Revisiting Roblox

A few months ago I made this post called Is Roblox Safe? Not Sure So I Blocked It and I've received a lot of traffic from this post.  Some from parents looking for answers and some from Roblox supporters as you can see from the comments in the post.  Usually my answer to these comments is that I have little kids and I don't want them that involved with consumer generated content.  Also, don't forget that the trigger for my further investigation was that my firewall-antivirus software Bit Defender flagged the site as not child friendly.

Well last Friday I received an email from the CEO of Roblox David Baszucki.  He was kind enough to want to talk with me about my blog post.  I guess that means that either a) someone sent him the link or b) he or his marketing team was watching Roblox's google results.  We spoke within the hour of his email...

1. He wanted to talk about which software I was using to protect the laptop (Bit Defender) and they were going to consider adding it to the software they test.
2. He wanted to reassure me that even though the content is consumer generated they flag obviously offensive ones and remove or if something is marginal, but gets flagged as inappropriate they investigate immediately.  
3. He spoke with me about the ads I was seeing and told me that they carefully monitor what appears on the site
4. Finally he wanted to know why I thought they were associated with Lego because they are extremely cautious.

Anyway, I thought he was very professional and that they do try hard to monitor the site.  As I wrote earlier, then later in replies to the comments, and then when I spoke with David, I have little kids and I don't include Roblox on the list of sites they can visit.  I do think Roblox is a lot more professional then when I wrote that post, but for Jacob and Kaela it isn't for them.  When they get a little older - perhaps around 13 I will probably change my mind, but right now, no; I don't even let them on YouTube without me.  

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

*****A NOVEMBER 15, 2011 UPDATE*********

Dear Roblox Wiki clicks,

Thanks for the traffic.  It's been over 2 years since I made this post.  I've moved on and so has my son when it comes to gaming.

Feel free to make your comments to defend Roblox.  Please refrain from parental advice and cursing.  It devalues whatever positive commentary you might have.  I think the folks at Roblox would be very impressed with your love and defense of the site, but now my son chooses other games to play and has never asked me again about Roblox.  

I had considered disabling comments from this point on, but I decided against it because of your passion.  However, as I wrote above we moved on, so while your appropriate, tasteful comments might sway some other parents, it means nothing to me unless he chooses to play again.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

 

 

Comments

[Keely T]

Interesting articles! My friend's 12 year old son has been a Robloxer for over a year. There have been numerous problems over that time. The XP machines needed to leave temp files and registry cleaners found numerous unnecessary items, which when deleted, left Roblox inoperable. This wasn't an aggressive cleaner by any means. Christmas brought a Vista Laptop. My friend and I are anti-Vista. That being said, a session of Roblox, and the computer won't shutdown without holding the power button for the "Emergency Shutdown" as it's become known as. Running Process Explorer and trying to kill the program yields the same result. Lastly, his account was hijacked, and all of the work put into his character was lost...for awhile anyway. After an e-mail to the Admin and sending some PayPal verification of the original signup, he was able to reset the password and get it back. Bottom line for his father and me? It's SHADY! Don't trust it! Steer clear!

[PardonMyFrench]

Thanks Kelly. Interesting how parents have a different perspective than the rest of the kids who have posted above.

Eric

[nick]

dude let them on its safe ive played since may and its 100% safe they have too learn this kind of stuff

[Sarah]

nick you are wrong...im 13 and it is very dangerous..."creepy" people get on there and look for kids that would give out personal info. and I have been on there before and some 1 asked me for my number!!! i have never gone on there since and i do not trust it....it is very dangerous and its not a good thing.....for younger kids i would suggest games like: Club Penguin or Webkinz stuff like that but NOT roblox...it is not safe and i have been on there once and i entered a obby *obstical course game* and some 1 asked for a kids phone # and they said "ok here it is 387-322-8747" btw that is not the real phone number I just put that in. Then he asked for the address, and he said "ok 3674N 384E. banana hill, grover" btw again that is a fake address if you can tell. Roblox is not safe for younger kids....its maybe safe for teens but not kids under 13!
Sarah/♥

[PardonMyFrench]

Sarah,

Thanks for making the posts and even with all of the feedback I've received, I've still kept my kids off of Roblox. Believe it or not, my 9 year old feels safer on World of Warcraft where people rarely if EVER asked for real world information. (I've been playing on it since it started and I've never been asked for any off world contact information)

Good luck with your online gaming,

Eric

[Sarah]

You welcome...just stating the facts about Roblox. And World of Warcraft is a very good game it is very safe and I play on it alot and it is safe!

