Combining the user-sharing power of YouTube with the community gameplay of Minecraft, you get Roblox. This platform is a vast universe of user-created games and experiences enjoyed by millions worldwide. It’s highly likely your child has already encountered Roblox, either at home or a friend’s, immersed in its interactive multiplayer games. As a parent, you might be wondering, “What Is Roblox exactly?” and have concerns about the games, who your children are playing with, and potential costs. This guide will provide you with the essential information you need to understand Roblox.
Understanding Roblox: More Than Just Games
Roblox is more than just a collection of games; it’s a platform where users, primarily kids and teens, can create, share, and play games together in virtual worlds. Think of it as a digital playground where imagination comes to life. The platform boasts an ESRB rating of T for Teen, accompanied by the Content Descriptor “Diverse Content: Discretion Advised” and Interactive Elements like “Users Interact” and “In-App Purchases.” This “Diverse Content” descriptor is crucial, indicating that while Roblox offers a wide array of content, some of it may not be suitable for all ages.
To illustrate, consider streaming services like Disney+ (also rated T for Teen), which hosts both child-friendly shows like Bluey and more mature content like Logan. While video games are inherently different from TV and movies, the analogy helps understand that within Roblox‘s vast library, content varies significantly. Just as you might carefully choose what your younger children watch, understanding Roblox‘s content diversity is key to ensuring a safe and appropriate experience for them.
Roblox Studio: Empowering Young Creators
Beyond playing games, Roblox offers Roblox Studio, a free game development toolset. While it might be complex for younger children initially, Roblox Studio is designed to be accessible for beginners. It provides a fantastic digital sandbox for kids interested in game development. Within this controlled environment, children can experiment, build, learn from mistakes, and ultimately succeed in creating their own games.
The primary draw of Roblox is entertainment, but it also offers valuable educational benefits. It introduces children to the basics of coding, game design principles, and even entrepreneurship for those interested in selling their creations. Roblox can spark an interest in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) fields and potentially inspire future careers.
While creating and selling content for Robux, Roblox‘s in-game currency, and even real money is possible, it’s important to manage expectations. Success in this area depends on creating popular experiences or items that attract a large player base. With millions of users and established creators, competition is significant. However, the process of creation itself offers invaluable practical skills.
Navigating Roblox Experiences: Content Maturity Labels
To help parents navigate the diverse content, Roblox employs its own content labeling system. This system, distinct from the ESRB ratings, uses two types of labels:
- Content Maturity Labels: These labels indicate the age appropriateness of an experience, ranging from:
- Minimal: May contain occasional mild violence, light unrealistic blood, and/or occasional mild fear.
- Mild: May contain repeated mild violence, heavy unrealistic blood, mild crude humor, and/or repeated mild fear.
- Moderate: May contain moderate violence, light realistic blood, moderate crude humor, unplayable gambling content, and/or moderate fear.
- Restricted: May contain strong violence, heavy realistic blood, moderate crude humor, romantic themes, unplayable gambling content, the presence of alcohol, strong language, and/or moderate fear. Restricted experiences are only accessible to users aged 17+ who have verified their age.
- Content Labels: These labels, assigned by the creators themselves, specify the types of content present within an experience, such as realistic blood or paid item trading.
It’s important to note that users under 9 are automatically restricted from accessing “Moderate” content, having access only to “Minimal” and “Mild” experiences.
Parental Controls: Managing Your Child’s Roblox Experience
While Roblox actively monitors content, with millions of active users, parental involvement is crucial for ensuring your child’s experience remains safe and appropriate. Fortunately, Roblox provides a robust suite of parental controls.
Upon registration, Roblox automatically sets default safety settings based on the age provided. Therefore, accurate birthdate information is essential. These defaults include content filtering and disabled online chat for younger users (under 13, and in some cases under 9) without explicit parental consent.
For more detailed control, parents can link their account to their child’s account. This unlocks granular controls, including:
- Game and Experience Management: Control which games and experiences your child can access.
- Time Limits: Set daily playtime limits and monitor average playtime.
- Friend List Visibility: View your child’s friends list.
- Spending Restrictions: Manage or block real-money spending on Robux, games, and cosmetic items.
- Party Access Management: Limit or restrict access to Roblox Party, a social feature.
These controls can be managed remotely via mobile devices or computers.
Roblox also empowers children to block and report disruptive players. Ensure your child understands how to use these features. Reinforce that they can always come to you if they encounter uncomfortable or inappropriate interactions, regardless of the situation.
Users under the age of 9 are automatically barred from accessing “Moderate” content.
Regarding communication, Roblox implements automatic safeguards based on age. By default, users under 13 can use public text chat (“Experience Chat”) within a game but are restricted from direct private chats (“Experience Direct Chat” or “Whisper Chat”) with specific players unless a verified parent modifies these settings. This means younger children can communicate with everyone in a game but are blocked from private conversations with non-friends. This default may be overridden by custom chat features within specific user-created experiences.
Roblox also filters posts and chats for inappropriate content and to prevent sharing personal information for users under 13. Experiences focused on social interaction or free-form writing/drawing are often age-gated for younger users.
Remind your children about online safety: never share personal information or passwords with anyone online, even friends. This includes real names, addresses, schools, etc. If someone requests personal information, the best action is to block and report them immediately.
In addition to Roblox‘s built-in controls, remember device-level parental controls. Most gaming devices offer parental control settings applicable to all games and apps, allowing you to manage playtime, content access, communication, and spending across the entire device. Resources like ParentalTools.org offer step-by-step guides for setting up these controls.
Where to Access Roblox
Roblox is widely accessible, available as a free download on smartphones, tablets, Amazon Fire devices, PCs, Macs, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox Series X|S. A VR version is also available for Meta Quest 2/3, Meta Quest Pro, HTC Vive, and Valve Index.
Roblox on the Microsoft Store for Windows and Xbox
Understanding Robux and Roblox Costs
While Roblox is free to download and play, it features an optional in-game currency called “Robux.” Purchasing Robux is not necessary to enjoy the core gameplay, and many players play without spending real money. Robux can be used to purchase avatar customizations (clothing, accessories, gear), special abilities, bonus content, and access to certain user-created games, depending on the experience.
Robux can be acquired in several ways, but the most common is direct purchase. The smallest purchase is 400 Robux for $4.99, with better “exchange rates” for larger purchases. Alternatively, a Roblox Premium subscription offers a monthly Robux stipend and bonus features, ranging from $4.99 to $19.99 per month.
Remember to utilize parental controls to manage or restrict your child’s spending on Robux.
Additional Tips for Parents: Fostering a Healthy Gaming Environment
While Roblox‘s content controls and parental settings are valuable tools, proactive parenting is key to ensuring positive gaming experiences.
Initiate a family meeting to establish household rules around video games. Openly discussing video game play, acknowledging its positive aspects, creates a safe space for conversation. It communicates to your children that you respect their enjoyment of games while setting clear, family-agreed boundaries. Always reinforce household rules with device and Roblox parental controls for effective management.
Visit ESRB’s Family Gaming Guide for further resources on household rules, parental controls, online safety, and more.
Patricia E. Vance is the president of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). In her position, she leads the teams responsible for assigning age and content ratings to video games and apps, enforcing marketing guidelines adopted by the video game industry, and operating ESRB Privacy Certified, an FTC-sanctioned COPPA Safe Harbor Privacy seal certification program.
