s privacy and safety top-of-mind when designing our platform” through advanced test filter which block “block inappropriate language or other unsafe content”.
Roblox also employs a “text filter will automatically block swear words, personally-identifiable information” such as addresses and phone numbers.
Roblox on child safety
In an official response to the report, Roblox said:
“We work tirelessly to maintain a platform that is safe, civil and welcoming for all. We have zero tolerance for sexual content or behavior of any kind, and we take swift action against anyone found to be acting in breach of our community standards.”
“We actively encourage users to report any content or behavior that may make them feel uncomfortable using our Report Abuse feature, with a dedicated team who act on those reports.”
“We also have specific systems and features to protect younger members of the Roblox community, including stricter chat filters applied to children under the age of 13, and a suite of parental control tools that can be used to restrict who children interact with and which experiences they can access.”