Go Ask Mom

Can Roblox, other online games be safe for kids? Experts weigh in after Raleigh girl's Roblox avatar sexually assaulted

Millions of kids turn on their tablets daily to get their video game fix. They build their own worlds in Minecraft. They vie for top billing in Mario Kart. And, especially if they are part of the 12 and under crowd, they explore Roblox, the popular platform where users can actually develop their own games. But are they safe?

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By
Sarah Lindenfeld Hall
, Go Ask Mom editor

Millions of kids turn on their tablets daily to get their video game fix. They build their own worlds in Minecraft. They vie for top billing in Mario Kart. And, especially if they are part of the 12 and under crowd, they explore Roblox, the popular platform where users can actually develop their own games.

Roblox was in the news this weekend after other characters sexually assaulted the virtual character of a seven-year-old Raleigh girl. Her mom, Amber Petersen, described the incident, which Roblox has confirmed, on Facebook.

"At first, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing," Petersen wrote in a Facebook post that's been shared more than 300 times since Thursday. "My sweet and innocent daughter’s avatar was being VIOLENTLY GANG-RAPED ON A PLAYGROUND by two males. A female observer approached them and proceeded to jump on her body at the end of the act. Then the 3 characters ran away, leaving my daughter’s avatar laying on her face in the middle of the playground."

'Zero tolerence'

In a statement, Roblox said the company was "outraged" and that they had identified how the bad actor had "created the offending action." The company said that it's putting "additional safeguards in place to reduce the possibility of this happening again in the future."

The offender also was permanently banned from the site and the game was suspended, it said.

"We have zero tolerance for this behavior," it says. "Our work to ensure a safe platform is always evolving and remains a top priority for us."

This isn't the first time parents have complained about age-inappropriate activities on the platform, which is rated for kids ages 7 and up. Last year, in the United Kingdom, newspapers reported that kids landed on a Roblox-based virtual sex room.

On Go Ask Mom's Facebook page, where the story has generated a lot of comments, one parent wrote that her son is no longer on Roblox after learning about a game he was playing.

"My son has not been allowed to play this since I walked into him playing and the mission was to kill yourself," she wrote. "Like he had to go around his character's house and drink bleach or find a knife."

Always a risk

Here's the rub: There's always a risk that a child may come across troubling content on just about any gaming or social media platform. A six-year-old, for instance, received sexual messages from an online predator while playing Minecraft. And, if they're on Snapchat, Instagram or YouTube, they could be exposed to just about anything.
That doesn't mean that parents need to freak out or cut off all online access from their kids, says Larry Magid, CEO of Connect Safely, a nonprofit dedicated to educating technology users about safety, privacy and security. It just means they need to be certain they've done what they can to control the content their child is exposed to.

In a lot of ways, it's no different than helping a child cross the street.

"With very young children, you hold their hand. With older kids, you remind them to use the crosswalk. But, at the end of the day, a bad actor could do you harm," he said. "This is the cyber equivalent."

Game companies, Magid said, of course, play a role in this.

For a game that's rated for kids ages seven and up, "it should default to tight security and tight privacy just by virtue of the age of the game player," said Magid, who has talked to Roblox about the incident. "I think that's something they want to fix."

What parents can do

But parents also have a job to do. In this most recent incident, Petersen, the mom, was doing just about everything right, Magid said. She was sitting right next to her seven-year-old daughter while she played the game. "Up to a certain age," Magid said, "you want to be with them so that, at the very least, you can interrupt them when it happens. That's not good, but that's much better."

And she thought the privacy settings were set so her daughter would only experience age-appropriate play. But, somehow, those privacy settings got reset. Her daughter may have deleted the app when her iPad was running out of space, only to download it again through the cloud and trigger a change to the settings, she said.

On any game or platform, Magid encourages parents to regularly check the privacy settings on their child's devices to ensure they are exactly how you want them.

And, on Roblox specifically, Magid recommends parents go to the security settings and select "curated content" only. This ensures children access only a curated list of age-appropriate games for those under 13. Roblox's website has more information about how to select curated content for your child.
Magid also encouraged parents to contact Roblox when their child lands on something inappropriate. Magid's ConnectSafely has a comprehensive Parent's Guide to Roblox that lists more information about safe play on Roblox.

'Talk through the scenarios'

Sean Kelly, social media coach with the Durham-based The Social Institute, agrees with Magid that any gaming or social media platform can present risks.

"We talk often about the need to 'huddle' with kids about social media use," he said. "We coach parents and kids to have frequent, open discussions about their social media experiences."

"The bottom line is that if you’re allowing your child to play a game online, there is potential that others in the community won’t adhere to standards or codes of conduct," Kelly said. "We recommend that parents pay close attention to what their children are playing online. Talk through various scenarios and know that no online game is risk-free."

If you're not comfortable with the risks of online multi-player play, Kelly said, consider games that don't require interaction online with other players.

"Obviously, no parent wants their child to experience what this child did. But kudos to this family for how it was handled," he said. "First, the child was playing the game in the presence of an adult, and second -- the moment she saw something that seemed off, even though she likely didn’t fully understand what she was seeing, – she alerted her parent so this could be shut down and reported immediately."

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