The Internet Isn't a Supervised Playground

Recently I was interviewed for an article for the Mail about Roblox, a very popular online game aimed at children.

If you're reaching this because you've read the article and are curious about what it said and what you can do about it, then great! There's some advice that you might find useful, some extra information that will help deal with your concerns, and some resources that you will definitely find useful.

For the extra information - it's important to make clear that yes, there are risks on the internet. In any place, on any platform, and in any world whether virtual or real where you allow people to do what they want there are malicious people who will take advantage. When online there are simply fewer consequences for these people, and so they are able to take more risks, be more direct, and be more aggressive.

The internet is not a supervised space, and even though some worlds such as Roblox, Minecraft, and similar have some degree of moderation and control it's not a school playground with monitors watching constantly. They might pop their head out to check now and then, come when called, or even jump in if they hear something inappropriate (when it's automatically detected), but they are not constantly watching and supervising what's going on in every corner, and there are people who will take advantage of this.

Add to that the fact that, unlike a school playground, anyone can walk into a world or game on the internet, and malicious people can be very hard to detect, and impossible to ban as there are almost always ways around controls, and hopefully you get an idea that there is a risk of harmful content and malicious people of all sorts. The important thing is to know that you are not helpless in the face of this, and it is not inevitable. You simply need to be aware of the risks, know about the precautions you can take, and with your child decide on the appropriate way to approach things.

Since the article was around Roblox, I will talk mainly about their controls, but similar advice applies to any online shared world, most multiplayer games, and so on.

Think of it like a public park

When your child is playing in an online world like Roblox, in most cases it's best to think of it as a park where you have a few extra options. I won't try and dictate which ones you should use, that's a matter for guardians and children. I will let you know what your options are if you have concerns about these games.

Walled Garden

Roblox, and many others, do make available a list of games or worlds which are approved or safe. While other people are still permitted in them, the content in these worlds themselves is checked beforehand by a person and approved as safe. Parental controls are available to restrict your child to only these worlds. Equally, you can prevent online chat functionality either at all times or when not supervised.

Know that if you are taking these approaches that they can be bypassed with a password, or an unsupervised device, and children are perfectly capable of doing this (I used to work in schools, the creativity of kids to bypass security controls is astounding). Making sure your child understands why you are putting these restrictions in place is going to be important if you take this approach.

Reporting Systems

There is an automated system that looks for inappropriate chat messages and pictures as they are shared, and try to filter anything harmful, but it is not perfect and if someone wants to get around it they will. These automated systems will pick out keywords and obviously harmful content at most.

On top of this there is a reporting and moderation system. This is fairly active, but not perfect and relies on reports being made rather than actively searching out content. Moderation can lead to content being taken down, chat abilities being restricted, and bans being handed out. If you want to rely on moderation then it is absolutely vital that your child understands when and how to make a report, and that you are happy with that decision.

Again, think of it like a public park. You can watch your child, trust them to yell if they need help and to talk to you about anything they've seen, or not take them there in the first place. Each option carries risks, and the only way to approach it is for you and your child(ren) to decide for yourselves what is the best approach for you.

Resources

This is a collection of resources that you can use to help you set up parental controls for Roblox, and other online worlds. There are also some which are designed to help you have the conversations with your children about online safety and dangers. If you are from a school, parent's group, or similar and want someone to do any online safety events, get in touch as I can connect you with many people who will do these events for free, or I may be able to help you myself.