My 8 year old is obsessed with Roblox and all his friends play it. I've read some stuff online about stranger danger and in-game chat and it freaks me out a little. He says his games aren't the ones where you talk to people but I don't really know what he's doing in there. Any parents here whose kids play? Should I be worried or is this just normal 2024 kid stuff?
I let mine play but made him turn off the chat feature entirely. Problem solved. He's there to build stuff and play games, not chat with randos anyway.
The key is supervision. My 7 year old plays it sometimes but I check in regularly on who he's talking to and what games he's playing. It's not inherently dangerous but it needs monitoring.
You're not being paranoid but you're probably not seeing the full picture from random articles either. Roblox has some real issues with chat and in-game purchases but millions of kids use it safely. Parental controls exist for a reason though.
The predatory stuff in the chat is real. I set my oldest to friends only. Blocks most of the random interactions and she can still play with kids from school.
The danger is real but it's manageable. Disable chat, set spending limits, check in on what games he's actually playing. I do spot checks with my kids and honestly it's fine most of the time.
You're not being paranoid. I did the research too and yeah, there are some real concerns with in-game chat and random players. That said, there are settings you can lock down pretty tight.
Sign in to join the conversation.
Eight is still young enough that you can stay involved without being weird about it. Play with him sometimes, know his friends, monitor the in-game purchases. That's not paranoid, that's just parenting.