Roblox - What Lies Beneath the Playful Surface?
| Time to read:7 minutes
Have you heard a child talk about Brainrot or Brookhaven? These names, which sound like nonsense to many adults, are examples of trending games on Roblox, which is a popular gaming platform among children. Someturva's experts regularly help children in various unpleasant situations they have encountered on Roblox. It is therefore important for adults to know about the risks associated with the playful gaming platform.
"I usually play Roblox after school. I was playing there and got a message from another player. They said they were 12 years old. They said I played really well and that they would like to talk more with me on Snapchat. I thought it was fun that they complimented me, so I said okay. But there, they immediately started sending strange pictures to me and also asked me for pictures. It turned out that they were an adult man. I dare not tell anyone, but I feel sad." Child, 11 years old.
What is Roblox?
Roblox is a social gaming platform from the US. Estimates of the number of Roblox users vary from almost 90 million daily users to a total of 380 million users. Unlike many traditional video games, Roblox is not a single game, but rather a massive digital platform for millions of games created by the users themselves. In practice, anyone can build their own game and publish it for others to play. The content of the games ranges from simple competitions to complex adventure and war games.
Roblox accounts can be created from the age of 5 and the platform is very popular among young children. More than a third of the users are estimated to be under 13 years old. Roblox games have a guiding age rating based on their content. However, the age rating does not guarantee that the game is at an appropriate age level, as many games that contain, for example, shooting and horror have been classified as suitable for children.
Roblox has its own currency, Robux, which is purchased with real money. Robux can be used, among other things, to customize one's own game character and to advance in the games. The games are often designed to entice players to make small and large purchases.
Roblox is at its best a creative environment where a child can not only play but also create games themselves. However, its open and social nature carries significant risks that every important adult should be aware of. The experts at Someturva's Online Harassment Emergency Unit regularly help children in various problematic situations related to Roblox.
Sex, violence, and fraud
The platform has automatic monitoring for content that violates its rules and is harmful, but since the platform is based on user-generated content, it cannot always filter out all material that is inappropriate for children. Among the games, one can encounter scary or age-inappropriate themes, such as horror, sex, or violence. Below are examples of games that, according to Roblox's classification, are suitable for children.
Furthermore, the monetary value of Robux exposes children to fraud, account hacking, and theft of virtual items. Requests for help received by Someturva often come from children who have been subjected to the theft of accounts or items.
Chat and weak user monitoring
One of the most significant concerns, however, is Roblox's chat function, through which users can communicate with other, unknown players. On Roblox, user identification has traditionally been weak – the same person has been able to create multiple user accounts, and it has not even been mandatory to attach an email or phone number to the user account. The anonymity of the account has provided protection both for unpleasant behavior – such as insulting other players – and for clearly criminal activity.
According to Someturva's experience, Roblox is typically used to establish contact with a child. Quite soon, the child may be asked, for example, to provide their Snapchat or Discord username. Once the discussion has moved to a more private platform, the child may be subjected to, for example, fraud attempts, sexual requests, or extortion. Roblox has also been identified as a platform through which criminal networks, such as The Com network and organized gang crime, find children to lure into their activities.
In 2025, Roblox introduced a new safety feature: age verification. To use Roblox's chat function, an age of at least 13 years is now required, which is verified with facial recognition technology or an identity document. The goal is for users to only be able to communicate with other players of the same age. In this way, the platform aims to prevent inappropriate contact attempts from unknown adults directed at children.
However, facial recognition does not always work flawlessly. Users have reported that the recognition technology has placed them in the wrong age group – a child may have been assessed as an adult or an adult as a child. Despite age verification, it is thus still possible for adults to contact children and try to build trust through the game.
The role of adults – How can we protect the child in games?
Roblox is an example of how a playful and popular gaming platform can contain a lot of content inappropriate for children, inappropriate behavior, and bring together millions of unknown users from all over the world just through the screen.
The task of adults is to assess which games are safe for the child to play, as well as to ensure that the child can play and be online in a safe way. In addition to limiting screen time and setting game rules, it is important for the adult to know what is happening on the other side of the screen. Discussion and even playing together with the child are ways to achieve this.
With the help of these four questions, you will get an idea of what your child is doing in Roblox:
- What games are you playing right now? (Games change quickly, stay updated on the favorites.)
- What are these games about? (Is it about building, competition, or something else?)
- Who are you playing and chatting with? (Are they schoolmates or unknown online acquaintances?)
- Has any adult chatted with you in the games?
In Someturva's app, you can also find the Roblox safety guide that supports you in navigating safety features on Roblox. However, not even safe settings fully protect the child on the Roblox platform. It is important for the guardian to be aware of this when assessing services that are suitable and safe for the child's developmental level.
When the adult shows genuine interest in the child's gaming world, the child's threshold to come and tell about scary or confusing encounters is lowered. The goal is for the child to feel that they can tell about all their experiences without fear that the consequence will only be a game ban – in this way, safety becomes a common matter.
Someturva is ready to help you
Someturva's experts with knowledge of Roblox are happy to help you. If your school uses Someturva, you can ask our experts for help with questions and problems related to social media and games. A guardian can also ask for help by using the activation code they received from the child's school on our service: palvelu.someturva.fi.