Roblox and my child. Insight / Suggestions / Help....

[_RT_]

So I'm old. I'll admit it.
Started with an Atari and was a console kid growing up. My first NES even had R.O.B.
But the gaming world that I grew up in is very different than it is today.

I picked up a Switch for my son when he was 5 and he was instantly hooked on all things Mario and all things Zelda. Even beat BOTW when he was 6 - which I'm still kind of shocked by. Loved watching it happen as I wasn't playing the game at the time.

But.... then YouTube, Kids Youtube and Roblox happened. We removed YouTube from the iPad and closely monitored Kids YouTube. Roblox happened more.
It's not the time thing that is a concern to me. We limit the amount of time he can play it- typically 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on what else is going on or if it's a weekday/weekend.

It more the... I have no idea what the heck is going on and how to monitor it. I think I have things locked down as best as possible and mom and I have had countless conversations about the implications of online games and who he should or should not be talking to. In fact, he only has three real friends on Roblox. There were three others I had to delete - they didn't seem malicious, more like "hey come try the game I made." I didn't care. Deleted.

Would I love to play other games with him on the Switch or the Playstation? Absolutely. Am I going to push that? Nah. I want to respect the stuff he is interested in. I am however curious if there are ways to keep him more protected than I am currently doing and I'm also curious how to find the people that are safe so that maybe he can interact with other kids his age.

Anyone else solve this question? Can you share insight?

Also... as someone that has no experience in coding generally... has anyone experimented with learning how to do that in Roblox? I think my son would love it but I'm not quite sure where to start.

PS... he has also talked about a desire to stream content - but I don't even know where to start with that one. So... baby steps.

 

[JigglesBunny]

Your six year old child doesn't need to be streaming video games, and he arguably (probably) shouldn't be using voice chat.

Beyond that, just monitor whatever he's playing in Roblox. Not much else you can do there, I'd imagine.

 

[_RT_]

Your six year old child doesn't need to be streaming video games, and he arguably (probably) shouldn't be using voice chat.

Beyond that, just monitor whatever he's playing in Roblox. Not much else you can do there, I'd imagine.

Click to shrink...

He's not 6 not. Almost 8 now. But no worries. I agree.

 

[Abuguet]

I might be biased as we had to remove all Roblox from our decices for one of the kids in my family, but I'd suggest you watch these:
How Roblox exploits young developers
Roblox pressured us to delete our video

For gamedev, I suggest your kid learns Unity or Unreal as those are more useful set of skills that can become something more than a hobby depending on how much he's interested.

As for streaming, ToS from some atforms state he must be at least 13 and there are some stories of harsh penalties for breaking the ToS. So I'd say just wait. Also, kids are vulnerable online, the more you wait, the better tools he'll have to deal with the realities of streaming.

GL.

 

[Ketch]

I've got three kids. And yes every child is different and only you can really decides what's best for them.

But I wouldn't let any of my kids play roblox. Full stop.

It might be fun, but it's not the healthy kind of fun. There are so many other games out there.

Good luck

 

[Shola Akinnuso]

Every parent approaches things differently but I grew with JigglesBunny . There's really no net positive to allowing a child to stream, right? The entire point is transparently and entertainment for an audience. You probably don't want to offer that kind of access and vulnerability. Middle ground? Maybe make short YT vids with your kid? You get to participate and the child gets to create and get the same feeling as streaming.

Re: Roblox? Chat OFF. always. I allow my daughter to play with her cousins and close friends. The all talk via FaceTime. Works out great.

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

For my kids I have online chat and multiplayer turned off except for friends, and the only people on their friends list are people we know IRL. Kids that young do not need to be interacting with strangers online IMO.

 

[Ouroboros]

I wouldn't let my kids stream. Never...until they are like, out of the house. No way. Too toxic and unhealthy imo.

Maybe steer him towards Minecraft instead? That is crazy popular still, at least at the school I work at, and there is an educational version of it that my students clamor for.

 

[D O T]

Stop him playing or streaming anything Roblox.

[BBC] Roblox: The children's game with a sex problem

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-60314572

www.resetera.com

 

[Richiek]

Here's a good video on Roblox. Doesn't sound good.

