It’s the summer holidays, and kids everywhere have more free time on their hands in order to explore online, utilize social media platforms, and play video games. Unfortunately for us parents of these tech-savvy kids, tweens and teens – we don’t necessarily know what some of these games are all about.
Roblox Sex Games
When we think of our kids playing video games online, we may be imagining the old-school innocence of Pacman or Solitaire – but what is actually on offer is much scarier.
Lead gaming app Roblox is an online platform where games can be both made and played by users. With so many varied games on offer, there are games on the platform that aren’t remotely child-friendly or appropriate for all ages. Certainly, parents are not imagining that their kids may have access to Roblox sex games, or porn games on Roblox.
Con Games on Roblox
Earlier this year, a BBC investigation revealed a spate of ‘condos’ discovered on the platform – sex parties where avatars can talk about and have sex. The advent of sexual games on Roblox is extremely worrying. Roblox has acknowledged that this is indeed a problem, and although most condos, (or ‘Roblox cons or ‘Roblox scented cons’ as they are sometimes known), are extremely short-lived – lasting about an hour before they are discovered and removed – their very existence is troubling parents, who are still concerned that this is happening at all.
How to Find Inappropriate Roblox Games
These particular games on Roblox – sexual, pornographic and violent in nature – are also not ones that you would stumble across. You need to actively search for them. However, threat actors determined to abuse the system can still slip through the net.
‘It’s a “cat and mouse” issue. There are people who are going out of their way to game the systems,” the BBC quoted Larry Magid, president of ConnectSafely – a non-profit organization that raises awareness about child safety online.
Roblox themselves are currently policing the issue and do have parental control settings on the games – but as parents, we do need to be aware and understand what content kids could potentially be exposed to.
Sexual Games on Roblox
At the moment, five of the most prominent sexually explicit and pornographic Roblox games are as follows:
- Shower Stimulator: Whereby players can take a bath together, leading to intimate and erotic moments and conversations between participants
- Dance Club: Players engage in sexual dance moves
- Shedletsky’s Dirty Place: Kids come together in Shedletsky’s house and engage in a variety of dirty activities
- Obby Games: Involving disturbing tasks that the player needs to complete before moving on to the next level
- Club Iris: Seedy activity in seedy hotel rooms
For younger children, if they don’t know how to search for sexual Roblox games, it’s unlikely they will come across any of these concerning games. However, it is important to check with your kids about what they are being exposed to and open the channels of conversation to discuss what kinds of games they like playing.
Additionally, the violence of some Roblox games can also be upsetting. For example, Zombie Attack requires you to kill all the zombies by stabbing or shooting, with shockingly graphic blood spurting out. Haunted Hunters is a shooting game that is actually meant for adults, but can still be accessed by kids. And Survive the Killers is notoriously violent and terrible, whereby kids use an array of weapons to slaughter and kill other players.
In Submarine Story, your avatar is in a submarine, setting out to explore the ocean. Not particularly worrying. However, squid men falling through the roof and trying to kill you with a knife, and shouting messages like “You will perish!” are pretty haunting – especially as the squid man’s face is eerily creepy.
Remember, although Roblox undoubtedly attracts millions of kids under the age of 12, Common Sense Media warns parents that due to ‘iffy content’, it should really have a 13+ rating. Adult predators are also able to interact with kids using the platform.
So take the time this summer to explore the platform a little and understand how Roblox works. By familiarizing ourselves with what content Roblox has to offer, parents will be in a better position to comprehend what kids are seeing, playing, and being exposed to – and hopefully will be able to protect kids from anything untoward, and from stumbling across sexual and porn-related subject matter on Roblox’s platform.
It is also strongly recommended to utilize a parental control app that can alert you if your kids are being exposed to inappropriate content or flags when sexual, pornographic or bullying keywords are used. A parental control app like FamilyKeeper can help give parents peace of mind, safeguarding young family members from offensive content across the most popular social media platforms.
For more information on the FamilyKeeper app, visit: https://familykeeper.reasonlabs.com and join our Facebook Community Group Digital World Parenting.
