Are you worried about the amount of protection Roblox offers? There are various interesting statistics about the players on the platform and the numbers are alarming.
Crimes involving children are a real thing, a 27-year-old Delaware man named Darius Matylewich met an 11-year-old girl from New Jersey on Roblox and kidnapped her after the two met in person. A popular platform recognized for having a prevalence of young individuals engaged does not address the issue of predators who interact with kids, if no precautions are implemented what does this mean for the millions of underage children?
Roblox is an app available to people of all ages where users can join experiences made by other people on the app, it is generally meant for those 13 and up while having different levels of content maturity available ranging from minimal to moderate. The way this can be detrimental to children is that it puts them in a position where they are subject to harm since the individual making the account has the liberty to set their settings including age and rating to anything they please. Talking to strangers on the internet can be dangerous, some examples are how people start dating through apps and then meet and discover the person they thought they were dating was not who they said they were. Now this does not necessarily mean that everyone who plays Roblox will experience something similar to this but it is still possible.
There have been multiple reports on Roblox, and the safety of children is at stake while on the application. Some examples include articles named “Understanding Roblox Players Demographics” and “Daily active users of Roblox games worldwide from 4th quarter 2019 to 2nd quarter 2024, by age group” which mention approximately 44.9 million users on Roblox are over 13 years old while the majority of players, 32.1 million users, are under 13 years old. Currently, there are an estimated 32.4 million participants who are 14 years and under compared to only 9 million users in 2019 who were under 13.
“Is Roblox Safe for Kids? 2024 Safety Guide for Parents” addresses a serious topic by discussing how it is simple to hide your identity and catfish individuals on Roblox: ‘It’s extremely easy for anyone - of whatever age, and for whatever purpose - to pretend to be ‘just another kid”. Not only is this dangerous but if you are unaware that the person a child is playing with or talking to is an older individual it can raise the issue of concern and security a child has within the game.
Although Roblox is an app whose purpose is to provide entertainment for a young audience there have been several occasions where young individuals have been coerced into relationships with disguised older people. This brings us to the main problem that puts children at risk on this app, online dating. OD, aka online dating, is where people enter a romantic relationship with other people on a social media platform or through the internet. In this case, almost everyone in the world, especially little kids, is online dating. Giving out misinformation is easy but socializing with a stranger on the pretense that you are older than you are can result in being catfished later on and misled into talking with someone who has ulterior motives. It is a family-friendly online game but now it is slowly becoming a dating app where forming relationships is normalized despite the high probability of underage children being involved.
On Roblox, lying about your age is quite easy, making it so almost anyone can play it. Herein lies the issue: A game meant for those 13 and up is flooded with children playing and pretending to be older than they are. Think about a family member who could go through the exact same experience many young individuals go through on the app, child endangerment and exploitation are serious matters that everyone should be aware of. Would you want that to happen?
Despite this, Roblox can still be an entertaining game, as long as you protect your information and are wary of the people you chat with. To ensure the safety of you or a loved one, put your correct age, play age-appropriate games, do not reveal any sensitive information, and report any malicious or indecent behavior.