 

[Goldenroad]

Stop him playing or streaming anything Roblox.

[BBC] Roblox: The children's game with a sex problem

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-60314572

www.resetera.com

Click to shrink...

Jesus. Yeah, at this point just get your kid GTA or Postal instead. Heck, Leisure Suit Larry would be a more wholesome experieince then what I'm reading here.

 

[HMD]

I played Roblox last month, look up the game "Da Hood", it's literally a playground for kids to bully each other and is one of the most toxic things I've played in a while.

If I had kids I wouldn't let them play Roblox period.

 

[zyvorg]

OP thank you for posting this thread, pretty much in the same boat as you, I try to watch them play from time to time and other than the chat being a risky vector, I also very much dislike how many of those games bombard kids with ads, some of the games show gameplay pausing ads every 10 seconds, and the biggest challenge is that all games work differently In how they approach this.

I feel so bad just outright banning the "platform" from them but it seems like it might be the only way to be safe, unless you spend some time reviewing each game they are interested in and trust that they wont open others…

 

[Atom]

Adding on to the don't let them touch roblox. Everything that's come out about the platform in the last few months should be more than enough to dissuade you unless you really heavily monitor what they're doing moment to moment.

Also I would just not open the can of worms of mental health that is streaming to a child at all.

 

[bushmonkey]

I hate Roblox and everything it stands for. I hate how open it is and how predatory a lot of the 'games' in there are BUT my kids love it and have played it for years. I've monitored the shit out of it and all they do is fairly innocent and they just mess around. My eldest has outgrown it now and my 10 year old only plays it when his cousin is playing so it's slowed down a lot.
I would not worry too much about it, as long as you monitor it from afar and keep doing what you're doing, he'll outgrow it at some point and move on to something else.

 

[RoadDogg]

Roblox is a cesspool but it makes it pretty easy to restrict stuff. My kids are in there all the time in their iPads but we have all chat functionality turned off and all IAPs are blocked by the iPad. They know that we simply don't pay for stuff in roblox and have never complained. My son (10) has asked about getting robux a few times but stops when I remind him he has money if he really wants to spend it on that. When he wants to talk to freinds while playing he can use kids messenger since my wife owns who he adds there.

Content wise we haven't come across anything that bad yet. I don't know if roblox is filtering stuff out because of their age or what, but outside of a few "murder simulator" type things that are cartoony and no worse than among us I've never had to tell them to stop playing something. Kids YouTube used to be way way worse. I'm always confused by all of the articles about how bad the content is for kids since it has never once come up in there. I play from time to time with them and have none of the restrictions set that they do and outside of the horrible tactics to trick you into buying robux I've never seen anything "risky". Maybe the iPad content is different than the PC stuff?

 

[Silius]

Children should not play Roblox.

 

[Dr. Mario]

Roblox is a cesspool but it makes it pretty easy to restrict stuff. My kids are in there all the time in their iPads but we have all chat functionality turned off and all IAPs are blocked by the iPad. They know that we simply don't pay for stuff in roblox and have never complained. My son (10) has asked about getting robux a few times but stops when I remind him he has money if he really wants to spend it on that. When he wants to talk to freinds while playing he can use kids messenger since my wife owns who he adds there.

Content wise we haven't come across anything that bad yet. I don't know if roblox is filtering stuff out because of their age or what, but outside of a few "murder simulator" type things that are cartoony and no worse than among us I've never had to tell them to stop playing something. Kids YouTube used to be way way worse. I'm always confused by all of the articles about how bad the content is for kids since it has never once come up in there. I play from time to time with them and have none of the restrictions set that they do and outside of the horrible tactics to trick you into buying robux I've never seen anything "risky". Maybe the iPad content is different than the PC stuff?

Click to shrink...

My kids may have been lucky, or they're doing all kinds of devious shit when I walk away again, but I feel a lot of the horror stories about Roblox are also just that. Kind of like how Tomb Raider or GTA San Andreas are filthy for having nude mods, but then the newspapers conveniently forgetting to mention you would have to get out of your way to find it, and the vast majority won't experience it.

