"Roblox" gives parents more control over their children's activity

The gaming platform "Roblox", which is particularly popular with young people, will in future offer parents more options for tracking and managing their children's activity. In a new dashboard on the cell phone, parents can see, for example, how long their child plays Roblox each week and who they are friends with.

Parents can also use the dashboard to set limits for daily Roblox play. This is reminiscent of a similar "Fortnite" option that Epic Games introduced a few weeks ago.

The disadvantage of the extended parental control: parents now need their own Roblox account to set settings for their children. Previously, account restrictions could be handled via the child's account by setting a parent PIN within the account. Instead, parents now have to create their own account, which they link to the child's account. Parents will be informed of this step by email.

Content restrictions for children

Roblox also improves the protection of minors beyond parental control: in future, children under the age of 9 will only be able to access age-appropriate games. "Roblox" games with the age rating "Moderate" will only be available to children of this age with the explicit consent of their parents. The "Roblox" developers explain the differences between the various content labels on their website. Among other things, it is about the depiction of blood and the type of humor. Developers of "Roblox" games receive the content ranking via a questionnaire that they can fill out themselves.

With the changes to the protection of minors, "Roblox" is responding to criticism regarding the safety of children on the online platform. Children are exposed to violent content, pornography and insults on Roblox, according to the stock analysis company Hindenburg Research. "Similar to Fortnite, Roblox is a gaming platform on which users can create their own content and offer it to others to play.

(dahe)