Inside the experiences of Roblox for parents and children

Jason felt on top of his children's online safety.

He had parental control routers installed for years, routine checks on the devices used by his kids, and the technical knowledge as an IT professional.

But that all changed last October.

Warning: This story contains references to child grooming and children being exposed to sexually explicit material.

Jason noticed changes in his son's behaviour — he was distant, cold and spending more time on his phone.

Then he read through the 14-year-old's Discord conversations and noticed he had made a new friend from a game in Roblox.

"Like, 'What was the best sexual experience you ever had?' He's 14, he's had none."

The ABC has spoken to more than half a dozen parents about their children's experience on Roblox.

Their concerns range from their children being exposed to sexually explicit material to their inability to change age settings on the platform.

It follows the Commonwealth calling for an urgent meeting with the online gaming company after reports of children being groomed and exposed to explicit content on Roblox.

'It started inside Roblox'

Jason said the person interacting with his son on Roblox played as a female character in the game, claiming they were a 16-year-old in Vietnam.

In a poem sent to the 14-year-old, the person described a sex scene with a male Roblox character named Taph.

"When my eyes roll back, and Taph's hand covers my mouth and I starts to cry, Taph wipes my tears with both hands and tell me everything will be okay," the message read.

It later described in detail what Taph would do to this person.

The concerned father has provided screenshots of the correspondence to the ABC, which has opted not to publish the graphic and explicit messages in full.

What he saw alarmed Jason.

He could not sleep for days.

He was upset and disturbed that someone was targeting his son.

He is still unsure how long this person was talking to his son, whether it was days or weeks.

"Because as they're playing the game the chat comes and goes. It just looks like he's playing a game."

Sixteen-year-old Jessica, whose name has been changed to protect her privacy and who spoke to the ABC with her parental permission, had been playing Roblox for years.

"I feel like I lost my innocence because I was exposed to all that stuff at a young age," she said.

Since signing up for the gaming platform when she was only 11, Jessica said she had been targeted by predators on the platform multiple times.

She thought she was speaking to someone her age.

She had communicated with one of the users for about a year.

After speaking to her mother, and complaining to the platform, she received automated responses that included helplines to services in the US and links to report abuse.

"We are so sorry to hear about the struggles you are facing, and we want to help," a Roblox automated message read.

"Though these struggles may make you feel hopeless, you have options: please consider reaching out to an adult you trust, like a guardian or a teacher."

The ordeal has left her with trust issues. She wanted to make friends and play games, not be chased by people in the game asking her for "milk".

"I don't like men, I don't like to interact with them or talk to them," she said.

"I have barely any male friends. I'm now asexual, anything sexual of a nature really triggers me."

Unable to change age settings

A number of parents who spoke to the ABC said it was also difficult to change the age set by their children when they initially signed up to Roblox.

Ben Gorman said he had been trying to change the age setting for his 10-year-old son since the beginning of January.

He has sent multiple emails back and forth with Roblox.

Mr Gorman's son has been listed in the 16 to 17-year-old age category, and his age on the platform was 17.

Users under 13 can access minimal, mild, and moderate content by default on Roblox but can not be involved in social hangouts that allow free-form user creation that is not moderated by Roblox.

No user can access Roblox's chat features without an age check, and users can only chat with others of similar age.

Roblox said maturity levels on accounts can be adjusted by using parental controls.

All users under 16 also have their accounts made private by default.

Despite informing the platform, there has been no change.

Instead, he has been sent a variation of this email several times.

"You can change your age in your Roblox account settings page. Please check out our help article, How do I change my age? for step by step instructions to update your birthday. Roblox Customer Support is unable to update the age on your account," the email read.

Mr Gorman decided the best course of action was to stop his son from playing Roblox because he was concerned about his child having access to voice chat.

"With the rise of AI … if they've got a voice change on it creates a dangerous situation," he said.

It has been a similar experience for Kerry Goulding, whose eight-year-old son put his age as 21 when setting up his account.

She has struggled to change it.

It has meant he has had access to the most adult content on the platform.

"He was able to see blood, dismemberment and decapitation," Ms Goulding said.

To change it has been a process of emails and verification codes with no end in sight.

"I tried that three times and it said each time that I was unable to change his age," she said.

Roblox said on the occasions its initial age check was inaccurate it had tried back-up methods to allow parents to set up parental controls to update their child's age.

"We also continuously monitor user behaviour. If we detect signs their actions do not match their checked age we prompt users to age-check again," a Roblox spokesperson said.

Roblox needs to be accountable, parents say

Roblox is not subject to the federal government's under-16s social media ban.

Last November, Australian eSafety Commissioner Julia Inman Grant said it was because its primary function was as an online gaming platform.

After consultation with the eSafety commissioner, the platform agreed to put in place nine safety commitments last year.

Roblox said the commitments were to ensure the platform was compliant with the Online Safety Act.

Last week, new online safety codes requiring R-rated games and websites to verify users' ages came into effect.

A spokesperson for Roblox said the platform had robust safety policies and processes to help protect its users, compared to the safety processes of other platforms.

"We have filters designed to block the sharing of personal information," a spokesperson said.

"Our chat features don't allow user-to-user image or video sharing, and age checks are required before anyone has access to chat."

A spokesperson for eSafety said the regulator continued to assess Roblox's compliance.

Ms Inman Grant has written to the platform saying the commission remained "highly concerned by ongoing reports regarding the exploitation of children on the Roblox service and exposure to harmful material", and would be testing its compliance.

"Where there is non-compliance, eSafety will use the full range of its enforcement powers, as appropriate," its spokesperson said.

Jason wants to see Roblox held accountable for the experiences of his son and others on the platform.

He wants a bigger focus on content moderation and safety.

He cannot understand how the platform has maintained its PG rating, which the government has asked the Classification Board to review.

"It seems to be a completely unmoderated platform as far as the content of the actual games are concerned.

"So I feel that [there needs to be] pressure on them to be responsible for the content."