That said, I'm also in the no robux and no chat and hell no streaming boat.

 

[Is_that_my_horse]

While I haven't used it myself, GameMaker Studio 2 is apparently a much easier engine to learn things in compared to Unity or Unreal. Maybe getting your kid more interested this way would be the way to go. As others have mentioned, sadly Roblox has way too many red flags to be considered safe. Another good option if you have a PlayStation is Dreams. It's a hell of a lot more vetted content, higher quality in general, lets you create your own stuff and might still give your kid the same fix of "variety" that I assume Roblox has going for it.

 

[TooBusyLookinGud]

I've got three kids. And yes every child is different and only you can really decides what's best for them.

But I wouldn't let any of my kids play roblox. Full stop.

It might be fun, but it's not the healthy kind of fun. There are so many other games out there.

Good luck

Click to shrink...

Correct!! Kids are different yes and we do NOT let our 8 year old watch YouTube or play Roblox. Hell to the naw!!!

We are not strict, but we understand the predatory design of certain games and YouTube personalities. So instead of trying to monitor those personalities and games, we don't let him watch or play them.

We only have one kid so it's a bit easier.

 

[Instant Vintage]

My son will be 8 this summer. Roblox is banned in this house; he doesn't even watch videos of it.

Am I going too far? Probably, but whatever.

All of his friends play Minecraft, Minecraft Dungeons, Splatoon 2, and Among Us (in their private server). He really REALLY likes Minecraft, so we lean into that mostly. The educational version is WONDERFUL and his friends all just run around together building stuff.

He's asked about having his own YT channel and we've gently said no and he understands. Mostly. He still asks every couple of months or so, and the answer remains the same. I do think the further we got away from.... the kid who's name rhymes with Lyin (I feel like even typing his name will turn his eye back on my child) the further his ideas about streaming faded away.

But yeah, my suggestion? Ween your child off of Roblox and into something else. Roblox is the hard stance here; he knows not to even ask because the answer will always be no. Always.

 

[Thera]

I don't have to deal with that and have no special recommendation about Roblox (well, it's easy to say, but it's not a great thing, loooooooots of problems with it).

Streaming at 8?! I would be interested to know why he wants to do it baring mimicking... others I guess. There are 8 years old streamer ? Isn't that not allowed ?

Anyway, what you are doing is already pretty great, so nice job :)

 

[Ishmae1]

Roblox and Fortnite are both banned in our house. MP chat is also locked down on everything to only IRL friends and the family. Our kids (both under 10) don't seem to mind.

Minecraft coding, Terraria, Monster Hunter, Earth Defense Force, and others that I've reviewed I'm totally fine with. I typically check out every game my son plays (we play it together and I have him explain it to me) and I sit and watch some of the streamers with him so I can understand their personas and if they're kid safe. He's been very good about staying away from streamers we don't approve of... AFAIK, I was a kid once too.

I completely respect everyone parents differently, but the grind/loop of Fortnite isn't what I want my kids learning or getting hooked on, and Roblox... yeah, no.

 

[Qwark]

I just want to say that you sound like a really invested, good parent. A lot of parents just throw a device at their kids and let them distract themselves.

I don't know a lot about Roblox, but have you considered something like Game Builder Garage, Mario Maker, Minecraft on Switch? Similar UGC games, but less sketch than Roblox, maybe.

 

[Instant Vintage]

I completely respect everyone parents differently, but the grind/loop of Fortnite isn't what I want my kids learning or getting hooked on, and Roblox... yeah, no.

Click to shrink...

I agree with Fortnite and my son doesn't play that either; though to be fair, I don't think he's interested. That loop is very much not for kids and especially not for my kid. LOL

 

[Deleted member 2595]

PS... he has also talked about a desire to stream content - but I don't even know where to start with that one. So... baby steps.

Click to shrink...

From what I know, kids no longer say they want to be astronauts or footballers: they want to be streamers. But streaming feels extra punnishing because surely it's easy/cheap to set up but the returns are super duper slim.