[keith]

My 9 year old daughter was playing roblox for a while now but i have just blocked it for 2 reasons
after reading that the chat was filtered i thought that would be ok but apparently it only filters profanity
the comment i saw was "I like to lick girls if they are hot" so to me that is a profanity if its being said to a 9 year old girl, the other reason i have removed it is because it requires the firewall in pc guard to be turned off for it to work. I have to admit i dont usually look at roblox as its beyond me but after seeing that i looked into the parental settings which it seems default to free chat on shouldnt the default be off and parents consent be required to turn it on.
So now she is back on toontown or webkinz both of which will work with the firewall on and dont have free chat.

[PardonMyFrench]

Keith, Thanks for sharing and I do agree with you - that comment is profane .

[Dorako]

Sorry, did you HONESTLY just suggest YouTube is safer than roblox!?!? If I had kids, I'd be more worried about them seeing borderline porn than something "shady" looking in which you can blow up a virtual Lego Eiffel tower. And world of Warcraft??? Yes killing realisticish dragons and elves while having the opportunity to wear skimpy outfits is much better than a Lego guy with rocket launcher that shoots bricks. Ive never seen anyone ask for personal info but I think a 7 year old is smart enough to be trained not to give it out.

[PardonMyFrench]

Dorako - a 7 year old can easily by manipulated by unscrupulous online predators.

[The Review Corrector]

You my friend, no matter how safe a site is will always be dangerous when compared to you standard.
Roblox is a compleatly safe and kid friendly website.
You blocked it because 1) it looks like lego made it but they didnt. 2) Your extreamly sensetive parent controll programs found a user made ad to have "cookies". and 3)There wasnt mush info about it on the web.
Now lets look at this, on any website you go to you should always look for a disclaimer (for Roblox.com its at the bottom of EVERY page). If you are as worried as you sound about "cookies" on your computer then you shouldnt be on the internet. But somthing really interests me about your Post, about how you couldn't find much documentation about roblox. Well before posting on this website did you look for its documentation? or how about on your anti-virus software site? And last but not least for not just the over protective parent who posted but for all the other over protective parents, Roblox invented somthing just for you! A parent acount that can controll your kids actions on Roblox, you can block them from seeing other players chat in-game along with on the Forums, even if you snooty parents are to stupid to create a parent acount Roblox still has word filters! So any of you over protective parents should stop holding your kids back from the new age of computers.

[123mm(my roblox profile)]

thats weird I have been playing roblox since i was 11 and no ones ever asked for my personal information--or said profanic stuff to me NO ONE HAS--

[123mm(my roblox profile)]

i know a site that is safer then roblox --try going onto scratch.mit.edu --its safe and it still teaches basic programming skills

[123mm(my roblox profile)]

though i still think roblox is safe based on teh fact that ive been playing it since i was 11 and no ones ever asked for my personal info or said profane stuff to me on it

[Lag]

Alright, trying to be as calm and understandable as I can here without flaming.

The insight you've received, PMF, is possibly the most horrible insight I've ever seen. You're about to get two sides to this story.

I'm 15, and not to boast, but I am what most would call a computer expert. I program in several different languages including C++, Java, and Perl. I am also a gamer, and a 'hardcore' critic.

I used to play ROBLOX from 2007-2009.

I must agree with you on a point you make.
The ads can get a little out of hand, but the worst I've seen are some SnorgTees ads.

First, I will give you the support to the other side of your argument.

ROBLOX is pretty kid-friendly. They have a super-safe function for children to sign up with, and they cannot contact anyone in the game, besides using pre-written phrases like a friendly 'Hello' or 'Cool!'. The ads have greatly improved, in ROBLOX's defense.

Also, I remember when I was your children's age, and I'm assuming they have an at least fairly decent education, considering their parent is an advertiser and blogger, and bloggers are usually on the higher end of the intelligence totem pole. Kids may be young, but they have enough intelligence not to repeat a 'bad word' they see on the internet. Everyone has a natural sense of right and wrong.

Also, there are a few corrections to be made with some of the comments people have made.

1) Yes, there are online predators- but they aren't on ROBLOX. In my 3 years of playing that game, I played countless places, and never ran into a predator once.

2) Cursing, profane language? Nonsense. ROBLOX's curse filtering is phenomenal, the user cursing sees what they typed, but any other user in the room see absolutely nothing.

As for the violence aspect of your argument- I understand where you're coming from, but kids can certainly differentiate between life and a few pixels- right and wrong doesn't mutate when they get on the computer.

