What do children and young people say to look out for:
16% of the children and young people who reviewed ROBLOX thought that it can be risky. The main reasons were:
- In-app purchases
- Being able to talk to strangers
- People you don’t know adding you
Why young people like it:
The main things that young people told us they liked about this site were:
- The range of games
- Playing with other people
- Creating your own character and games
We asked parents whether they were asked to verify their phone number or email address to sign up to this site. We also asked them how easy or difficult it would be for a child to pretend to be older to sign up.
Parents say:
- “I would find it a lot easier if it told me on signing up how to set parental controls.” - Mother of children aged 5 and 16
- “I registered fairly easily but do have to verify email address and automatic privacy setting are in place to protect children under 12.” – Mother of five
- “Signing up is very easy and my now 8 year old managed it last summer.” - Mother of boys aged 3, 6 and 8
We asked parents how easy it was to find out how to report unsuitable content, to find out if the site is moderated, to block other users and to hide or report an unwanted message or picture.
Parents say:
- “Reporting and blocking people is easy.” - Mother of 10yr old boy
- “Chat service could do with more moderation, and would be good if different levels/worlds could be set for different age groups.” - Mother of 3 boys
Young people say:
- 39% of young people who reviewed ROBLOX said they know how to report on this site.
- 48% said they know how to block someone.
More information:
Find out more about blocking here and reporting here.
We asked parents how easy it was to find information about privacy and to change the settings to ensure the account is private.
Parents say:
- “The information is clear and easy to find. It is easy to set the privacy settings and I feel that the default security settings for under 13s are strong but you still need to monitor.” - Father of 10yr old boy
Young people say:
- 36% of young people who reviewed ROBLOX said they know how to change their privacy settings on this site.
- 20% said they know how to turn off their location settings.
More information:
Read about privacy here.
We asked parents how easy it was to find out whether this site has rules or community standards, to find safety information for children and parents, and to find links to support services.
Parents say:
- “There are good child filters in place.” - Mother of five
- “I do not believe ROBLOX does enough to protect children online. Children would find it difficult to understand all the rules of the community.” - Father of 12yr old boy
- “The safeguards are there, make use of them.” - Mother of 10yr old boy
More information:
Visit ROBLOX’s safety and security page here.
See ROBLOX’s parents’ page here.
You can find out more about online gaming on the NSPCC website here.
There are some things that it’s best not to share with others, can you think what they might be?