If the desire keeps growing re the streaming side, even though chances of success are hyper low/slim, maybe try and channel the passion into video editing and video graphics - fields/skills which are super in demand and always will be.

 

[ManNR]

Watch those videos on Roblox OP if you have not yet. The game is a trash pit and a dangerous one at that.

 

[SolmisateSol]

Re: Roblox? Chat OFF. always. I allow my daughter to play with her cousins and close friends. The all talk via FaceTime. Works out great.

Click to shrink...

Using FaceTime is a great solution!

I'm a little surprised about some of the boomerism going on here. We were all young and extremely online once, do y'all remember the moral panic adults had over message boards and AIM chat? Over GTA and the sex scene in Mass Effect? Do you remember getting around safe mode in google and searching for things you shouldn't be looking at?

I think the same thing is happening here. We're kind of blaming a medium we don't quite understand when the issue is that humanity-online is a bit of a cesspool at the moment.

Kids are extremely smart and will most likely get around whatever technological barriers you set for them especially when you're not familiar with the medium. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, but all the limitations in the world won't prevent them from seeing some fucked up stuff. I think a better way of going about this is to prepare them emotionally for when they inevitably ARE exposed to some weird shit. Try and open up lines of communication and let them know they can always walk away from any interaction they have online and talk to you, and that chances are if something feels weird, it is weird.

Granted, I don't have kids so I can't imagine the worry that comes with not knowing what kind of things they're exposed to online. So idk.

 

[SanTheSly]

If it's any help, Twitch and YouTube TOS requires any streamer to be at least 13 years old to stream on either platform.

So you have 5 years before that milestone is hit, but you know your kid better than any of us here and will know if you think it's a good idea to let them stream at that age.

After that point it's a little harder to control without going a bit draconian on their internet usage. Chances are they will find a way to do it anyway if they want. PS4 allows for streaming from the console as a built in feature, not sure what in built features there are to control or limit that. I can only imagine streaming directly from consoles will become more commonplace going forwards.

On the Roblox thing? I wish I had more help. Everything I hear about that environment sounds terrifying and awful for kids to be exposed to. I have friends with kids that regularly play Roblox and I feel like I should say something on some days, but I also don't want to overstep where it isn't my place to.

 

[Richietto]

my daughter loves Roblox and I wouldn't take it from her over chat and stuff. You can hide that stuff and keep communication off entirely. I keep tabs on what she is playing even with the age rating set and she's fine. Can't be any worse than what I was doing when I was on the internet back then.

 

[LetsEatSnacks]

One thing I don't believe was mentioned is to spend some time in Roblox yourself. If just "banning" it outright is an issue for you at this point, at least understand how the game works and what you can do to make that experience more friendly for him.

 

[Arsene no Kiseki]

For gamedev, I suggest your kid learns Unity or Unreal as those are more useful set of skills that can become something more than a hobby depending on how much he's interested.

Click to shrink...

What? You are aware that there are a ton of game devs that learned about programming and game dev from roblox right? I'm friends with multiple people that started on Roblox in the late 2000s and now work at studios ranging from Indie to AAA. Telling a 8 year old kid to go and learn Unreal with no prior experience in game dev is a really dumb suggestion. They're gonna give up and drop it in 5 minutes.

Roblox is a far easier tool to learn for kids than Unity and Unreal, and the dev tools on there are a great way for kids to get into game dev. Lots of kids make games on Roblox for fun, not everything needs to be about money. It just sucks how bad the monetization works on there these days for those that do decide to pursue that route.

 

[_RT_]

Just want to say thank you to everyone that has replied. It's been really helpful to see the variety of opinions and although there no simple solution... it's helpful to confirm I'm not missing something stupid easy.

 

[ElNino]

Correct!! Kids are different yes and we do NOT let our 8 year old watch YouTube or play Roblox. Hell to the naw!!!

We are not strict, but we understand the predatory design of certain games and YouTube personalities. So instead of trying to monitor those personalities and games, we don't let him watch or play them.

We only have one kid so it's a bit easier.

Click to shrink...

My kids have fortunately not gravitated much towards Roblox, but I think I'll just stop them from playing it given what I've seen and read lately. There are too many other positive gaming platforms to enjoy to engage in that.