Now, for the support on your side.

Personally, I dislike ROBLOX. As a programmer, blogger, and advertiser, I don't like the way they practice business, nor the sloppiness in their programming.

The physics in the game are terrible. Also, those who say that this is a great place to learn basic programming- sorry! Even if you say Lua is a good first language, ROBLOX has modified it to their will, and RBX Lua is completely different than regular Lua. Yes, that's right, I'm saying that the programming language you learn on ROBLOX will not work or serve purpose anywhere else.

Also, they've integrated Facebook. Personally, this makes me outraged, as ROBLOX isn't the type of game you share with your friends, it also brings in a high population of uneducated children.

The way they run their business- I also dislike. Back in 2007, there was one type of club you paid for, and one club only. Since then, you know how many they've added? 3. And with each update and addition to the game and site, more and more exclusiveness is created for those who don't pay. They say their site is free-to-play, but in my opinion, it isn't very fun if you don't pay.

I understand that every corporation has to make money, but they've gone too far with some features.

If I were a parent, I would let my child(ren) play, nothing inappropriate, they'd get tired of the game-play on their own.

Hopefully, I've given you some useful insight on this game. Hopefully typepad notifies you of new comments, and I'd appreciate your reply.

[PardonMyFrench]

Lag, thanks for your comment. I stopped replying to comments here a while back, but since you asked so thoughtfully, here you go:

1) If you read my posts you will see that I had issues with a particular game that wasn't appropriate for little kids. I get that they moderate things, but as their CEO told me above, things could get through before the community grabs it.
2) The vast majority of my comments was around online advertising geared at kids; plus the signup process as well as my virus/firewall software lighting up like a X-mas tree.
3)I never mentioned profane language and I also never mentioned predators in my original posts. If other people made comments and shared examples or I was replying to someone that's a little different conversation (see comments above by me). My beef with them was really around advertising to little kids and user generated content that slips through before the moderators catch them.

My original posts were basically around their advertising and some games that I didn't feel was appropriate for MY little kids (7 year olds). I always thought that the game was better for 13+ kids and I've seen nothing in the comments above or in your comments that has changed my opinion. In fact, your comments regarding Facebook integration and advertising actually reaffirms my original post.

Thanks again for your comments.

Eric

[Bill]

You let your kids on world of warcraft... but not a lego game?

World of warcraft is
1) Highly addictive
2) Costs money
3) People on it sware, talk about things innapropriate to people under 18.
4) IT'S RATED T FOR TEEN

Roblox Is:
1) A childrens game thats montored EVERY minute
2) Strict about no swareing
3) Not allowing online dating
4) Safe to over fifty thousand other parents

I think letting your children under 14 on world of warcraft is wrong, and not letting your kids on roblox... i think is the STUPIDEST thing i've ever heard. it's safer then world of warcraft, youtube, facebook, myspace, msn, and even an empty folder!

[PardonMyFrench]

Hey "Bill",

If you understood WOW you'd know that a) you can put the curse word filter on. it works great b) I objected to the real life imitation of blowing up a national monument. Kids know they can't simulate blowing up a building in real life "Azeroth".
c) WOW is not consumer generated content. It is controlled by Blizzard
d) WOW can be very social or a lonely place if you shut off the social aspects and don't join a guild.
e) My son plays WOW with me or some of his real life friends

We find WOW easier to manage and I don't have to worry so much about an inappropriate consumer generated game being available right before Roblox catches it. Your WOW issues are not anything we've experienced and if we did, I'd shut it off ASAP also.

BTW Bill, why were you so afraid to use your real name and email when posting?

Eric

[Brian-Roblox:Boomerang7140]

Wow you people should stop wasting your time criticising sites and ruining fun. I'm not one of the parents, I'm actually an eleven year old user of the site ROBLOX and get this! THIS IS AN EDUCATIONAL WEBSITE. It can teach marketing skills, archetectual desigh qualities, and even help kids in school! Now, because of ROBLOX, I have been in 2 Spelling bees, am in an advanced class, and have been on the honor roll 4 years in a row. So STOP! Really think about what you are doing for your kids. This is a kid friendly website, and there is no reason to block this website and/or put this website to sleep.

[strideynet]

i,ve played it for 2 years im nearly ten my computer has never had problems the games a pretty safe im a very clever computing kid believe me i have a website stridey.net i scanned roblox loads of times they have a brillient report system let your sons back on it they can freind my guys account strideynet check my account!