If you have a 5- to 8-year-old, there’s a good chance Roblox is already part of your life, or sitting very high on a wishlist somewhere in your house. So it’s worth knowing that Roblox now sorts players into different account types by age. Kids under 9 get Roblox Kids, 9- to 15-year-olds get Roblox Select, and users 16 and older get standard accounts.

For the youngest players, kids accounts limit content to games rated “Minimal” or “Mild,” turn off chat by default, and only include games that have gone through a multi-step review. For 9- to 15-year-olds, chat is available but tightly restricted. Kids can only talk with users close to their own age, messages are filtered, and contacts are limited to friends who a parent has approved. And since January, Roblox has required facial age verification for all users who want to chat.

Yes, these are worthy attempts at change, but as anyone who has watched a kid find a workaround knows (and yes, I’m raising my hand here), settings are only as good as the follow-through. Age checks aren’t foolproof, and some kids have used photos of older siblings or parents to get past them. It’s also easy for them to end up in the wrong account type because of a birthday entered years ago back when we were just trying to get the game downloaded before dinner. None of this means you need to panic. It just means the new protections work best when you know which ones your child actually has.

Tonight’s to-do: Take five minutes to check your kid’s Roblox settings together. Look at which account type they’re in, whether chat is on, and who’s on their friends list. Then ask them to show you their favourite game. You’ll learn more from that tour than from any settings page.

Worth bookmarking: Parents’ Ultimate Guide: How to Set Parent Controls on Roblox | Common Sense Media

Have a great weekend.

Brian Taylor

Vice Principal, Technology for Learning

Image courtesy of Roblox.jpg (1920×1080)