YouTube and Fortnite however is a constant battle for us, particularly since we have a 15 and 9 year old and the younger one wants to do everything his older brother does. I have more or less lost the ability to track much of what my 15 year old consumes beyond simply taking his phone away, but as long as he maintains his school work, jobs and his behavior around us to a typical "teenage boy" level then I will give him space.

For the 9 year old however, I'm still able to monitor most of what he does, but there is certainly stuff that falls through the cracks. I want him to be able to play and engage with his IRL friends and family online, especially now when he can't see many of them, but in games like Fortnite he can easily get sucked into playing with other people.

 

[Synohan]

Monitor what specific Roblox content they interact with. Constant supervision is needed with how big Roblox is.

I highly suggest checking specifically for any Roblox content containing the term 'The Streets' or 'Streets'. Those have been the talk of children lately and a constant issue in the school district I work at, but are also unfortunately extremely popular.

Trying to guide them towards Switch games and Minecraft as an alternative particularly is the current goal. It's a bit more easier to monitor, most YouTube content is healthier and downloadable content, mods, etc they would come across are more appropriate compared to Roblox.

Roblox has no interest in helping, so it's best to stay in the know.

 

[samcastor]

Make him play dreams :)

 

[xir]

my 5 year old only plays mario kart, but we were at the park and all the little kids were running around saying "blue is sus"

I think wanting to stream is just about emulating what they see, right? I dont know if there's an alternative outlet for that, like i have a cousin 30 years younger than me and when youtube got big he started doing burger reviews to like ~20 views. Maybe stream to facebook and only to friends? idk

 

[toadkarter]

Now, I don't know about how programming works in Roblox but I do know that my schoolteacher friend teaches the Scratch programming language to her primary school students with pretty good success. From what I understand it teaches the underlying algorithmic thinking needed for programming but through extremely simple building blocks, could be something that your son could get involved in? I feel like I would have loved that as a kid.

If he shows sufficient interest then move him onto Python, but tbh I don't know if that might be a bit tough at a young age.

 

[BringBackSonics]

So I'm old. I'll admit it.
Started with an Atari and was a console kid growing up. My first NES even had R.O.B.
But the gaming world that I grew up in is very different than it is today.

I picked up a Switch for my son when he was 5 and he was instantly hooked on all things Mario and all things Zelda. Even beat BOTW when he was 6 - which I'm still kind of shocked by. Loved watching it happen as I wasn't playing the game at the time.

But.... then YouTube, Kids Youtube and Roblox happened. We removed YouTube from the iPad and closely monitored Kids YouTube. Roblox happened more.
It's not the time thing that is a concern to me. We limit the amount of time he can play it- typically 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on what else is going on or if it's a weekday/weekend.

It more the... I have no idea what the heck is going on and how to monitor it. I think I have things locked down as best as possible and mom and I have had countless conversations about the implications of online games and who he should or should not be talking to. In fact, he only has three real friends on Roblox. There were three others I had to delete - they didn't seem malicious, more like "hey come try the game I made." I didn't care. Deleted.

Would I love to play other games with him on the Switch or the Playstation? Absolutely. Am I going to push that? Nah. I want to respect the stuff he is interested in. I am however curious if there are ways to keep him more protected than I am currently doing and I'm also curious how to find the people that are safe so that maybe he can interact with other kids his age.

Anyone else solve this question? Can you share insight?

Also... as someone that has no experience in coding generally... has anyone experimented with learning how to do that in Roblox? I think my son would love it but I'm not quite sure where to start.

PS... he has also talked about a desire to stream content - but I don't even know where to start with that one. So... baby steps.

Click to shrink...

Play with him. You can also set up him up as a child, so they can't message people or get messages. Also objectionable words are censored etc.

 

[Don Fluffles]

For gamedev, I suggest your kid learns Unity or Unreal as those are more useful set of skills that can become something more than a hobby depending on how much he's interested.
GL.

Click to shrink...

Unity and Unreal area great ways to show your kid how people make commercial games. If it's too much, editors like Scratch, Mario Maker 2 and Game Builder Garage are great starts.

