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The world of technology is going faster than many of us can keep up with. In the past I’ve written about my concerns with the sex scenes and abuse towards women scenes in Grand Theft Auto, today I’m writing about my Roblox concerns.

The online risks to our children seem to be getting greater and greater.  Thankfully, a parent emailed me to ask me my opinion of the online game Roblox.  I had heard of it from some child clients who play it, but from how it was described, it sounded similar to Minecraft.  However, after doing some more research I discovered some extremely disturbing facts.

What Are My Roblox Concerns?

On the outside Roblox appears to be a fun game with block lego-like figures who do flips and other Parcour moves in different scenes.  However, the game has the ability for one to create a naked female figure with very large breasts or a naked male figure with a very large erect penis.  Clearly, this is just the beginning of a slippery slope.

If you go on You Tube and google:  “Sexy roblox porn :-)”  and “Robox sex place” and “The most disgusting person in roblox” you will see the extremely disturbing sexual scenes that are being created and played out.

Even if your child is not creating these naked figures and pornographic scenes, he/she can be invited to join other people’s Roblox games which may start off as innocent but then lead your child’s character into a bedroom or some other “adventure playground” for an explicit sex scene.  Read this article by a Dad and former UK rugby player, who played while pretending to be his 8 year old son and was propositioned within 15 minutes of playing.

There’s also an online chat feature so one can create text boxes with comments to go with the scenes, and to communicate with your child.  (People who are pro-Roblox will tell you that Roblox has filters, moderators and safety rules to protect young children.  My argument is that any game that has the ability to  create sexual figures, needs strict supervision and many parents may well decide that the game is not appropriate for children.  There are only a certain amount of moderators and it is difficult for them to keep up with so many users creating new characters, text and scenes every minute.)

My other Roblox concerns are the amount of predators who would be attracted to this game.  For a few years I was a member of the Lower Mainland Child Abuse Prevention Committee.  We often had speakers from various organizations such as Child Find Canada come and talk to us about child sexual abuse.  We saw video interviews of incarcerated pedophiles who still referred to  children as inanimate objects – I’m not saying that this is the case of all pedophiles but I did watch video recordings where a child was referred to as “it”.   Sites such as Roblox are a prime target for pedophiles – due to the many “how-to” YouTube videos, it’s easy to make naked sexual figures and the game is mostly played by young children ages 7-12 years.

Roblox Concerns and Grooming

Grooming is a term to describe the process by which a sexual predator first gets to know a child and then slowly builds trust.  As the child starts to become more friendly with the stranger, the stranger increases communication and starts to offer fun things.  In Roblox, the stranger (pretending to be another child) may tell the child about this amazing world that he/she’s created and how he/she’s only going to let a limited number of people see it, and your child could be one of the select few.  Your child may then get tempted and follow this stranger into their world which may seem innocent at first but then becomes sexual.

My other Roblox concerns  are that this game is a gateway to porn sites.  Roblox may be your child’s first exposure to seeing virtual sex.  He/she may become intrigued and want to explore more.  In my counselling practice, I have seen the effects of children who have accidentally or intentionally watched porn videos and been traumatized.  It’s given them high anxiety, nightmares and lasting disturbing visions.

Screen Limits

In summary, I would recommend that you check if your child has downloaded Roblox.  I would also strongly recommend that you create strict supervision rules or delete it.  I would find out what other sites with online chat features your child may have downloaded and strictly monitor or delete these too.

Our parents used to be worried that strangers would talk to us at the park.  We were taught about “stranger danger”.  We now have to be worried about strangers talking to our children and exposing our children to inappropriate virtual visual sex scenes within the walls of our own homes!

Children should never be allowed to have devices in their bedrooms.  They should always be used in the common areas of the house.  Parents should be regularly checking the history of websites that have recently been visited.  If your child has deleted his/her history that is also a red flag and cause for concern.  Parents should know which online games their children are playing and always preview games by going on You Tube and entering a search for that particular game.  Gamers love to title their games with words that will attract an audience so if you google “Sex scenes in Grand Theft Auto” or “Sex scenes in Roblox” you’ll see some disturbing clips.

Parent Alert for Other Online Concerning Images

I’ve also discovered that there was a Japanese video game called Rapelay that was once selling on Amazon.  In this game the main male character stalks and rapes a mother and her two daughters.  This is so upsetting and sickening but we have to realize that with the good of the internet has come the bad.  We have to be alert and aware and even games that seem innocent such as Roblox and which are supposed to be able to protect children have their limitations and are still not 100% safe.

Other popular online images from which I would protect young children are “Click Click Slide” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s”.  I’ve been seeing children in my practice for high anxiety and nightmares after viewing these images.  Graphics are getting more realistic and this is traumatizing to the brains of young children.  We need to protect them!

I’ve created a free Technology Guide with recommendations for keeping your children safe, you can download it here.

Please share this article with all your friends and family who are parents of young children so that we can all be aware of the risks in the virtual world,

Any time you have concerning information that you think I should be writing about, please feel free to email me.

Warmly,

 

PS.  If you would like to receive my free ebook: 8 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Your Child Is Anxious, click here.