 

[Servbot24]

Managing a child's experience online is honestly the scariest thing about one day becoming a parent to me. I'm just not sure there's any good way to do it. Your kid's friends will all be into certain things and you can't tell your child that they have to be the weirdo who isn't allowed to do any of it. But at the same time you know the rabbit roles where all these toxic outlets can lead.

 

[Damaniel]

I might be biased as we had to remove all Roblox from our decices for one of the kids in my family, but I'd suggest you watch these:
How Roblox exploits young developers
Roblox pressured us to delete our video

For gamedev, I suggest your kid learns Unity or Unreal as those are more useful set of skills that can become something more than a hobby depending on how much he's interested.

As for streaming, ToS from some atforms state he must be at least 13 and there are some stories of harsh penalties for breaking the ToS. So I'd say just wait. Also, kids are vulnerable online, the more you wait, the better tools he'll have to deal with the realities of streaming.

GL.

Click to shrink...

While I haven't used it myself, GameMaker Studio 2 is apparently a much easier engine to learn things in compared to Unity or Unreal. Maybe getting your kid more interested this way would be the way to go. As others have mentioned, sadly Roblox has way too many red flags to be considered safe. Another good option if you have a PlayStation is Dreams. It's a hell of a lot more vetted content, higher quality in general, lets you create your own stuff and might still give your kid the same fix of "variety" that I assume Roblox has going for it.

Click to shrink...

Roblox is trash and I personally don't think kids should be playing it, but 'just learn Unity' or 'just learn GameMaker' isn't the same. You can make Unity and GameMaker games all you want, but there's no built in community of people to play your game, or people to interact with, period - and I think that's what most kids want, more than the 'learn to make games' part. It's sad that a shitty company like Roblox has to be the leader in that space though.

 

[Androidsleeps]

Red Dead Online is fun.

I kid. But to streaming I say fuck no, I wouldn't even recommend you let them watch other streamers unless you know who's the streamer as the scene and chat can be fucking awful and even generally family friendly with good modding like Cohh usually stream games not really for kids that age. Roblox seems to be trash full of problems as well so I dunno.

 

[Z-Brownie]

I have a six year old that plays minecraft, fortnite and brawlstars, beside other singleplayer games, what i told him is "internet is a wierd place with nice information if you know where to look but a lot of people with wrong interests that may be avoided, so you can only chat with people you know in real life, because if not, they will probably try to fool you into something that may hurt you"

PS: i don't alow him to play roblox, the content is no curated and can be harmful

 

[grmlin]

My 10 1/2 yo is allowed to play Brawlstars. And that's it for these terribly addicting online games. No Fortnite etc, I'm not ready to deal with that. YouTube alone is terrible enough.

I don't have any advice though, I always try to tell him which games to play and happily buy Switch games every now and then. But it's fucking hard

 

[_RT_]

One more update but happy to continue in the conversation. I had a chat with my son about a talk and consideration that may happen this weekend about the future of Roblox. I shared that it might be going away.
He was open to it. Shared he likes it but understands why (I shared some of the reasons shared here).


Again. I appreciate the responses. I don't normally do main posts and this has been helpful.

 

[Abuguet]

What? You are aware that there are a ton of game devs that learned about programming and game dev from roblox right? I'm friends with multiple people that started on Roblox in the late 2000s and now work at studios ranging from Indie to AAA. Telling a 8 year old kid to go and learn Unreal with no prior experience in game dev is a really dumb suggestion. They're gonna give up and drop it in 5 minutes.

Roblox is a far easier tool to learn for kids than Unity and Unreal, and the dev tools on there are a great way for kids to get into game dev. Lots of kids make games on Roblox for fun, not everything needs to be about money. It just sucks how bad the monetization works on there these days for those that do decide to pursue that route.

Click to shrink...

Roblox is also a cesspool, so… yeah.

There's also a lot of gamedevs (far more gamedevs, actually) that didn't learn in Roblox.

If it's about having fun, there's plenty of games with creative modes like Minecraft, Mario Maker or Dreams. If it's about gamedev, learn actual gamedev (plus it's also fun).